TL: STATEMENT OF GREENPEACE ON ANNOUNCEMENTS TODAY BY STAR KIST, CHICKEN OF THE SEA, AND BUMBLE BEE ON DOLPHIN MORTALITY IN THE TUNA INDUSTRY (GP) SO: Greenpeace USA DT: 13-APR-90 00:08:36 GMT Keywords: oceans fisheries driftnets dolphins tuna us greenpeace gp statements us business / In a matter of hours following a pioneering announcement by H.J. Heinz's Star Kist tuna pledging an end to the purchase of tuna caught by methods lethal to dolphins, two other major tuna marketers made similar announcements. Greenpeace is reserving judgment on these announcements by the producers of Chicken of the Sea and Bumble Bee brands, instead observing the old bromide that "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't." "Until we see detailed substantiation of the intentions of Bumble Bee and Chicken of the Sea," said Greenpeace Dolphin Coordinator Lesley Scheele, "we'll keep the champagne on ice." Neither company has committed to a specific timeline in implementing their plans. Neither has presented detailed verification procedures to ensure that their intentions are followed. By contrast, Star Kist committed to full implementation of their plans within three months. Neither Bumble Bee nor Chicken of the Sea consulted with environmentalists in making their announcements, or in clarifying their intentions. Representatives of Greenpeace, Earth Island Institute, and other environmental organizations met with Star Kist prior to their announcement Thursday morning, and obtained satisfactory assurances that Star Kist is genuine in their intentions. Star Kist also pledged to work with both the environmental and legislative communities to ensure adherence to their "dolphin-safe" pledge. "Greenpeace challenges Bumble Bee and Chicken of the Sea to back their statements up with commitments to work with environmentalists to ensure that their rhetoric becomes reality," said Scheele. ########### FOR MORE INFORMATION: Blair Palese, Greenpeace: 202-319-2494 (W) 202-265-5807 (H) Peter Dykstra, Greenpeace: 202-319-2491 (W) 703-960-4740 (H) BACKGROUND MARKET INFORMATION ON BUMBLE BEE AND CHICKEN OF THE SEA VAN CAMP SEAFOODS Van Camp is the second largest US tuna processor. Formerly a division of Ralston-Purina, Van Camp produces canned tuna and salmon under the Chicken of the Sea label. According to a Fall 1988 edition of Seafood Leader, Chicken of the Sea has 20 percent of the market. In July 1988, PT Mantrust, an Indonesian investment firm announced that it would purchase Chicken of the Sea from Ralston Purina. Chicken of the Sea operates under the Van Camp division of PT Mantrust. PT Mantrust is already a major force in the global tuna industry. PT Mantrust is an Indonesian company, reportedly the largest food company in Indonesia. PT Mantrust owns a cannery in the South Pacific, is a major factor in canned mushrooms, owns dairy cattle in Indonesia, makes cans, owns a shipyard and owns a small brewery. PT Mantrust is already a major supplier of canned tuna to Europe. Van Camp operates two tuna processing plants, in Puerto Rico and American Samoa. These canneries were included in the sale. At the end of fiscal year 1985 Van Camp had equity interests in 15 tuna purse seiners eight of which were wholly owned and one was leased. Included in sales of Chicken of the Sea were two canneries (excluding a San Diego cannery), can-making operations, four tuna purse seiners, a dozen boats with fish contracts, and the current management team in St. Louis. According to Mr. Endi from the Indonesia Embassy, PT Mantrust is a company that is into canned foods in terms of trading. They operate a subsidiary in Amsterdam. BUMBLE BEE Bumble Bee is the third largest US tuna processor with reported annual sales near $250 million. Bought out by Pillsbury in 1988, Bumble Bee began processing fish in 1889 and has been in operation as a tuna processor since 1937 when it started canning albacore in oregon. According to a Fall 1988 edition of Seafood Leader, Bumble Bee has 17 percent of the market. Bumble Bee distributed canned tuna in the US under the Bumble Bee label from its own production facilities as well as under contract with other US canneries and foreign producers. In 1982, Bumble Bee sold all of its 12 tuna vessels and currently relies exclusively on short-term contracts with US vessels of foreign suppliers of frozen tuna to operate its cannery. In 1988, Bumble Bee, formerly a subsidiary of Castle & Cooke, was bought out by Pillsbury. Bumble Bee was taken private in a leveraged buy-out three years ago. Pillsbury Co. sold Bumble Bee for $269 million in a sale to Uni Group Inc. a US-based affiliate of the major Thai seafood processor, Unicord Investment Company Ltd. Uni Group was formed by Unicord solely to make the Bumble Bee acquisition. In 1988, Unicord had $250 million in sales making it one of Thailand's biggest industrial companies. Unicord began in 1978 as a joint venture between a group of Thai (75%) and Taiwanese (25%) businessmen to process and export canned fruit, vegetables, and tuna. As a tuna processor, Unicord has grown tremendously in recent years to the point (as of early 1986) of employing 3,00 to 4,00 persons in one of the world's largest tuna processing plants. In 1985, Unicord was declared as the world's largest exporter of canned tuna with exports of 4.5 million cases. Unicord officials stated in 1985 that more than half the firms exports went to US markets including sales to Van Camp, Bumble Bee and Star Kist. The firm was also selling under its own Unicord label to West Germany as well as the Geisha label to Japanese and US distributors. Additionally, Unicord produces about 1 million cases of pet food annually, more than half of which are shipped to the US. Indonesia's canning industry is expected to grow strongly in 1989 as a result of changes in the requirements imposed on foreign vessels fishing in Indonesian waters. (Fishing News International) They feel that they have made it easy for outside countries such as Thailand to profit from their fish exports by canning it and re-exporting the fish themselves (Fishing news International) Two companies now dominate the domestic scene despite Japanese, Taiwanese, Australian, American and Korean interests. They are Bali Raya, a partial subsidiary of the Mantrust Group (military owned food processing and trading group) and Multi-Transpeche Indonesia (A French Indonesian joint venture company catching, now canning skipjack caught by purse seine and industrial pole and line.) (Fishing News International) Their stories are impressive. MTI started operations in 1983 in east Indonesia. It gradually built up its expertise and catch and only opened a cannery in May 1988. Throughput last year from its 5000 tons/year canning facility topped 3000 tons. (Fishing News International) MTI plans to expand output to 10,000 tons by 1990. Its total catch is projected to jump from 11,200 tons in 1987 to more than 25,000 tons in 1990. Plans stretch to 1992 and can be considered very conservative (Fishing News International) ---------- Command: [Greenbase Inventory April 22, 1991 ] =======##=======