Bumble Bee Ghosts oppose Greenpeace’s attempt to deliver 51,000 signatures in a hunting protest

Greenpeace demonstrated on Thursday outside the US headquarters of seafood company Bumble Bee near Petco Park in San Diego.

But the activist group was attacked when it tried to leave signs representing 51,000 signatures on a petition calling on the company to stop hiring ships that they say exploit workers and the oceans.

“We tried to hand out the big cardboard numbers and the little black sign that you see in the pictures,” said Sari Hendrich, senior human rights advisor for global fishing at Greenpeace USA.

“When they refused to open the door, we took them with us when we left. We will follow up by delivering signatures via email.

She said that about twenty people, including the crew of the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise, which docked at Broadway Pier, arrived at 10 a.m. and left shortly before 11 p.m.

“We tried to contact BB through the call box at their gate,” Hendrich told the Times of San Diego. “We went to the intercom, rang the bell and told them we had a petition to hand out.”

The person who picked it up asked the group to wait a minute, she said.

“We waited a few minutes and then called again, and they didn’t answer,” she said. “Security then told us we needed to leave because we were on private property and he didn’t think (Bumblebee officials) would come out.”

A company spokeswoman, reached Friday via email, said, “Bumble Bee has no further comment on this” after issuing a statement on Wednesday.

In his own statement, Tefer Gebre, chief program officer at Greenpeace USA, said Bumble Bee “has positioned itself as a champion of sustainability and an advocate for fishermen, while also ignoring the very real suffering of workers in its supply chain and the environmental impact of harmful fishing.” . practices.”

But Jabri said years of investigation by Greenpeace seriously challenges Bumblebee’s claims.

“It is unconscionable that fishermen have to risk modern slavery, abuse and even death while trying to earn a living for their families,” he said. “Today we delivered a message from more than 51,000 people that Bumble Bee can’t ignore. Bumble Bee has the power and resources to do better for these workers and the oceans we all depend on, and we’re calling on them to take action now.

The group says an investigation by its East Asia arm in 2022 found that more than 10% of 119 samples from Taiwan-flagged or Taiwan-owned vessels supplying Bumble Bee had previously violated Taiwan Fisheries Agency regulations and were on a list of illegal vessels. Legal, unreported and unregulated (IUU). .

Greenpeace USA says it discovered a Bumble Bee canned product at a Harris Teeter grocery store in Arlington, Virginia, that contained fish from the Da Wang, a ship it said U.S. Customs and Border Protection recently confirmed used forced labor.

Heydenrich added:

The issue of forced labor and environmental destruction in the Bumble Bee supply chain is a long-standing one. For more than a decade, Greenpeace USA has tried to engage Bumble Bee in a discussion about where it falls short and how it can take a systematic, human rights- and science-based approach to addressing these issues.

The company has repeatedly refused to even meet with us. Every day that passes without action, fishermen in the seafood supply chain work in brutal and inhumane conditions, and our oceans deteriorate.

Bumble Bee employees were invited Tuesday to a private screening on board the Arctic Sunrise ship of the documentary “Before You Eat,” event organizers said.

“Bumble Bee and its Taiwanese owner, Fong Chun Formosa, are two of the biggest players in the global seafood supply chain,” said Yutun Lee, an ocean campaigner at Greenpeace Taiwan, who was present at the Bumble Bee demonstration on Thursday.

“They have the power and influence they can leverage to fundamentally change the industry’s notoriously opaque seafood supply chain. But while their profits are growing, they have done little to change the situation. Business as usual cannot continue while people suffer. Today, we are sending a message with a voice Loud and clear to Bumble Bee and the FCF: it’s time for a change.

Before the march, Greenpeace USA invited Bumblebee’s top leaders to meet privately, the group said Thursday.

“They declined the invitation, due to a scheduling conflict,” the group said. “They also refused to meet the activists to receive the petition.”