US sanctions Nasdaq-listed Chinese firm, others over rights abuses

WASHINGTON

The US Treasury Department on Friday took the unprecedented step of sanctioning a Nasdaq-listed firm, saying China-based Pingtan Marine Enterprise is among several entities involved in grave rights abuses at sea.

The US is blacklisting Chinese nationals Li Zhenyu and Xinrong Zhuo, as well as the companies they control, including Pingtan and Dalian Ocean Fishing, the department said.

Eight other affiliated entities are being sanctioned, as well as 157 China-flagged fishing ships with whom they have an interest.

“Treasury condemns the practices of those sanctioned today, which often involve the abuse of human rights, undermine fundamental labor and environmental standards, and harm the economic prospects of local populations in the Indo-Pacific,” Brian Nelson, the department’s top official for financial intelligence, said in a statement.

“These designations demonstrate how seriously we take the problem of illicit fishing and our commitment to holding the perpetrators of serious human rights abuses to account,” he added.

The companies and individuals are being accused of using forced labor.

“Crewmembers, already enduring miserable conditions, overwork, and extreme isolation aboard Pingtan Fishing-owned vessels, have reported instances of physical violence and forced labor,” the statement said.

That includes being kept at sea for extended period of time without a port visit, only to find out when contacting their families back home that they have not been paid.

When one worker requested to leave the ship after being informed of his lack of pay, he was denied food for three days, the department said.

In addition to rights abuses, the entities are being accused of participating in illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, which the department said is harming oceanic ecosystems and sustainable fisheries.

The Treasury pointed specifically to Dalian, saying it participates in illegal shark finning, a practice in which sharks are killed for their fins, and forces crews to live and work in squalid conditions for extended periods at sea.

An investigation into Dalian found “widespread reports of physical assault, malnutrition, overwork, withheld pay, and five more crewmember deaths,” the department said.