Saving Seafood

Cooke Inc. branches into shrimp production with Seajoy acquisition

February 4, 2019 — Cooke Inc. announced on 1 February it has finalized its acquisition of Seajoy Seafood Corporation, one of Latin America’s largest producers of farmed shrimp, with operations in Honduras and Nicaragua.

SeafoodSource previously reported on the acquisition, which was completed in November 2018, but the formal announcement came after the companies finalized the details of the transaction.

“The acquisition of Seajoy is an important element in our focus on product diversification to meet our customers’ needs,” Cooke CEO Glenn Cooke said in a press release. “Seajoy is a world-leading shrimp producer utilizing the highest quality and food safety standards and newest available technology. This aligns perfectly with our existing aquaculture and wild seafood fishery divisions. We feel Seajoy’s entrepreneurial drive, industry knowledge and care for their communities has made them successful and a big reason why we feel this is an incredible cultural fit.”

The purchase gives Cooke Inc., the parent company of Black Harbour, New Brunswick, Canada-based Cooke Aquaculture, an avenue to expand its product repertoire to include shrimp. Seajoy is one of the largest vertically integrated, premium shrimp farms in Latin America, with a focus on producing value-added and organic Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) and selling to customers in Europe, the Americas, and Asia.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

ASC-certified fish farms testing out Fair Trade standards

October 17, 2018 — Select fish farms certified by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) will soon be piloting Fair Trade USA’s requirements, thanks to a recent memorandum of understanding signed by the certification bodies.

The collaboration, announced 9 October, will see Fair Trade USA’s model of “responsible business and conscious consumption” implemented by certain ASC-certified fish farms. The pilot – being carried out in the framework of ASC’s new Improver Program – will allow the certifiers to determine if Fair Trade’s program, which enables sustainable livelihoods for fishermen around the world while empowering them to improve their communities via the Community Development Fund, can act as a ladder toward ASC certification.

“The Capture Fisheries Standard for wild fisheries has been the cornerstone of the Fair Trade seafood program since its inception in 2014, and now thousands of fishermen and workers are reaping its benefits,” said Julie Kuchepatov, seafood director at Fair Trade USA. “We look forward to working with ASC to bring the benefits of Fair Trade to fish farmers and workers and increase the environmental and social impact of our respective programs.”

“We are excited to bring the expertise of both organizations together in service of our shared goal to further improve the social and environmental performance of the aquaculture industry,” added Roy van Daatselaar, producer support manager at ASC.

ASC’s Improver Program, which was launched at the beginning of October, is aimed at helping seafood farmers not yet ready to achieve certification with improving their practices and mitigating their social and environmental impacts. The program has already seen ASC team up with the Vietnamese Directorate of Fisheries (D-Fish) and WWF Vietnam to provide guidance documents geared at helping VietGAP-certified farmers to achieve ASC certification. This new arrangement with Fair Trade USA signals the program’s ongoing expansion and will benefit producers with a more comprehensive approach to certification, according to Daatselaar.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Sustainability rising for farmed salmon, says GSI report

May 16, 2017 — Farming salmon is more sustainable than growing land animals in several key ways, according to the Global Salmon Initiative’s (GSI) latest sustainability report.

And some of the biggest future improvements in sustainability will likely result from more efficient feed, say salmon industry experts.

The third annual GSI sustainability report, released in late April, contains four years of data and tracks 14 indicators determined by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC). It was the first to include data verified by independent auditors.

The 12 GSI member companies account for roughly half of global farmed salmon production. Nearly a quarter of all GSI farms have been certified by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council, an increase of 60 percent from 2015. GSI has a goal of having all farms certified by ASC by 2020.

Compared to other sources of animal protein, salmon did well on sustainability indicators such as fresh water use and carbon emissions.

Salmon also have a low – and falling – feed conversion ratio, meaning that farmers efficiently retain the protein and energy in feed while converting it to food for people. That ratio is now 1.3 to 1. By contrast, the ratio for chicken is 1.9 to 1, while for pork it’s 2.8 to 1, and for beef it’s 7.5 to 1.

Still, less total weight of salmon is farmed than other major protein sources, with 3.1 million metric tons produced annually, compared to 96.1 million tons of chicken, 113 million tons of pig products, 64 million tons of cattle products and 8.6 million tons of sheep products.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

IKEA’s best kept secret? Its affordable, sustainable salmon.

May 2, 2017 — Salty, silky and rich, salmon is truly a versatile protein. Smoked salmon shines when placed upon a bagel with schmear or stirred into an omelet. Grilling, poaching or broiling salmon results in a delectable entree. Ah, this fish.

But eating sustainable salmon can burn a hole in your wallet. Responsibly farmed salmon or wild caught salmon often come with a hefty price tag — salmon at Whole Foods, for example, can cost up to $25 a pound.

The good news: One national chain is a low-key secret, affordable salmon purveyor. IKEA, that Swedish furniture factory and veritable maze of a store, sells salmon that’s sustainable both for the planet and your bank account. . Three different smoked salmon packs are priced at $8 for a pack of 7 ounces, meaning they’re all under $16 a pound.

Beyond its Malm dressers, you may know IKEA for its Swedish meatballs, but the furniture store made headlines in 2015 for becoming one of the largest sellers of sustainable seafood. IKEA, which sells fish in 47 countries, only sources seafood that is certified by the Marine Stewardship Council and the Aquaculture Stewardship Council.

Read the full story at Mic.com

ASC, MSC predict bright future for seafood certification programs

May 1, 2017 — The Seafood Futures Forum, hosted by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) at the 2017 Seafood Expo Global last week, proved to be a powerful forum for a discussion on how to safeguard seafood for future generations.

Hosted by MSC CEO Rupert Howes ASC CEO Chris Ninnes, the event included a panel forum featuring Mars Petcare, Sanford, Simplot and Aqua Spark. Panelists discussed how producing and sourcing certified seafood was beneficial to their businesses, and why collaboration is essential if the seafood industry wants to provide increasingly sustainable seafood.

The participating panellists also outlined their own commitments to sustainability – Mars Petcare has committed to using only fish from sustainable sources for its pet food by 2020, while 97 percent of Simplot’s John West Australia tuna products contain MSC-certified tuna, representing 43 percent of all canned tuna in Australia, and the company has just launched the first ever MSC-certified canned tuna in New Zealand.

Judith Kontny, international corporate social responsibility manager at Lidl, set the scene with her keynote speech, explaining the retailer’s strategy on responsible and sustainable seafood. Lidl was one of the first large retailers to build sustainability into its procurement process and continues to seek ways to improve its performance, she said.

In Germany for example, from January 2017, Lidl has only sold MSC certified products in its permanent, own-brand, fresh- and frozen-fish range, and from January 2018, will only sell farmed seafood products certified by either ASC or certified organic.

However, Kontny said this still leaves challenges in meeting consumer demand. She urged MSC and ASC to actively encourage certification of a greater range of species.

“We are eager to sell more certified species, notably octopus and squid,” she said.

Kontny also called on the ASC and MSC to engage more with consumers in Eastern and Southern Europe to help them understand the need for responsible and sustainable seafood.

“We noted considerable success in Portugal using a flyer campaign and in-store tastings and talks,” she said. “This was a new area for us, but consumers reacted favorably and left with a greater understanding of the need to choose sustainable seafood.”

Read the full story at SeafoodSource.com

Forced labor declarations included in latest MSC review consultation

March 20, 2017 — The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) has launched its 2017 policy development round, opening up six areas of its program to consultation from stakeholders.

Topics included in the review range from harmonizing fisheries assessment outcomes and ensuring traceability of certified product within fisheries, to a new standard to manage the mixing of MSC certified and non-certified fish feed ingredients.

The non-profit seafood sustainability organization is also asking for stakeholder input on the development of a new standard for seaweed that is being developed jointly with the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), a new program to recognize fisheries that are “in transition to MSC,” and an update for how to confirm the absence of forced labor in certified fisheries and supply chain organizations.

With MSC extending the requirements for labor practices across its program, it is proposing a self-declaration by certificate holders and those in assessment confirming the absence of forced and child labor in their operations.

Read the full story at Seafood Source