Correspondence
Email sent to Aberfield, the press agency that handles media queries for Young's Seafood.
The email said that Unibond Seafood International supplies fish products to Young’s Seafood. Unibond has imported shipments of cod and pollock from Qingdao Tianyuan Aquatic Foodstuffs Co. Ltd. Qingdao Tianyuan has received persons transferred from the Xinjiang region of China under a state-imposed forced labor transfer program since 2020, and until at least May 2023. 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 and obstruct freedom to leave employment. The U.S. has prohibited the importation of goods produced from state-imposed forced labor. The email asked if Young's could confirm if it supplies whitefish from Unibond to primary schools in England, and if it had any comment.
Erin Jones of Aberfield replied, saying the query would be passed to Young's for a response, and also asking for a reason behind the deadline for a response from Young's, saying that if an investigation needs to take place, it will take some time.
Erin Jones replied saying that further background that would be really helpful in sorting out a response. The email also asked: "Have you contacted any other organizations about this? Where are you looking to publish this – is it on the Outlaw Ocean Project website or another publication?"
The Outlaw Ocean Project emailed back to say: "Yes, we have been in touch with other organizations on this issue. Regarding publication: we partner with news organizations globally to publish our projects."
Erin Jones replied with a statement from Young's: "Young’s Seafood Limited take any allegations of forced or illegal labour within our supply chain extremely seriously. We are currently undertaking our own investigation. We are active members of the Seafood Ethics Action Alliance (SEA Alliance), a collaboration of retailers and seafood businesses which aims to strengthen human rights due diligence in the global seafood supply chain and ensure respect for human rights. Through this, we are involved in a range of activities which seek to improve labour standards in the seafood sector. These include ensuring effective due diligence and effective protection of human rights."
The Outlaw Ocean Project replied to Erin Jones, asking if Young's could give a sense of the time needed to conduct an internal investigation, and when they would provide an update on the findings. The email also asked follow-up questions regarding Young's Seafoods' white fish supply chain and customers.
Erin Jones at Aberfield replied: "As I mentioned last week, Young’s has started an investigation into this matter. I’m sure you are aware, with your extensive experience in this area, the level of complexity involved in this type of investigation when the processing facility in question is in China. Young’s is in the process of talking to suppliers to find out further information in order to verify the claims you have made to us. However, if you can share any information or evidence behind the claims that would help greatly in expediting the process. Can you provide any further evidence or information that could assist us in our investigation?"
The Outlaw Ocean Project replied, saying that it had understood one of the benefits of MSC Chain of Custody certification is that traceability to processing facilities is relatively straightforward in circumstances such as these. Was that a misunderstanding of the effectiveness of MSC Chain of Custody certification in offering raw material traceability? The email added that The Outlaw Ocean Project is not in a position to provide evidence from the investigation, but did give an outline of the kinds of evidence that show Uyghur forced labor at Qingdao Tianyuan.
Erin Jones replied: "I think you may have misunderstood - my point around the complexity was around the evidence of forced labour, not around the supply. Thank you for the additional information you have sent over though. What you have provided is a good start, but the sharing of the evidence you have mentioned - not just the methods you have used - would be hugely helpful in assisting with our investigations."
The Outlaw Ocean Project responded: "We have provided as much as we can at present without jeopardizing the sources of the information. At this stage, it would also be unfair to provide Young's with evidence that we have denied other implicated companies access to. The methodological pointers and summary of findings we've already provided are quite specific and should be enough for you to proceed."
Erin Jones at Aberfeld sent a statement from Young's Seafood: "Young’s Seafood Limited take any allegations of forced or illegal labour within our supply chain extremely seriously and have started an investigation into this matter. “We appreciate that it is not possible for The Outlaw Ocean Project to share their evidence with us at this time, and we await the publishing of their report, which will aid us in our further investigations. We will provide further updates in due course as this develops. We are continuing to work alongside Seafood Ethics Action Alliance, Food Network for Ethical Trade (FNET) and the wider industry to address this very important issue, which affects not just the seafood industry, but all areas of manufacturing.”
The Outlaw Ocean Project responded confirming receipt and clarified that it doesn't anonymize spokespeople and will need to attribute the statement to a relevant spokesperson.
Erin Hobbs of Aberfield responded saying they are external consultants and not spokespeople for Young's, and asked who The Outlaw Ocean Project intends to attribute the quote to.
The Outlaw Ocean Project responded saying it will need to attribute the statement to Aberfield unless they can provide an alternataive name and asked them to reach out to their client, Young's.
Erin Hobbs of Aberfield responded saying they are not a spokesperson for Young's and they cannot speak on behalf of the business and "it would be factually incorrect to quote me as a spokesperson." They said they will put the question to the team at Young's but it is at the company's discretion to name a spokesperson, "as is normal and professional media protocol."
The Outlaw Ocean Project replied with further findings that concern Young's Seafood, and asked: Can Young's confirm whether any seafood sourced from Qingdao Tianyuan has been supplied by Young's brands to U.K. healthcare or education facilities since 2018? Can Young's confirm it is confident that no seafood produced through Xinjiang forced labor has been supplied to U.K. healthcare or education facilities since 2018?
Tim Downs at Aberfeld replied with a statement from Young's: “Young’s Seafood Limited take any allegations of forced or illegal labour within our supply chain extremely seriously and therefore we are independently following up and conducting an investigation into this matter.
In addition to our own investigations, we continue to work alongside Seafood Ethics Action Alliance, Food Network for Ethical Trade (FNET) and the wider industry to be vigilant on this very important issue, which affects not just the seafood industry, but all areas of manufacturing.
Any evidence that The Outlaw Ocean Project can share that would aid our own investigation will be gratefully received.”
The Outlaw Ocean Project emailed: "We previously emailed you on August 30, 2023, regarding our investigation into the use of forced labor in China’s seafood processing industry. Our ongoing investigation has found additional evidence which we wanted to bring to Young’s Seafood. 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 North Korean 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, Fastnet Fish was the consignee for multiple shipments of seafood, including Alaska pollock, from Dalian Haiqing between June 2020 and April 2023. Materials published on Young’s website indicate that Fastnet Fish supplies Alaska pollock and pink salmon pieces to Young’s. In light of this, we have some questions for Young’s: 1. While we understand that you may not be aware of the above issues, we want to ask if Young’s has any comment to make in response to this email? 2. Has Fastnet Fish supplied any seafood from Dalian Haiqing to Young’s Seafood? 3. Has Young’s Seafood supplied any seafood from Dalian Haiqing to Creed Food Service?"