Correspondence
Email sent to the Oceanic Seafood Ltd. sales address and marked FAO Jim Welsh, Managing Director.
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.
Oceanic Seafoods Ltd. has imported shipments of seafood from a supplier called Qingdao Tianyuan Aquatic Products, based in China. Qingdao Tianyuan 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. The U.S. has prohibited the importation of goods produced from state-imposed forced labor.
Does Oceanic Seafoods Ltd. have any comment or statement to make in light of the above information? Please let me know by close of business July 18, 2023."
The Outlaw Ocean Project emailed Oceanic Seafoods, saying: "We emailed Oceanic Seafoods on July 13, 2023, regarding our investigation into the use of forced labor in China’s seafood processing industry. Our ongoing investigation has uncovered additional evidence which we wanted to bring to your attention.
We have investigators on the ground in China who have been engaging with labor brokers directly involved with the transfer of North Korean workers to factories in China. Through this and other investigative means, including collecting online footage from the plants and interviews with workers recently returned to North Korea from China, we’ve found large numbers of North Korean workers at a range of seafood processing plants in Liaoning province, on China’s border with North Korea.
We have information that as recently as December 2023, there were 50-70 workers at Dalian Haiqing Food Co. Ltd. in Liaoning.
The use of overseas North Korean workers was prohibited by the United Nations Security Council in 2017, with Resolution 2397 setting a deadline of December 2019 for the repatriation of all such workers to North Korea. Under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), passed in 2017, the United States prohibits the import of any goods produced by North Korean nationals unless clear and convincing evidence is provided that indicates the materials were not made with forced labor.
According to trade records seen by The Outlaw Ocean Project, Oceanic Seafoods was the consignee for shipments of seafood from Dalian Haiqing between January 2020 and August 2023. While we understand that you may not be aware of the above issues, we want to ask if Oceanic Seafoods has any comment to make in response to this email?"