Made in Taiwan

Taiwanese-owned vessels operating under a flag of convenience
(FOC) 16 are not included in captured data, but research suggests
a significant number of FOC vessels operate from Taiwan. In 2009
Greenpeace found over 400 working FOC vessels with operational
and/or ownership links to Taiwan 17 . Providing another indication
of poor fleet management, only 108 of the 400-plus vessels were
registered, as required, with the Taiwanese government at that
time. The number of FOC vessels now registered is 239. This
laxness of registration is symptomatic of a wider management
malaise in Taiwan, a problem that will be described in more detail
later in this report.
In 2012, the OECD reported Taiwan’s fisheries workforce as
326,000, a number likely to exclude undocumented or illegal
workers and those working on foreign based vessels. 18 The US
State Department 2014 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report cited a
claim that up to 160,000 migrants could be working on Taiwanese
fishing vessels around the world, 19 which suggests the industry
could be much larger than the official figures suggest.
Fish Landing (USD) millions
1,400
1,200
1,000
800
600
400
200
National landings in foreign ports
Taiwan Korea Spain US
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Figure 2. Value of National Landings in Foreign Ports.
While Taiwan’s more than 2000 longliners are owned and operated
by hundreds of individual companies, the industry in Taiwan
is dominated by one company, Fong Chun Formosa Fishery
Company (FCF).
This 40-year-old privately owned company based in Kaohsiung,
Taiwan, with offices and subsidiary companies around the world,
is widely considered to be one of global fisheries’ “big three”
companies, and is a good case study for just how global Taiwan’s
fisheries are. FCF trades over 600,000 tons of tuna and 100,000
tons of other fish annually, and supplies brands such as Chicken
of the Sea, Bumble Bee, Starkist and Princes. FCF has traditionally
exported frozen products such as tuna for canning, deep frozen
tuna for sashimi and frozen squid to markets in North America,
Europe and Asia. FCF fish destined for Europe tends to be sorted
in Bangkok and shipped via container. 20 The FCF website illustrates
the breadth and depth of its global reach. 21
A 2011 Pacific Island Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) report identified
FCF’s major markets as Thailand, the United States, Japan and to
a lesser extent Latin America and the European Union. Of note, the
report quoted FCF officials complaining that EU catch certification
requirements introduced in 2010 were onerous “in a fishery that has
seen very few problems with IUU fishing in comparison with other
regions/fisheries that supply the EU.” 22
Taiwan, and FCF in particular, are major exporters to both Thailand
and Japan. Thailand is a global leader in seafood processing and
canning, while Japan is the world’s largest consumer of raw or
sashimi tuna.
Like Taiwan, Thailand’s tuna industry is dominated by a corporate
giant, in this case Thai Union. 23 According to the FFA, Taiwan’s
FCF has an agreement with Thai Union for the supply of light meat.
Indeed, as recently as 2011 FCF claimed it was the single largest
supplier of raw material to Thai Union. 24 On the FCF website,
Thai Union is listed as brand partner and major manufacturer and
cannery for FCF.
The FCF website also lists Bumble Bee, Princes, CMC, Frinsa,
SeaValue and Torei as brand partners. The market reach of FCF
and partners is illustrated at Table 1.
It is clear that Taiwanese-caught fish, particularly tuna, makes its way
to consumer markets in the US, Europe and UK, Asia and beyond.
SUBSIDIARIES
AND OFFICES
Figure 3. FCF Locations
MARKETS FISHING BASES SUPPLIERS INVESTING
FACTORY
Brand/Manufacturer Country Brand Market
Thai Union Thailand Chicken of the Sea US
Bumble Bee US Bumble Bee US
Princes UK Princes UK/Europe
CMC
Thailand
Frinsa Spain Frinsa Spain
SeaValue
UK
SeaValue, Sea Fish Fresh,
Super C Chef
Asia, South Asian, Europe
Torei
Japan
Table 1. FCF Brand Partners. Source: FCF Website - http://www.
fcf.com.tw/brand-partners/
OEM FACTORY
10 l Made in Taiwan - Government Failure and Illegal, Abusive and Criminal Fisheries l Greenpeace l March 2016 Made in Taiwan - Government Failure and Illegal, Abusive and Criminal Fisheries l Greenpeace l March 2016 l 11