The company owns their own fleet of fishing vessels and also works directly with 819 independent commercial fishing vessels, according to their website.1 A carousel of images on the company website show pictures of the following 13 ships: Pacific Future, Coho, Pacific Conquest, Calamari, Dominico, Kawadi, Viking Storm, Viking Pride, Arctic Ocean, My Lady Jane, Sea Princess, Triple Star, and Pacific Hooker.2
On June 7, 2020, two former employees told the Lincoln City Homepage that the company brought in more than 100 migrant workers from California and failed to take social distancing measures.3 “Corporations don’t care about the working class,” said one of the former employees, who resigned when the company dismissed his complaints about their pandemic response. Language barriers made it difficult for local health officials to communicate effectively with migrant workers at its Newport plants during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting.4 A portion of the workers were from an indigenous group in Guatemala and only spoke Mam.5
In 2021, six Pacific Seafood plants reported accidents to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.6 At the Pacific Bio Products Newport - LLC plant in Newport, Oregon, one worker was injured, but did not need any time off from work to recover.
In 2023, the Pacific Bio Products Newport - LLC plant in Newport, Oregon, reported eight injuries, including one employee who tripped over nail heads that were sticking out of the floor in the lunchroom and fell onto their wrists, sustaining a fracture that required 155 days away from work to recover.7
In 2024, the Pacific Bio Products Newport - LLC plant in Newport, Oregon reported 13 injuries to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.8 Two of the injured workers needed to take time off to recover, spending a collective total of five days away from work. Seven of the injured workers had to be temporarily either restricted from their work or transferred to a new job while they recovered, spending a total of 174 days away from their work. One employee had to spend five days away from work and 17 days temporarily either restricted from their work or transferred to a new job while they recovered.9
In correspondence with The Outlaw Ocean Project, a representative for Pacific Seafood said the company takes “great pride in our responsible business practices, and the safety of our team members is the most important part of our operations.”10
“We’re proud to maintain a safety rate that is better than the industry average while achieving consistent, year-over-year reductions in workplace injuries” said Pacific Seafood’s Director of Government and External Affairs, Lacy Ogan. “We believe the best way to prevent incidents is through proactive, hands-on training, and every team member receives ongoing Health and Safety education focused on recognizing risks and reinforcing safe work habits. Each site has a dedicated safety representative and a Safety Committee who lead compliance efforts and champion local safety initiatives.”