Correspondence
Email sent to Mary Moniz at Torchia Communications, who handles media for Lagoon. January 17, 2023: A letter with the same text as the email dated January 10 was sent by certified mail to Lagoon Seafood Products directly.
The email and letter said: "I’m writing to you in light of our latest investigation, which concerns abuses in the Chinese squid fishing industry, and a link we’ve discovered between companies engaged in abuses and Lagoon’s supply chain.
This link concerns a Chinese squid jigger owned by the Chinese fishery company, Rongcheng Wangdao Ocean Aquatic Products. In a seven-month period, one crew member died and a second was disembarked for emergency medical treatment after suffering serious mistreatment and abuse while on board the vessel. Our reporting documents multiple indicators of forced labor among crew onboard the vessel: recruitment linked to debt, deceptive recruitment, enforced isolation, degrading living conditions, physical violence, wage withholding, the retention of personal identity documents and strong financial penalties for leaving employment.
We have traced squid caught by that vessel to a Chinese fisheries company in Shandong province called Rongcheng Xinhui. Catch transshipped from that ship was landed at Shidao and transported to Xinhui for processing. Import records show that Lagoon Seafood received six shipments of squid from Xinhui in 2021 and 2022.
Lagoon Seafood’s Blue Tide brand Squid Rings and Tentacles are listed for sale on Costco Business Centre’s website. Does Lagoon Seafood Inc. have any comment or statement to make on the record in response to this information?"