SEAFOODNEWS.COM by John Sackton – June 13, 2014 — Charoen Pokphand Foods has issued a stinging response to the Guardian's article documenting forced labor in the illegal Thai fishing industry. They say the industry is at a tipping point, and that they engaged with the Guardian hoping to build support for their efforts to address this problem.
Instead, the paper targeted retailers in the supply chain, without helping them understand the larger issues, and the amount of work CPF and others have done to try and combat illegal fishing and slavery.
The result is that CPF- perhaps the leading company in Thailand fighting the slavery and illegal fishing issue, is now desperately trying to protect its reputation with its customers.
What does this kind of action – targeting the companies making a difference – say to the more reluctant partners in Thailand – who will continue to buy from illegal vessels. It will make them turn to other markets, like China, and give global buyers less leverage to help their suppliers address these issues.
The problem is not simply slavery; it is the failure to control illegal and unregistered fishing vessels. It is these vessels, that are already pirates, that also employ the forced labor where abuses are taking place. CPF says the groups "Having lobbied and failed to get any traction from the Thai government, they are turning to the big global brands and industry to drive immediate improvement."
CPF says their response has been immediate. We "are the only representatives of the entire industry who have been prepared to face the cameras and answer questions. Fundamentally CP believes that from factory to fishing boat each and every person who works for CP, with CP as a supplier or through any part of CP’s supply chain must, as an absolute minimum be treated fairly and with dignity at all times. To this end we are currently in the process of auditing our entire operation to do the following:
-Denounce slavery across each and every aspect of our supply chain
-Put in place and implement an independent spot check coordinated system for ensuring that our supply chain is and continues to be slavery free.
But long term, to tighten the control of fishmeal procurement, CP urges a clampdown on illegal fishing, and CP is committed to drive improvement in Thailand fishing practices.
Currently CP sources fishmeal needed to produce fish feed from 55 independent fishmeal processing plants. 40 of them are fully compliant with the Dept of Fisheries Non-IUU certification scheme. The scheme requires the processing plant to produce full documentation including a Marine Catch Purchasing Document, a catch certificate, a Captain’s Statement and a fishing certificate. This represents 73% of CP's suppliers. By 2015 they aim to achieve 100%.
Most of the fishmeal used comes from by-products of tuna and surimi production and is all certified Non- IUU.
However a portion of the fishmeal also comes from bycatch. By-catch, sometimes referred to as ‘trash fish’, comes mainly from the seas outside Thailand (typically Indonesia) and is the fraction of a boats catch that is completely unsalable in any other market. Typically this by-catch is frozen in blocks on large vessels called ‘Mother ships’ that are out to sea for months at a time. The frozen blocks are collected by smaller transport vessels to be sold at Thai fishing ports. By-catch and Mother ships are the Guardian’s issue. There are an estimated 200,000 illegal migrant labourers working in the Thai fishing industry – many of them working on these ‘Mother ships’. 16% of them, according to report by US Dept. of State, are allegedly exploited by ‘Gang masters’ and Agents who create conditions of forced labor.
CP has been addressing the issue of IUU caught by-catch and the associated alleged human rights / labour abuses on these ‘Mother ships.
CP’s program to make the Gulf of Thailand Fisheries More Sustainable was launched in April 2013. It covers the key environmental, social and economic aspects of IUU fishing of which tackling the alleged human rights abuses on Thai fishing vessels forms just part. CP is working together with our partners, key stakeholders and realistic NGO’s worldwide, to help drive this program forward but it is immensely complex and requires a stepwise approach.
CP has a ten point plan and is meeting targets. A number of points in the plan have a bearing on the social aspect (alleged slavery) which the Guardian has highlighted.
CP's focus is on using suppliers who source from by-product as far as possible. "Currently 42% is from by-product and our target is 70% by 2016. As we increase this, our dependency on by-catch is significantly reduced. Our biggest fishmeal supplier – Kingfisher – uses tuna by-product from the Pacific Ocean and is the first fishmeal company in Asia to receive GMP + certification for responsible supply."
As an immediate step to encourage all our fishmeal suppliers to participate in the scheme, CP is the only manufacturer paying a supplier premium for fully certified Non- IUU product. At the end of 2013, CPF had paid an additional 48.2 Million Baht in premium payments.
As a second step CP is working with the IFFO on the IFFO RS Improvers Program – an independent auditing scheme to encourage all our suppliers to implement improvements leading to compliance. The prerequisite step for formal adoption onto IFFO RS Improvers Program is to achieve GMP + Feed Responsibility Assurance. The ten point plan aims for all fishmeal to be from IFFO RS certified suppliers wihtin three years.
CP is also the only major manufacturer in Asia to be engaging with the Thai Government (DOF) to help drive improvements and revisions to their fishery laws having held formal meetings with them throughout 2013 and Q1 of 2014. New updated laws are currently going through parliament.
Finally, CP is committed to Fishery Improvement Plans in the Gulf of Thailand & Andaman Sea. For the first time in history, the eight key Thai Seafood Associations (Thai Feedmill Association, the National Fisheries Association of Thailand, the Thai Overseas Fisheries Association, the Thai Fishmeal Producers Association, the Thai Frozen Foods Association, the Thai Shrimp Association, the Thai Shrimp Association, the Thai Tuna Industry Association and the Thai Food Processors' Association) have signed a memorandum of understanding in February 2014 with an outline roadmap for the sustainable development of Thai Fisheries. The alleged social ‘slave’ labour aspect will be positively addressed in this work.
These plans will cost about $500,000 in payments to SFP and WWF. Currently CP is actively urging the industry to raise this amount to address IUU fishing, and by extension, slavery, which is a by-product of the piracy of the illegal fishing vessels.
CP says "When the Guardian initially contacted us asking questions about our general sustainability plans, we decided to engage with them. As a responsible newspaper we hoped they would help us to raise necessary awareness of the work we are doing – particularly the fishery improvement plans proposed by SPF and WWF. Through the course of this engagement we have supplied answers to questions including macro export stats alongside details of our current supply chain oversight, our fishmeal suppliers and the significant progress we are making to tighten the control of our fishmeal procurement. For example we highlighted the work we are doing with the IFFO to drive the ‘IFFO RS Improvers Chain of Custody Program’.
However, it appears that they have decided to pursue the slavery aspect in isolation without taking on board the fact that this is inextricably linked to the overall fishery improvement plans. "
"The Guardian could help by telling the story in context with reference to the work CPF are doing but if they continue down a route of simply targeting the retailers with slavery allegations as they appear to have done, it will potentially make our task more difficult. "
"It’s an industry wide issue. CP has a choice. We can simply walk away from fishmeal altogether. We have developed protein substitutes that we can use to replace it. We have already committed to do this by 2021 if necessary . Or we can continue do the right thing and behave responsibly by using our commercial weight and influence to help drive positive improvement. "
We are making good progress request but we are at a tipping point. We can do nothing and witness these environmental and social issues destroy the seas around Thailand and the fishing industry for generations to come. Or we can help to drive the fishery improvement plans proposed by the SFP and WWF Other than CPF sponsoring what we can, we are now in the process of building a case to help raise these essential funds.
This story originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.