Correspondence
Email sent to the Corporate Communication Department of Nichiro Group.
The email said: "I’m contacting you in light of our latest investigation which concerns the use of forced labor in China’s food processing industry, and a link we’ve discovered between a company engaged in such practices and your supply chain. Shandong Meijia Group has received persons from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China under the state-imposed labor transfer program. 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. Shandong Meijia Group’s website says that Maruha Nichiro Group is an international partner of the group. Does Maruha Nichiro Group have any comment or statement to make in light of the above information? Please respond to this email by close of business June 20, 2023."
The PR Department of Maruha Nichiro Corporation replied by email to say they would reply by June 20 after looking into the situation with the relevant department.
The PR Department of Maruha Nichiro Corporation sent an email providing the 'annual survey on human rights' questions that it sends to its suppliers, and said that Meijia Group scored the highest marks in the scale across all questions. The email also provided points of information that Meijia provided to Maruha Nichiro on foot of The Outlaw Ocean Project's email to Maruha Nichiro, in which Meijia said it accepted employees from Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region through their own application and that these employees gradually returned home after the end of 2019, due to Covid-19. Meijia also said that it needs fewer manual works than it did in the past and the group is not recruiting workers in remote areas now.
The Outlaw Ocean Project replied to Maruha Nichiro, saying there was evidence that contradicted the statement given to Maruha Nichiro by Shandong Meijia regarding Xinjiang workers, including Chinese news coverage of Xinjiang workers going to Shandong Meijia in February 2020. The email also asked additional questions of Maruha Nichiro regarding social audits of Shandong Meijia Group sites.
Maruha Nichiro's PR deparment emailed: "We have not conducted the on-site audit related to labor aspects of Shandong Meijia Group yet. The latest response to the self-assessment questionnaire from SMG that we mentioned in the previous message was returned back to us early in this month. Regarding the issues you raised for us, we will keep close watch on any information that will concern inadequate labor practices."
The Outlaw Ocean Project emailed Maruha Nichiro's PR deparment, saying: "We were previously in correspondence with Maruha Nichiro in June 2023 regarding our investigation into China’s seafood processing industry. We’re contacting you now 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.
Publicly available documents concerning an initial public offering for Zhejiang Ocean Family show that Maruha Nichiro purchased tuna and squid from Zhejiang Ocean Family between 2018 and 2021. Zhejiang Ocean Family is the beneficial owner of a dozen fishing vessels which are flagged to Argentina and Kiribati.
Ships owned by the Zhejiang Ocean Family have been linked to labor abuses, crew deaths and crew illness. When contacted for comment, Zhejiang Ocean Family said it had conducted two investigations into the allegations and found no evidence of the alleged abuse or mistreatment.
Zhejiang Ocean Family also said that its Argentine- and Kiribati-flagged vessels are registered locally through a wholly-owned company registered and established in Argentina and a joint venture registered and established in Kiribati, respectively, and are not ‘flagged-in’ vessels.
Separately, trade data shows that Maruha Nichiro was the consignee for multiple shipments of seafood from Hongdong Mauritania, part of Hongdong International, in 2023. Hongdong International owns several fishing vessels flagged to Mauritania.
While we appreciate that Maruha Nichiro may not be aware of any of the above, we wish to ask if the company has any comment to make in response to anything contained in this email? Please let us know by close of business on July 19, 2024, noting that all interactions remain on the record."
The public relations department of Maruha Nichiro replied: "Thank you for your inquiry.
We procure marine products under the understanding that Hong Dong Mauritania is a legally authorized fishing company operating in Mauritanian waters with authorization from the Mauritanian government.
On the other hand, with regard to Zhejiang Ocean Family, although there have been reports of suspicion of IUU fishing, and although their report states that this is not the case, we are unable to completely dispel this suspicion, and we will therefore review our future transactions with the company."