August 10, 2020 — The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) has made public its first monitoring and evaluation report, which showcases the impact of certified responsible aquaculture.
The report, released 5 August, highlighted improvements in the environmental performance of salmon farms in Norway, Canada, and Chile, and shrimp farms in Vietnam.
April 2, 2020 — Facing a marketplace that has been drastically changed in the span of less than two months by the coronavirus pandemic, U.S. seafood suppliers, distributors, restaurants, and wholesalers are adapting by switching up their sales methods.
A number of larger seafood companies have moved further into retail sales. Others are urging greater industry collaboration and a joint “Buy American” marketing effort. On the more local level, small- to medium-sized seafood suppliers have shifted to a much more significant online presence, offering to ship orders directly to Americans’ homes. Online marketing data group eMarketer projects direct-to-consumer (D2C) ecommerce sales to surge 24.3 percent to USD 17.8 billion (EUR 16.3 billion) in 2020.
March 23, 2020 — The reaction from U.S. consumers to the COVID-19 pandemic has scrambled how Americans are buying seafood. In response, U.S. foodservice distributors and seafood suppliers are shifting their focus away from a shriveling restaurant scene and putting more focus on supplying retailers.
As evidence of how badly restaurants have been hit by a crisis that has seen many restaurants forced to shift to take-out or close entirely, a number of major restaurant chains have announced significantly decreased earnings.
February 18, 2020 — The following was released by the Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative:
The Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative (GSSI) Steering Board is pleased to announce its first recognition of a scope extension. The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) scope of recognition now includes their Shrimp Standard (Version 1.0, March 27, 2014).
ASC applied for this scope extension in early 2019, having already obtained recognition for the scope of their Salmon Standard (version 1.1, April 27, 2017) in August 2018. The Independent Experts and the Benchmark Committee found the ASC Shrimp Standard to be in alignment with all the GSSI Essential Components for Section C (Aquaculture). The Independent Experts and the Benchmark Committee also confirmed the Governance (Section A) and Operational Procedures (Section B) have been appropriately applied to this ASC Shrimp Standard.
February 11, 2020 — With both aquaculture standards and fisheries management practices improving steadily, panelists at a roundtable discussion hosted by the Global Aquaculture Alliance said it is time for the seafood industry to call a cease-fire in the “wild versus farmed” debate and launch a joint effort to increase U.S. seafood consumption across the board.
The debate, titled “Come Together: Uniting the Wild and Farmed Seafood Sectors,” focused on how the U.S. seafood industry help land more seafood onto American dinner plates.
February 4, 2020 — More than half of seafood consumers in key markets don’t have a preference between wild and farmed fish, but they do want products that take a responsible approach to protecting both planet and people, a new survey conducted on behalf of the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) found.
Carried out by market researcher GlobeScan, the ASC’s survey questioned more than 7,000 seafood eaters across Germany, France, The Netherlands, China, Japan, Canada, and the United States. It learned that while there were strong variations between countries in terms of seafood consumption and frequency, there was “generally high” support around the world for better protection of the environment and workers when it comes to food production.
December 10, 2019 — Plastic litter is a serious problem affecting the marine environment, with current estimates indicating there is anywhere from 27 to 66.7 million metric tons of plastic currently in the world’s oceans and rivers. That number now grows every year by more than 12 million metric tons, notes environmental consultancy Eunomia – and the resulting ecological, social, and economic costs are considerable.
Three-quarters of marine plastic litter (74 percent) originates from land, 9.4 percent from fishing litter, 7.8 percent from primary microplastics, and 4.9 percent from shipping litter, Eunomia reports.
November 18, 2019 — The following was released by the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership:
Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP), together with four other NGOs, is pleased to announce that a new data tool for measuring seafood sustainability worldwide is now online and available for public use.
The Sustainable Seafood Data Tool is designed to offer users a clearer picture of environmental and social performance for global seafood production, along with a more detailed look at eight priority seafood sectors.
The Seafood Certification & Ratings Collaboration, a collective group of five NGOs—The Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Program, SFP, the Aquaculture Stewardship Council, the Marine Stewardship Council, and Fair Trade USA, worked together to produce the tool, which includes sustainability-related data from all five NGOs.
Information available through the tool includes rating and certification status where applicable, whether a fishery or seafood farm is improving through a targeted project, and whether or not sustainability improvements are needed in a specific fishery or seafood farm. Users can filter the data by wild or farmed, region, or country.
“SFP is working to ensure that by 2020 at least 75 percent of global production in key seafood sectors is sustainable or moving toward sustainability,” said Braddock Spear, SFP Systems Division director. “The collaboration is critical for this goal, because it harmonizes improvement advice for specific fisheries and aquaculture sources and aligns efforts to engage the industry from key and emerging markets in driving improvements.”
November 15, 2019 — The following was released by the Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative:
On 23 October 2019, GSSI launched a 30-day public consultation on the Interim GSSI Benchmark Report for the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) Shrimp Standard Scope Extension.
In early 2019, the ASC applied to extend the scope of its GSSI recognition to include its Shrimp Standard, having already obtained recognition for the scope of its Salmon Standard in August 2018.
The Independent Experts and the Benchmark Committee found the ASC Shrimp Standard V1.0 – March 2014 to be in alignment with all the GSSI Essential Components for Section C (Aquaculture). The Independent Experts and the Benchmark Committee also confirmed the Governance (Section A) and Operational Procedures (Section B) have been appropriately applied to the ASC Shrimp Standard V1.0 – March 2014.
GSSI now invites comments from all stakeholders on the recommendation of the Benchmark Committee to include the ASC Shrimp Standard in the GSSI scope of recognition for the ASC.
Following the public consultation, the Benchmark Committee, Independent Experts and ASC will process the feedback received. GSSI’s Benchmark Committee will then provide the GSSI Steering Board with a final recommendation on extending the scope of recognition. The Public Consultation feedback will be made publicly available after the GSSI Steering Board’s decision.
November 4, 2019 — Natural Grocers, a large natural grocery chain operated by Vitamin Cottage, is drawing attention to the traceability and sustainability of its fresh and frozen seafood with its new sustainability ranking system for shoppers.
In a massive overhaul, the Lakewood, Colorado-based operator of 153 stores is calling attention to its meat and seafood departments by more effectively communicating the sustainability and other benefits – such as “Certified Organic” and “Dolphin Safe” – of its current offerings.