Dongwon Enterprise

No leading practices were found for the company in the governance and strategy measurement area.

No leading practices were found for the company in the ecosystems measurement area.

Commitment to traceable seafood
As member of SeaBOS, Dongwon has made a commitment to the GDST. With this commitment, the company supports the implementation of robust traceability systems in the seafood industry.

No leading practices were found for the company in the social responsibility measurement area.

Sustainable development strategy
Dongwon has published a corporate social responsibility report that contains some broad information, such as long-term tasks and action plan, but no time-bound targets or specific objectives have been found. As such, although the company refers to establishing a sustainable supply chain and some safety issues, there is clear room for improvement for it to set an ambitious strategy with time-bound targets on specific seafood topics.

Governance and accountability
Dongwon does not disclose the governance structure for implementing its sustainable development strategy or targets, such as the person, team or committee that holds ultimate responsibility for implementation.

Stakeholder engagement
Dongwon reports conducting stakeholder engagement activities and discloses an overview of the issues raised through these activities. However, it has an opportunity to disclose how it identifies its most relevant stakeholders, along with information on how the outcomes of the engagement process are integrated into the company’s sustainable development strategy.

Engagement in policy advocacy
As a member of SeaBOS, Dongwon takes part in collective advocacy activities through statements and calls to action towards governments. Examples of these activities are calls for governments to support boat crews and ocean workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Statement on Traceability and Port State Measures to combat IUU fishing. Next to these statements, no further information was found about specific advocacy activities the company undertakes, individually and/or collectively, to improve public policies and strengthen legislation, nor was any reporting on results or impacts of policy advocacy activities.

Commitment to sustainable fisheries and aquaculture
Dongwon reports working on FIPs and sourcing from MSC-certified fisheries. However, the extent of this certified sourcing and the long-term objective and commitment to sustainable fisheries and aquaculture has not been found. Dongwon can improve its performance by setting specific, ambitious, time-bound objectives.

Ecosystem impacts of fisheries
As member of SeaBOS, Dongwon is committed to tackling abandoned, lost and discarded fishing gear, also known as ghost gear, by joining the Global Ghost Gear Initiative. The company is also involved in three tuna FIPs, where it works to improve the management of tuna fisheries and aims to minimise environmental impacts. The company has also implemented some by-catch mitigation measures, such as biodegradable fish aggregating devices. Overall, however, it lacks public disclosure about its activities to manage fishing impacts on target and by-catch species. As such, Dongwon can significantly improve by disclosing how it assesses the ecosystem impacts of its fishing operations and how it mitigates any negative impacts.

Ecosystem impacts of aquaculture
Although Dongwon does not own aquaculture operations, it does source aquaculture products. However, it does not disclose information about how it promotes sustainable aquaculture practices in its supply chain. The company can improve its performance by disclosing how it addresses important issues in aquaculture, such antibiotic use, animal welfare, the use of high-risk commodities in aquaculture feed, and impacts on endangered species and sensitive habitats.

Traceability system for seafood products and aquaculture feed ingredients
While Dongwon has publicly committed to the GDST, the company discloses little information about how it traces and verifies the origins of its seafood products. Robust traceability systems contribute to reducing social and environmental risks in a company’s operations and supply chains. Dongwon therefore can improve by presenting details on its traceability system, including key data elements that are collected and mechanisms to verify the information along the supply chain.

Risk-based approach to IUU fishing
Dongwon does not provide information about its risk-based approach to assess IUU fishing risks in its supply chains, though these risks are addressed through its certifications. The company could demonstrate that it has a risk assessment tool in place to conduct IUU fishing assessments across 100% of its operations and supply chains and disclose the data sources and information used for the assessment.

Disclosure of the origin of its seafood and marine feed ingredients
Dongwon does not publicly disclose information about the source of its seafood products. By being transparent about this, the company could show responsibility and accountability for its operations and supply chain. Dongwon can improve its performance by disclosing an overview of its fishing and aquaculture operations and the seafood products it sources, including information about species, geographic location and management status.

Child and forced labour
Dongwon’s corporate social responsibility report states that the company abides by International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions on child and forced labour. However, no company policies or code of conduct on the topics was found, and there is no evidence for how the company guarantees that child and forced labour are not in its supply chain.

Living wage
Dongwon does not disclose that it pays its workers a living wage or requires its suppliers to do the same. Nor has it set targets to do so in the future.

Working and living conditions on board fishing vessels
While Dongwon states that it secures workers’ rights on vessels, it does not demonstrate how it verifies decent working and living conditions on its vessels within in its own operations and for fishing vessels in its supply chain. The company can improve its performance by monitoring working and living conditions on vessels, disclosing monitoring results and demonstrating how risks are mitigated and improvements implemented, where needed.

Respecting customary and indigenous rights and support for local communities
Dongwon reports that it respects the operations of local and artisanal fisheries. However, it has not set a formal commitment to respecting customary and indigenous rights and shares no examples of activities to support local communities. The company can improve its performance by making a commitment towards customary and indigenous rights and reporting on its activities for local communities.

Dongwon provides a grievance mechanism for both its workers and external individuals and communities, and it is committed to respecting ILO-defined rights at work. However, no other sufficient information regarding the company’s approach and commitment to respect human rights has been found in the public domain, including how it identifies, assesses and acts on human rights risks and impacts and engages with affected and potentially affected stakeholders.

Dongwon monitors the health and safety performance of its suppliers. However, no sufficient commitment or disclosures on health and safety of workers have been found in the public domain, nor any information on living wage, working hours conditions, or sufficient information on collective bargaining and gender equality.

Dongwon has a global, publicly available privacy statement in relation to collecting, sharing and accessing personal data but no public commitment to protecting personal data. Regarding anti-bribery and anti-corruption, the company has a confidential and anonymous channel accessible to all stakeholders, but no policy statement or risk assessment has been found. No details on its public global tax approach or responsible lobbying and political engagement have been found in the public domain.