Correspondence
The Outlaw Ocean Project emailed the contact address for Inter-Canada Fisheries.
The email said: "We are contacting you in light of our research on the practice of ‘flagging in’, whereby fishing vessels owned by companies in one country are flagged to another country in order to access that second country’s waters. We are not indicating explicitly or implicitly that flagging-in is illegal, we are just taking a look at the issue of flagging-in globally.
Trade records show that Inter-Canada Fisheries was the consignee for squid in 2022 from a Chinese company called China Aquatic Products Zhoushan Marine Fisheries Corp., which is part of the state-owned enterprise, the China National Fisheries Corporation (CNFC). Our previous investigations into China’s seafood industry found links between the CNFC and vessels engaged in various forms of abuse, ranging from human rights concerns to IUU (illegal, unregulated and unreported) fishing.
Records indicate that the China National Fisheries Corporation (CNFC) is the beneficial owner of dozens of fishing vessels around the world which are flagged to other states, including Argentina and Senegal. According to our research, there are also more than three dozen cases of CNFC ships which have fished in West Africa without licenses or in prohibited areas, using forbidden net types, and underreporting their catch in the past decade.
We have contacted the CNFC on three separate occasions seeking comment on the above issues, but have not received a reply to date.
While we understand that Inter-Canada Fisheries may not be aware of the above, we wish to ask:
- Can you confirm if Inter-Canada Fisheries continues to source squid, or other seafood products, from China Aquatic Products Zhoushan Marine Fisheries Corp.?
- Do you have any comment to make in response to any of the information in this email?
Please let us know by close of business on July 22, 2024, noting that all interactions remain on the record."