November 26, 2019 — The following was released by the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation:
The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) has released its fourth annual Update to ISSF Conservation Measures & Commitments Compliance Report, which shows a conformance rate of 99 percent by 25 ISSF participating companies with all 27 ISSF conservation measures in effect as of 2018.
As part of its commitment to foster transparency and accountability in the fishing industry, ISSF engages third-party auditor MRAG Americas to assess ISSF participating seafood companies’ compliance with ISSF conservation measures according to a rigorous audit protocol.
The November 2019 report is based on updates to the initial annual audit results published in April 2019, wherein some companies had “minor” or “major” non-conformances with conservation measures in 2018:
- The April 2019 annual report showed that one company had a major non-conformance, which had been remediated as of the November 2019 report’s release.
- There were no other instances of major non-conformance in 2018.
- ISSF also noted in the November 2019 report that eight participating companies had at least one minor non-conformance, for a total of nine minor non-conformances.
MRAG Americas defines a minor non-conformance as: “Company does not fully comply with a particular conservation measure or commitment, but this does not compromise the integrity of ISSF initiatives.”