Saving Seafood

US retailer Publix audits seafood suppliers’ sustainability answers

October 11, 2019 — Publix Super Markets, a Lakeland, Florida-based retailer with more than 1,200 locations in seven southern US states will begin, in 2020, to “reverse audit” some of its many seafood suppliers for their sustainability claims.

“We expect them to be in compliance and [to] find no errors,” Guy Pizzuti, the company’s seafood category manager, told Undercurrent News in a recent email exchange.

The reverse audit process will take an item code and lot number and work backwards through the system, he explained. In instances where aquaculture-related suppliers are found out of compliance, the company will meet with both the supplier and the Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) program, he said.

“Corrective actions would be submitted, audits would be increased, and [the] business would be reduced or eliminated [from the supplier list] pending any further issues. BAP will be asked to demonstrate findings to both Publix and the supplier.”

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

SFP unveils toolkit for aquaculture improvement

September 25, 2019 — The following was released by the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership:

Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) is pleased to introduce the Aquaculture Improvement Project (AIP) Toolkit, an online resource to support new AIPs and accelerate the adoption of better management practices across aquaculture industries.

Similar to fishery improvement projects (FIPs), an AIP is a multi-stakeholder process that addresses the cumulative environmental impacts and the shared risks associated with aquaculture. These projects utilize the power of the private sector to promote positive changes toward sustainability and seek to make these changes endure through policy change. If the industry works to develop AIPs in the same way it has worked to develop FIPs, SFP believes the aquaculture industry will thrive by addressing some of its key challenges, such as disease outbreaks and poor water quality.

“Compared to FIPs, the concept of an AIP is relatively new, less familiar, and far less established within the seafood industry,” said Dave Martin, deputy division director, programs at SFP. “However, they are an equally important mechanism for the supply chain to support industries along the journey toward sustainability.”

The new AIP Toolkit provides step-by-step guidance on how to initiate, implement, and report an AIP, and ultimately improve aquaculture policy and management strategies that result in improvements on the water. To make it more familiar and easy to use, SFP has adapted the AIP toolkit from the established guidelines for FIPs created by the Conservation Alliance for Seafood Solutions, and the AIP Toolkit’s style mirrors SFP’s existing FIP Toolkit and Resources. The toolkit includes an introduction to AIPs, general guidance on how to start an AIP, as well as templates and example documentation to support project implementation.

“We aren’t reinventing the wheel here. We’ve taken a model that is well-known to industry – the FIP model – and adapted it to the unique challenges of aquaculture,” said SFP CEO Jim Cannon. “Many of the steps in an AIP mirror the core attributes of a FIP: public supply chain commitments, published needs assessments, workplans with time-bound objectives, and regular public reporting of progress.”

The AIP toolkit notes that, in line with the FAO’s Ecosystem Approach to Aquaculture (EAA), an AIP should operate at a scale beyond the farm level and focus on improved management at the resource, watershed, or landscape level (commonly referred to as zonal or area management). A report co-published last year by SFP, Conservation International, and the University California Santa Barbara’s Sustainable Fisheries Group is a complementary resource to the AIP toolkit that provides implementation guidance on three key principles of the EAA. All of this information, and more, can be found on SFP’s website at www.sustainablefish.org.

New national-level FIP gets underway in Indonesia

September 17, 2019 — The following was released by the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership:

The Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) is pleased to announce the development of a new, national-level fishery improvement project (FIP) concerning longline tuna in Indonesia.

SFP made the announcement today in a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signing ceremony in Jakarta with the Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries. The prospective FIP includes albacore, yellowfin, and bigeye longline fisheries in the Indian Ocean (WPP 572 and WPP 573) within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Indonesia and international waters (FAO Region 57), as well as yellowfin and bigeye longline fisheries in Western Central Pacific Ocean WPP 714 and WPP 715 (archipelagic waters), and WPPs 716 and 717 (EEZ; FAO Region 71).

SFP’s Target 75 initiative was a part of the driving force behind this FIP. The initiative has set a goal of seeing 75 percent of global production of key seafood sectors, including both shelf-stable and fresh and frozen tuna sectors, to be either sustainable, as in certified by organizations such as the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), or showing regular, verifiable improvements. SFP’s analysis of the global tuna sector recommends focusing on larger-scale FIPs like this one that offer economies of scale.
Members of SFP’s Fresh and Frozen Tuna Supply Chain Roundtable (SR) are supporting this developing FIP.

“Since Indonesia is considered to be the world’s largest producer of tuna and has the most abundant tuna fisheries in the world, it was only natural for SFP to promote a national-level FIP of this kind in that country,” said Blake Lee-Harwood, programs strategy director at SFP.

ATLI, the Indonesia Longline Tuna Association, is backing the FIP, along with 14 Indonesian tuna fishing companies and processors, involving more than 250 longline vessels that have committed to participate in this FIP. The ATLI Office in Benoa, Bali, will coordinate ongoing organizational efforts.

“This could be a historical milestone for the longline tuna fishery improvement project towards MSC certification,” said ATLI Chairman Dwi Agus Siswa Putra. “We hope that longline tuna will regain its position as a prominent product from Indonesia that makes all of us proud.”

Read the full release here

SFP’s 2018 Annual Report shows sustainability progress

August 14, 2019 — The following was released by the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership:

Sustainable Fishery Partnership (SFP) today released its annual report for 2018, which demonstrates significant advances in fishery improvement—the report can be found online as a PDF download.”

Among other signs of progress, SFP notes in the report that the number of fishery improvement projects (FIPs) supported by SFP’s supply chain roundtables (SRs) has gone up from 45 in 2016 to 63 as of last year. Corporate participation in those SRs has increased as well, from 97 companies in 2016 to 150 companies in 2018. In addition, the report indicates global volume covered by FIPs has gone from 3.4 million metric tons in 2016 to 7.2 million in 2018.

The new report also discusses SFP’s Target 75 initiative, gives a recap of the highlights of SFP’s work from 2018, and describes work SFP did in 2018 in the aquaculture sector. We also noted five companies—Beaver Street Fisheries, Fortune Fish & Gourmet, Jealsa, Seattle Fish Co., and Tesco—that demonstrated support for SFP and the initiative in 2018.

Read the full release here

New report combines data of five leading sustainability NGOs for first time

June 13, 2019 — A new report released during the 2019 SeaWeb Seafood Summit, (SWSS19) has united data from five of the leading seafood sustainability NGOs, giving a comprehensive look at the sustainability of the world’s oceans.

“Sustainable Seafood: A Global Benchmark” has brought together the data and expertise of the Aquaculture Stewardship Council, Fair Trade USA, Marine Stewardship Council, Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Program, and Sustainable Fisheries Partnership. Together, the collective data has formed a report looking at the sustainability of different seafood sectors, and the priorities that should be focused on moving forward.

The report is thanks to the Seafood Certification and Ratings Collaboration, which launched in 2015.

“Through the collaboration, we aim to increase our impact by coordinating our tools and leveraging our extensive data on the sustainability of fisheries and aquaculture,” the report said.

The report, and the compiling of the data of the various NGOs, has been a goal of the collaboration and regular updated analysis are planned in the future.

“This first edition is intended as a benchmark, illustrating the current level of performance and identifying the improvements needed going forward,” the report said.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

SFP announces Target 75 progress

April 22, 2019 — The following was released by the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership:

The Target 75 initiative launched by Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) is halfway toward the goal of 75 percent of seafood production in key sectors classified as sustainable or improving toward sustainability by the end of 2020. This progress has been driven by increasing collaboration among industry, NGOs, governments, and other stakeholders.

SFP CEO Jim Cannon, in a luncheon presentation last month coinciding with Seafood Expo North America, said that 14 percent of seafood in all T75 sectors is already meeting the sustainable criteria, while 18 percent can be classified as “improving.” Cannon also noted that many industry stakeholders have expressed strong interest in starting new fishery or aquaculture improvement projects (FIPs/AIPs) that will cover a total of 28 percent more.

That leaves a mere 15 percent to go, and with more than 18 months remaining until the 2020 deadline, Cannon said he and SFP are confident that the industry can meet these goals.

Exciting developments include the launch of a Global Mahi Supply Chain Roundtable (SR), with 11 participating companies already onboard. The SR will focus on Eastern Pacific Ocean large pelagic multi-species fisheries and on influencing regional policy and encouraging alignment across the entire fleet at a transboundary level.

Cannon also highlighted very positive news in the squid sector, which at one point had no volume whatsoever meeting the T75 criteria, but now has risen to 14 percent, with a number of projects in the works that promise to push that number even higher. On the aquaculture front, a collaboration of NGOs, IDH, and the Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries is launching a pilot to implement new tools to improve regional productivity, investment, profitability, and environmental performance.

Cannon noted that there has been significant improvement progress this past year, with 45 FIPs achieving A or B ratings, which means they made measurable improvements in the past 12 months. Examples of progress include new logbook systems, new harvest control rules, and new research programs.

“A lot of those improvements are not very ‘sexy’ at all,” he said. “But these are the building blocks upon which you ultimately do get stock recovery and better management of fishery and aquaculture practices globally, which will ultimately lead to healthier seas.”

Bakkafrost joins Ocean Disclosure Project

April 1, 2019 — The following was released by the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership:

Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) is pleased to announce that Faroese salmon farming company Bakkafrost has become a participant in the Ocean Disclosure Project (ODP).

Bakkafrost has published a seafood sourcing disclosure to coincide with the publication of its latest Healthy Living Sustainability Report. The disclosure contains a list of the main wild-catch fisheries from which Bakkafrost sources marine ingredients for use in its fish feed, which is produced in-house for its salmon farming operations. The source list is published alongside information on fishery management, catch method, and environmental impact.

“Good access to local marine sources has enabled us to maintain a high nutritional content in our feed. Ensuring these sources are sustainable is a priority for us. We are very pleased to be increasing transparency about our sourcing through the Ocean Disclosure Project,” said Odd Eliasen, Managing Director of Havsbrún, the Bakkafrost subsidiary that produces the fish feed.

SFP started the ODP in 2015 to provide a valuable information resource for responsible investors, seafood consumers, and others interested in sustainable seafood. To date, 18 other companies in North America and Europe have participated. Other ODP participants include fish feed manufacturers Biomar Norway, Cargill/EWOS, and Skretting Norway.

“We are pleased to welcome Bakkafrost to the Ocean Disclosure Project,” said Tania Woodcock, ODP Project Manager. “Thanks to its fully vertically integrated value chain, Bakkafrost has full control over production and is able to trace its use of marine ingredients from North Atlantic fisheries to feed to the final salmon product. This enables them to be completely transparent about their sourcing.”

Bakkafrost’s full profile can be viewed at: https://oceandisclosureproject.org/companies/bakkafrost

Bakkafrost’s latest sustainability report can be viewed at: https://www.bakkafrost.com/media/2012/2018-sustainability-report.pdf

Tesco joins Ocean Disclosure Project

March 26, 2019 — The following was released by the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership:

Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) is pleased to announce that UK retailer Tesco has become the newest participant in the Ocean Disclosure Project (ODP).

Tesco has published two seafood disclosures, containing a list of the main wild-catch fisheries from which Tesco sourced in 2017 and 2018, along with information on fishery management, catch method, and environmental impact.

Giles Bolton, Responsible Sourcing Director for Tesco said: “We want our customers to be able to enjoy sustainable and affordable fish now and long into the future, so we’re determined to play our part in protecting the world’s oceans and fish stocks. Publishing data as part of the Ocean Disclosure Project underlines our commitment to transparency right across our supply chains, as we continue to drive up standards in environmental sustainability.”

SFP started the ODP in 2015 to provide a valuable information resource for responsible investors, seafood consumers, and others interested in sustainable seafood. To date, 17 other companies in North America and Europe have participated.

Other ODP participants include UK retailers Asda, Co-op Food, Lidl UK, and Morrisons, and US retailers Publix Supermarkets, Walmart, Giant Eagle, and Meijer.

“By participating in the Ocean Disclosure Project, Tesco has demonstrated its commitment to responsible sourcing of seafood,” said Tania Woodcock, ODP Project Manager. “Tesco’s disclosure represents a significant proportion of the seafood consumed in the UK. We hope that other UK retailers and seafood suppliers will also be encouraged to support transparency in the seafood sector by disclosing their seafood sourcing.”

Ian Rolmanis, SFP’s Buyer Engagement Director, UK & EU, added “SFP and Tesco have been working together for many years on the sustainability of their seafood supply chain, and the release of their wild sourcing information through ODP is a very exciting move towards increased transparency and should be commended.”

Tesco’s full profile can be viewed at: https://oceandisclosureproject.org/companies/Tesco

Seafood importers backing groups in protecting vaquita

March 18, 2019 — The following was released by the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership:

Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) is pleased to announce eight US importers of Mexican seafood—Aquastar, Artisan Catch (Orca Foods LLC), Del Pacifico, Inland Seafood, Meridian Products, Ocean Garden Products, Santa Monica Seafood, and Seattle Fish Company—have joined together to donate $12,000 to VaquitaCPR to fund removal of illegal fishing gear from the upper Gulf of California.

All eight companies participate in a Mexican Seafood Supply Chain Roundtable (SR) facilitated by SFP for managing ongoing sustainability improvement efforts.

The vaquita porpoise in the upper Gulf of California is critically endangered. The most recent population estimate (2018) indicates, at most, only 22 individuals. Though gillnets were banned from the upper Gulf of California throughout the vaquita’s native range in 2017, illegal use of gillnets by totoaba poachers and shrimp fishermen has continued and is threatening the existence of the vaquita.

“Unless this decline can be stopped by eliminating mortality in illegal gillnets, the vaquita will be extinct in a few years,” said the authors of a 2017 report from the 10th meeting of the Comité Internacional para la Recuperación de la Vaquita.

Through VaquitaCPR, conservation organizations such as Museo de la Ballena and the World Wildlife Fund are working with the Mexican Ministry of Environment and Mexican Navy as well as local fishermen to remove the illegal gillnets from the water on a continuing basis. This gear removal program is critical to the survival of the remaining vaquita.

“The seafood community has a long history of supporting the environmental and social needs of our community. None of these needs have been more important than the conservation, protection, and recovery needs of the vaquita porpoise,” said Lance Leonard, President/CEO of Ocean Garden Products, Inc. “The industry stands united in working with government, NGOs, and environmental groups to identify ways to save this unique mammal. We support the activity of VaquitaCPR and hope to bring attention to the cause with our customers and consumers.”

These companies, along with a number of other Mexican Seafood SR participants, have also sent a letter of support for alternative gear development to the Mexican government and upper Gulf of California shrimp fishermen. In this letter, they request that the Mexican government improve enforcement of the gillnet ban, but also expedite the processes necessary to develop and approve a viable alternative gear for small-scale shrimp fishermen.

“We would like to further express our willingness to collaborate in this important effort through the purchase, distribution, and marketing of the shrimp captures resulting from the adoption of fishing gears other than gillnets and or entanglement nets, which do not represent risk of bycatch to the vaquita marina,” participants wrote in the letter.

The importers are pledging future support to develop a market in the U.S. for “vaquita-safe” shrimp, once it becomes available. The letter was sent to the Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development, Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources, National Commissioner of Aquaculture and Fisheries, and the National Commissioner of Natural Protected Areas, as well as shrimp producer cooperatives in the upper Gulf region.

According to Megan Westmeyer, SFP Senior Improvements and Strategy Manager, “When the permanent gillnet ban went into effect without a viable alternative gear for the artisanal shrimp fishery, the supply chain lost the ability to use its purchasing power to affect change. Fortunately, these suppliers are determined to see that the upper Gulf of California can be home to both the vaquita porpoise and a sustainable artisanal shrimp fishery, and are taking action to ensure this vision becomes reality.”

Sustainable Fisheries Partnership announces new joint aquaculture improvement project in Indonesia

March 18, 2019 — The following was published by the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership:

Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) is pleased to announce the initiation of a new sustainable aquaculture improvement project in Indonesia.

The project, scheduled for two years in Banyuwangi, East Java, will focus on improving the sustainability of aquaculture in the region, as well as governance and management of ongoing shrimp farming.

“Effective management of the natural resource base and protection from disease is critical to ensure the long-term investability of the shrimp industry,” said SFP Aquaculture Director Anton Immink.

SFP is working to coordinate the project, together with Conservation International, IDH—the Sustainable Trade Initiative, and Longline Environment. The Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, the Indonesian Ministry of National Development Planning, and the Financial Service Authority of Indonesia will all be collaborating on the project as well.

“This program will support the ministry’s efforts to grow sustainable shrimp exports from Indonesia,” said Machmud, Directorate General of Product Competitiveness for the Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries.

The approach is designed to address disease risks and environmental impacts across a politically and ecologically relevant location, to attract investment and insurance and create a scalable model that can be exported to other geographies.

“This project builds positively on the guidelines we jointly developed and creates the action needed to ensure a sustainable future for the shrimp industry in Indonesia,” said Dane Klinger, Aquaculture Innovation Fellow at CI.

The project is supported by the Walton Family Foundation and the Packard Foundation.