Correspondence
Email sent to the contact address for Zhoushan Xifeng.
The email said: "My name is Ian Urbina and I’m the director of The Outlaw Ocean Project, a journalism non-profit that publishes stories about human rights and environmental issues connected with the sea.
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 at least three companies whose vessels have been involved in fishing abuses and Zhoushan Xifeng Aquatic Co. Ltd. (舟山市西峰水产有限公司). We have visual evidence of bags of squid from the three companies in the Xifeng plant, and we have extensive evidence of those companies' ties to IUU activity. For example, we have video and images of bags from Zhoushan Han Yi Oceanic Fisheries Co. Ltd. (舟山汉益远洋渔业有限公司) arriving in September 2021. The Han Yi 3, 7, 21, 22 (汉益 3, 7, 21, 22) each have a history of lengthy transmission gaps, while crew from the Han Yi 21 (汉益21) said shark finning and walrus hunting was carried out while they were on board.
Zhejiang Zhou Pu Ocean Fisheries (浙江舟普远洋渔业有限公司), meanwhile, also owns multiple squid vessels with regular transmission gaps, and its vessel Pu Yuan 825 (普远825) was fined for illegal fishing inside Peruvian waters in 2020. Another of its vessels, the Zhou Pu 818 (舟普818), fished without authorization in the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation zone in 2021.
We have also recently identified packaging from another company, Zhoushan Run Da Ocean Fisheries Co. Ltd. (舟山润达远洋渔业有限公司), a company which owns at least six jiggers that have had multiple long transmission gaps in squid fisheries in the South Pacific and South Atlantic since 2019.
Does Zhoushan Xifeng Aquatic Co. Ltd. have any comment to make on the record in response to this email? Please reply by end of day March 20, 2023."
Zhoushan Xifeng's legal department replied by email, saying: "We have received your mail/email, and we make the following points in response: 1. Our company solemnly declares that all the squid raw materials that we procured are all goods which have passed Chinese government department approval and possess legal fishing certificate(s), because our clients require us to provide legal fishing certificate(s) before procuring our company’s goods. 2. Other than squid processing services, our company also provides storage services, meaning goods from any shipping company can be temporarily stored at our company’s cold storage. We will charge a fee for cold storage, but the ownership of these goods do not belong to our company. 3. Our company strongly opposes any form of illegal fishing and acts that damage marine ecology. The evidence you mentioned can be submitted to the Chinese government to allow them to investigate and handle. Thank you!"