Over the coming weeks, the Greenpeace ship Esperanza will remove destructive fishing gear including fish aggregating devices (FADs) belonging to Thai Union’s suppliers in the Indian Ocean. FADs attract tuna, along with a host of marine life including threatened sharks and juvenile tuna, which are then all scooped up in massive fishing nets.
In the first operation of its kind, Greenpeace has already removed and disabled a FAD in Thai Union’s supply chain and will continue to remove more in an operation scheduled to last for many weeks.
Thai Union has been rocked by repeated links to human rights abuses in its supply chains and continues to use destructive fishing practices [1]. The use of FADs by companies like Thai Union is a serious driver of overfishing. Some tuna stocks in the Indian Ocean, such as Yellowfin, are on the brink of collapse due to overfishing.
The company supplies many tuna and pet food brands, including Mars, owner of Whiskas cat food.
Thai Union also owns major brands around the world, including John West (UK and Netherlands), Chicken of the Sea (US), Petit Navire (France), Mareblu (Italy) and Sealect (Thailand).
Greenpeace New Zealand campaigner Kate Simcock said: “Hundreds of thousands of people around the world have already called on Thai Union to clean up its act. And in New Zealand, thousands of people have called on Whiskas’ parent company Mars to prove they aren’t selling pet food tainted by Thai Union’s reckless practices.
“These companies need to know they can’t hide behind paper policies and must take real action to protect oceans and workers.”
Greenpeace’s campaign, launched in October 2015, has called on Thai Union to stop using FADs and ensure its entire global supply chain is free from human rights abuses.
François Chartier, oceans campaigner at Greenpeace France, onboard the Esperanza, said:
“The tide is turning on companies who think they can keep plundering the oceans and turning a blind eye to exploitation in their supply chain. People want to know that the tuna they’re buying doesn’t come at the cost of the oceans and those who work on them. If Thai Union doesn’t want to stop this dirty tuna coming onto our shelves, then we are going to do it for them by taking action from sea to shelf.”
[1] Recent investigations, including by the New York Times [http://nyti.ms/1Ktzi9q] and Associated Press [http://apne.ws/1Q4OJ7R], have found labour rights and human rights abuses in Thai Union’s supply chains. Despite taking some measures in response to these findings, Thai Union’s CEO Thiraphong Chansiri has said “We all have to admit that it is difficult to ensure the Thai seafood industry’s supply chain is 100% clean”. [http://bit.ly/1qGdsuy]