Saving Seafood

Groundbreaking new global traceability standards met with rapid industry support

November 4, 2020 — Traceable and reliable seafood is crucial in helping businesses and stakeholders across the seafood sector retain their competitive edge in today’s industry. Companies participating in the Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST) – and the committee of seafood stakeholders steering it – know this well.

Launched in April 2017, GDST was established as a business-to-business forum with the core mandate of crafting a set of industry-wide traceability standards for seafood that would both enable interoperability as well as increase verifiability of products across sector systems.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Collaboration, “Buy American” efforts emerging from COVID-19 crisis

March 24, 2020 — Sea Pact, a collaborative association of 11 leading American and Canadian seafood companies, has issued an appeal to the industry, urging it to use the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to work together on supply chain issues.

Sea Pact, which counts Inland Seafood, Seattle Fish, Fortune Fish and Gourmet, and Santa Monica Seafood as members, is calling on the North American seafood industry to work together to “face the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 global crisis,” the organization said in a press release.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Big group of seafood distributors join opposition to Magnuson-Stevens update

June 28, 2018 — Opponents to representative Don Young’s bill to update the Magnuson-Stevens Act are continuing to make noise as the bill waits its turn for a vote on the floor of the US House of Representatives. The latest to sound off: Sea Pact, a coalition of 10 large US and Canadian seafood distributors, including Fortune Fish & Gourmet, in Chicago, Illinois, and Santa Monica Seafood, in Los Angeles, California.

The group called on Congress Tuesday to reject Young’s bill, the Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in Fisheries Management Act, HR 200, saying it “risks the United States’ competitive advantage in the marketplace and weakens the sustainability of our fisheries”. It is urging lawmakers instead to “focus on supporting new market opportunities for sustainable U.S. seafood”.

Sea Pact does not say which particular provisions it takes issue with in the bill. Other opponents, including several advocacy groups, have noted their dislike of the flexibility HR 200 would give regional fishery management councils in following the acceptable catch limits recommended by their scientific advisory panels  and the top statutory authority the bill would give MSA over other laws, including the Endangered Species Act and the National Marine Sanctuaries Act.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

SEA PACT LOOKING TO FUND FISHERY PROJECTS THAT WILL HELP WORLD’S MOST CONSUMED SPECIES

SEAFOODNEWS.COM — July 1, 2015 — Sea Pact has opened its fourth Request for Grant Proposals (RFP) where the group will award financial support to projects dealing with bycatch reduction, innovation in aquaculture, or social responsibility within the seafood supply chain.

During this application period, Sea Pact said it has specific interest to fund projects that will impact the most world’s most consumed seafood species.

“We’ve learned a lot from our previous grant proposal requests,” said Guy Dean, Vice President/CSO of Albion Fisheries Ltd, and newly selected Chair of the Sea Pact Advisory Committee. “[Sea Pact has] begun to recognize where our contributions can make the greatest impact on creating positive change within our industry. We are excited about a more focused RFP process relevant to current issues affecting the seafood industry and look forward to the submissions we receive.”

Responses are due by July 31st, 2015. Sea Pact will announce the grant recipients in late 2015.

Sea Pact is a coalition of seafood distributors that share a common interest in developing environmentally sustainable fisheries and aquaculture practices. Albion Fisheries Ltd, Fortune Fish & Gourmet, Ipswich Shellfish Group, Santa Monica Seafood, Seacore Seafood and Seattle Fish Co. are the founding members of Sea Pact. The group has also added Stavis Seafood, JJ McDonnell, and A.C. Covert to its membership.