Correspondence
Email sent to Benoit Hottlet, Managing Director at Hottlet Frozen Foods.
The email said: "I’m writing to you in light of our latest investigation, which concerns China’s seafood industry, and a link we’ve discovered between companies engaged in abuses and your supply chain.
Hottlet Frozen Foods squid products are supplied by two Chinese seafood processors which are part of the Chishan Group: Shandong Haidu Ocean Product Co. Ltd. and Rongcheng Runtong Aquatic Co. Ltd. The United Nations, human rights organizations and academic experts agree that since 2018, the Chinese government has systematically subjected Xinjiang’s predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities to forced labor across the country via state-sanctioned employment schemes which use coercive methods in worker enrollment.
The Chishan Group has received multiple groups of workers from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China under the state-imposed labor transfer program, including as recently as 2023. Our investigation has also uncovered Chishan Group ties to ships engaged in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. Fishing vessels owned by the group have been observed fishing in North Korean waters in contravention of UN sanctions and fishing illegally in Indonesian waters. The group also owns at least two reefer vessels which have transshipped with dozens of other fishing ships tied to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing as well as human rights abuses.
Does Hottlet Frozen Foods have any comment or statement to make in light of the above information? Please respond to this email by close of business May 12, 2023."
The Outlaw Ocean Project emailed Hottlet Frozen Foods: "I'm following up on an email we sent to you dated May 11, 2023, regarding our investigation into abuses in China's seafood industry and findings concerning Chishan Group processors who have supplied squid to Hottlet Frozen Foods. Does Hottlet Frozen Foods have any comment or clarification to make in response to our email? Please let us know by close of business on September 20, 2023, noting that all interactions remain on record."