Correspondence
The Outlaw Ocean Project sent a query to Mitsubishi via the company's contact system.
The message said: "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 preparing an initial public offering for Zhejiang Ocean Family show that Mitsubishi Corporation purchased tuna 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.
While we appreciate that Mitsubishi Corporation 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."