Red Lobster Ethical Issues

This article is about how the suppliers to a company can generate negative publicity for the company. In this case we look at the restaurant chain Red Lobster. It is a major seafood franchise chain with over 670 restaurants. They offer lobster at very good prices with a goal of having a dish like lobster priced so that all can enjoy it. This has greatly increased the demand for lobster. Many of the suppliers namely in the Mosquito Coast have not treated divers fairly and forced them to work under horrible conditions. Due to the over consumption of lobster in these villages’ divers has been forced to deeper waters in search of lobster. There once was a point in time when divers could wade out into the water to catch them, now they go on
dives in excess of 130 feet. This is where the problem occurs because these divers are not provided adequate equipment, and medical attention for when problems occur, which is almost likely to happen and rare if it doesn’t. The key factors in the problem scene here is that the demand placed on lobster is directly linked to Red lobster. Without the need for all these cheap lobster there wouldn’t have been an over fishing of lobster. The over fishing of lobster has caused them to be scarce. This causes divers to search in deeper water for them. Without adequate medical treatment available to the divers many of them suffer from the sickness known as bends. Being an already poor village many of the divers can’t pay for medical attention either, so when stricken with the bends many of them lie in bed and wait to die. Divers in these villages down make adequate pay either so have no means of paying for medical attention. There have been efforts to try and decrease the risks of diving on the island. One of which was sponsored by a nonprofit organization SOS which created decompression chambers in the villages. However divers must be within the chambers within minutes after they surface to work properly and it may be hours before the divers rich them. There are many ethical issues involved all of which directly effecting the divers.
The people have little or no other alternative ways or substitutes to making money. The people in the village have a couple of options, prostitution, drug smuggling, or diving for lobster. Unfortunately all of which of terrible risks. The people that opt to make an honest buck now run the risk of being stricken with a deadly disease known as the bends. After numerous deep dives multiple times a day symptoms appear quickly. Within no time the bends worsens with more diving and eventually the divers become paralyzed. Unable to work the divers lie down and wait to die. Even worse if they become paralyzed on the boat the boat doesn’t return to shore, and the crew can even vote on whether they keep the diver on board or toss him over board. It very common for boats to return from a dive with less people then it went out with. Another unethical dilemma is that the boat captains do nothing to compensate the families of dead or paralyzed divers. And governments have done nothing to prevent the miss treatment of the divers and the over fishing of lobster off their coast. The stake holders involved in this case are the divers who are the most obvious as well as the lobster population whose number continue to decrease as the demand for cheap lobster increases. Business all along the red lobster supply chain, which would include the boaters, the preparers and red lobster restaurants. Members of the diver’s
families and consumers of lobster products are stakeholders in this case as well. Some alternatives to this situation would be to create laws that would protect divers and create better working conditions for them. Another alternative would be to invest in lobster farms. I’m not sure if this is already done, however many companies buys shrimp from shrimp farms this solution is feasible. Red lobster can raise the price on their lobster which creates less demand for it. The first alternative situation affects the divers the boaters and the diver’s families.
With better working conditions the divers will be less prone to the bends. This will help the families because they will be less worried about losing a member as well as having to take care of them and finding a means of compensating for wages lost. It affects the boaters because now they are having more responsibility to the divers in making sure they are safer and have proper equipment. This could cost the boaters more because they have to spend money to get new equipment and have to return to shore if a diver shows signs of bends. Another alternative would be to invest in creating lobster farms. This is what was done with the shrimp industry and majority of shrimp consumed now is grown in farms. These are large pools where the shrimp grown are harvested when large enough. This however completely cuts out the divers as well as the boaters. They will now suffer an income loss. But on the lighter side the lobster population in those will now be given a chance to repopulate. This could also be used alongside season diving. Divers can search for lobster during a certain season and make money that way and once the season is over restaurants can be supplied lobster from lobster farms. Red lobster can also raise the price of their lobster. This will restrict the amount of lobster people consume and restrict the demand for boaters to go out and get lobsters. However this will cause possible
revenues losses for red lobster because they won’t be moving as much product. Also with cuts backs on lobster consumption means the less divers are needed and the will see some wage losses as well as boaters. One plus arises from this and it is that lobster now have a chance to repopulate being that they aren’t going to be over fished. I think the second alternative is the best approach when looked at through a utilitarianism scope. You can see that it has the most positives throughout. New jobs can be created in the lobster farming industry as well as reducing the need for divers to go out and dive into deep water. When taking the seasonal approach this gives divers jobs as well as well as allowing lobster to repopulate. If successful the repopulation of lobster can mean that divers can decrease the depth required to find lobsters. If this is done with consistency I feel that the approach of using lobster farms can solve the issues related with lobster diving. It will lessen the depth that divers have to go to catch lobster which eliminates the divers from getting the bends disease. This alongside with laws to protect divers can fulfill the dignity test. As boaters begin to respect and treat their divers better there can be some dignity in diving for lobster. With better wages and conditions boaters won’t be taking advantage of the divers. If this is done universally through the entire mosquitos costal villages it will prevent boaters from targeting specific villages that don’t have these laws put in place. I think that this unethical situation can’t be solved by one easy change. I feel that a combination of investing in lobster farms and changing laws is the best way to bring about change in the Mosquito Coast villages. Through their combined efforts they can give lobsters a chance to repopulate preventing the need for deep sea diving, they can increase divers working conditions. This will greatly decrease the amount of divers with bends disease through the use of proper equipment and decompression chambers. And through seasonal diving allows divers to still have a job and allow farms to supply lobsters when the season is over. In conclusion I feel that major change in the lobster diving industry can be brought about by pressure from red lobster demanding more from boaters and suppliers they do business with and the governments regulating in the Mosquito villages. They should protect their people and their resources.