Bangkok, Thailand – Almost three years after Thai Union made a landmark agreement with Greenpeace to tackle illegal fishing, overfishing, and to improve the livelihoods of workers across its supply chains, a review into its progress shows how the seafood giant is advancing in some key areas but has work to do in order to fully meet its suite of environmental and human rights commitments to Greenpeace and its customers. 

The review, conducted by the US division of the Marine Resources Assessment Group   (MRAG) and commissioned by Thai Union, reported that the company is meeting most of its commitments related to developing its policies and supplier requirements, its advocacy work with Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs), and in driving change through Fishery Improvement Projects (FIPs). However, there was insufficient progress in several key areas including targets to reach 100% human or electronic observer coverage on vessels, and reducing the numbers of Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) on the vessels it sources from. 

“We applaud Thai Union’s progress on several of the commitments it made to Greenpeace following our international campaign between 2015-2017, but this audit shows there is more work to do. Contained in the individual written commitments made by Thai Union is  the ambitious spirit to deliver far-reaching change to ensure their supply chain is free of human suffering and harm to the oceans. Thai Union now needs to build on and accelerate the progress they have made so far to ensure that a bigger vision is delivered,” said Arifsyah Nasution, oceans campaigner for Greenpeace Southeast Asia.

Thai Union has come under fire over the years for its links to labour rights abuses. Though the MRAG audit has shown an improvement on Thai Union’s human rights due diligence process for its supply chain, it still needs to show that the company’s policy and processes lead to fewer human rights abuses and more effective remediation of identified abuses.

For instance, Taiwanese seafood trader Fong Chun Formosa (FCF), which supplies Thai Union with much of its line-caught tuna, has long been exposed for its involvement with vessels suspected of conducting illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing and forced labour. Thai Union needs to continue working closely with FCF to eliminate any risk of human rights abuses in its supply chain and the harmful effects of poorly regulated long-line fishing on the health of our oceans.

“Behind every can of tuna hides a complex web of seafood supply chains and the many vulnerable workers that make it possible. As demand for shelf-stable food increases during the pandemic, it is Thai Union’s responsibility to provide its customers with high quality, sustainable seafood that is free from human rights abuses,” said Arifsyah Nasution.

“Thai Union made a commitment to become a more sustainable and socially-responsible seafood company, and we want to see them pushing hard to deliver on that ambitious target. Campaigners, consumers and many other companies around the world continue to watch Thai Union closely with the expectation it delivers this vital change and in doing so could start a chain reaction for the wider industry to reform.” 

Notes to editor

MRAG’s review of Thai Union’s progress on its commitments to Greenpeace can be found here. 

Contacts

Shuk-Wah Chung – Communications Lead, global fisheries campaign with Greenpeace Southeast Asia, (+61) 405 698 690, [email protected] 

Greenpeace International Press Desk, +31 (0)20 718 2470 (available 24 hours), [email protected]