Cross-posted from: https://feddit.de/post/10012198
The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) has today published a comprehensive report unveiling troubling revelations surrounding the operations of the Zhejiang Ocean Family Co., Ltd. (ZOF), a major seafood industry player with extensive Chinese and global seafood supply chain links.
ZOF contributed 14.63% of China's total tuna production in 2020, and seafood tainted with human rights abuses and environmental destruction could be entering international supply chains on a significant scale, ending up on the shelves of household-name retailers.
12 vessels owned or chartered by ZOF or its subsidiaries were involved in human rights abuses and/or illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities, such as shark finning and the deliberate killing of cetaceans. One fisher aboard a ZOF vessel reported his boat would catch turtles, sharks, whales and even penguins. Human rights abuses were also reported across these vessels, including physical abuse, salary deductions, human trafficking, and forced labor, which crew told EJF led to the suicide of one crew member due to depression and the death of another due to illness.
EJF's report, which draws on crew members' testimonies, photographic and filmed evidence, AIS data, and open-source intelligence, meticulously outlines the IUU fishing and human rights abuses committed on the company’s vessels.