Sea Value and its subsidiary companies (Unicord Public Co. Ltd. and I.S.A. Value Co., Ltd.) have pledged that all business undertaken will positively promote Corporate Social Responsibility and the Environment. We will also fully support aquatic resources and ecosystems conservation by conducting business ethically, with accuracy, transparently, and with respect to human rights and labor practices as recognised by the International Community. The purpose of this Code of Conduct on International Fisheries will become a practical guideline for Sea Value Group and its supply chains to acknowledge and comply with, to achieve sustainability for present and future generations.
Implementation Guidelines
Fisheries and Sustainability
- Sea Value Group is a member of the Thai Tuna Industry Association (TTIA) that are committed to promoting and encouraging its members to operate in accordance with Royal Ordinance on Fisheries, International laws and International principles. Also, to cooperate with relevant International Organisations recognised in the fishing industry such as the Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs) in order to prevent, deter and eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing based on the following principles:
1.1 Collect the academic principles and scientific data proposed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Thailand’s Department of Fisheries, or the European Union (EU), in order to be used in redressing the management of Thailand’s marine resources.
1.2 Operate under the legal framework proposed by FAO or enshrined in the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea 1982 (UNCLOS 1982) regulations.
1.3 All problems concerned in IUU issues shall be implemented in a transparent manner. All relevant documents must be available for reference and inspection.
1.4 Construct cooperation between third countries, as the core of the legal corpus of the EU’s IUU regulation, in order to redress and enhance various issues with an aim of restoring fisheries resources. - Sea Value Group shall only conduct transactions in tuna caught by vessels or suppliers that are authorized by RFMOs and an artisanal boat, farm and a processor that are authorised by government.
- Sea Value Group is a member of the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) which have adopted conversation measures for the preservation of the marine sanctuary, to conserve the aquatic resources and marine ecosystem, based on the principles as follows:
3.1 Bycatch Mitigation
3.1.1 There is a policy about prohibiting shark finning and requiring sharks be landed with fins naturally attached, if retained. Published for the purpose of this measure includes posting the policy on the Company’s public website. If we found that fishing vessels and suppliers do not follow this policy, the Company immediately cancels all transactions for two years after the end of the investigation.
3.1.2 Do not catch tuna by large-scale pelagic driftnets regardless of the geographic area in which the tuna were caught by such driftnets.
3.1.3 Retain all caught tuna because there is the actual impact on the tuna stocks by-fishing operations, except those unfit for human consumption, or when in the final set of a trip, there is insufficient well space to accommodate all fish caught in that set.
3.1.4 The skippers have attended captain training on best practices for sharks, sea turtles and seabirds.
3.1.5 Large-scale Purse seine and support vessels shall have a policy regarding the use of non-entangling FADs and FAD Management.
3.2 Monitoring, Control and Surveillance
3.2.1 The tuna fishing vessels and carrier vessels listed in the RFMO authorized vessel record and be capable of being registered by the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
3.2.2 Large-scale purse seine vessels have 100% observer coverage (human or electronic if proven to be effective) on every fishing trip and observing every fishing operation, unless prevented by force majeure conditions in a particular region. Force majeure is an event or effect, both acts of nature and acts of people that can be neither anticipated nor controlled, such as floods, hurricanes, riots, strikes or wars.
3.2.3. Purse seine vessels do not engage in transshipments at sea, whether high seas, EEZ, territorial seas or archipelagic waters. Exemptions will be made in cases where the at-sea transshipments are authorized by RFMOs.
3.3 Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fishing
3.3.1 Refrain from transactions in tuna caught by harvesting vessels or transported by transshipment vessels on the Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Vessel List of any RFMO.
3.3.2 If product is later found as vessel placed on the IUU vessel list it shall be withdrawn from the marketplace.
3.4 Proactive Vessel Register
3.4.1 Sea Value Group has to conduct transactions with Large-scale purse seine vessels that are registered on the Proactive Vessel Register (PVR).
3.4.2 Sea Value Group has encouraged all of our tuna suppliers to register large-scale purse seine and supply and tender vessels on the PVR.
3.4.3 For longline vessels, Sea Value Group has continued to push forward our plan for increasing purchases of tuna from vessels on the PVR.
- Sea Value Group shall conduct business in a transparent manner to ensure that our policies and operations follow and conform to the international standards in Anti-IUU fishing and sustainable fishery aspects.
- Sea Value Group will select and ensure that suppliers or fishing vessels have good practice in fisheries. If found any suppliers or fishing vessels are allegedly involved in IUU activity, Sea Value Group will stop transactions with them and will only resume when Sea Value Group have assurance by them that improvements have been made to ensure all bad practices have been eliminated.
Labor
- Sea Value Group shall promote and support TTIA’s activities in order to protect against child labor, forced labor, human trafficking and slavery in the manufacturing industry based on the following principles:
1.1 Work closely with concerned parties such as the government sector, NGOs and other International organizations.
1.2 Support and enhance the Welfare Committee’s efficiency in the manufacturing industry and the role of the Employees’ Welfare Committee in complaints.
1.3 There are activities that support all of the Good Labor Practice (GLP) which are applied in manufacturing industry. - The raw material and/or product must be derived from suppliers or fishing vessels that have Good Labor Practices (GLP), legality of local laws, International laws and International principles. There is no child labor, forced labor and human trafficking and slavery on board whatsoever.
- Sea Value Group will select and ensure that suppliers or fishing vessels have good practices in labor. If found any suppliers or fishing vessels are alleged to be involved in child labor, forced labor, human trafficking and slavery, Sea Value Group will stop transactions with them and will only resume when Sea Value Group have assurance by them that improvements have been made to ensure all bad practices have been eliminated.
Traceability
- All import and export of fishery products shall be operated in accordance with the Port State Measure (PSM), Processing Statement Endorsement (PSE) under the Fishery Single Window (FSW), as known as PPS system by Department of Fisheries Thailand.
- Traceability records of the raw material and/or product from fisheries, aquaculture and a processor shall be able to link the raw material and/or product at every stage from receiving, transport, processing, dispatch and selling including keeping records in order to be fully traceable.
- There is operating in accordance law of partnership regarding traceability such as the Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) the United State of America.
