Correspondence
Email sent to the contact address for Rongchen Puchen Aquatic Food Co. Ltd.
The email said that The Outlaw Ocean Project had found evidence of squid catch from a Zhoushan Ning Tai Ocean Fisheries vessel that engaged in unregulated fishing activity - the Ning Tai 58 - at Rongcheng Puchen’s processing plant. Another 14 vessels owned by Zhoushan Ning Tai are linked to a range of environmental and human rights issues including forced labor, AIS spoofing, shark finning, and unauthorized transhipment. The email asked if Rongcheng Puchen Aquatic Products Co. Ltd. feel it has a responsibility to vet their partners and stay away from boats that engage in this type of behavior, and also asked for comment.
Rongcheng Puchen emailed in response, saying: “All purchases of the company’s raw materials come from fishing vessels that are legally registered and found in the European Union’s records. Regarding Ningtai 58, we looked into it after receiving your information and noticed that the ship was not registered or recorded by the EU. Therefore, the factory could not conduct processing or procurement activities [regarding that vessel]”. The statement added that “the factory is very cautious in the procurement of raw materials, and stays away from similar raw material fishing vessels that have illegal fishing behaviors”. It closed: “The factory believes that if the 14 vessels of Ningtai Ocean Fisheries have acted in the way you mentioned, organizations such as China’s General Administration of Customs and international customs authorities would issue warnings to all manufacturers in the near future?”
The Outlaw Ocean Project replied to Rongcheng Puchen, saying: "You mentioned in your email that this boat is not registered or recorded in the EU so your factory cannot process or source its catch. However, we have seen visual evidence at your facility of squid from non-EU approved vessels. Can you offer an explain for this situation?"
Rongcheng Puchen replied that the company was very surprised by that statement, and asking if The Outlaw Ocean Project would share the visual evidence referenced in the previous emails.
The Outlaw Ocean responded that there is footage of bags of squid with clear writing on them citing the names of vessels that are not on the EU's list, but we are not able to provide that footage at this time.