October 23, 2024 — Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) today launched its aquaculture Feed Solutions Toolkit, a one-stop resource for companies to tackle the climate change, habitat, and biodiversity risks associated with aquaculture feed. The toolkit combines over 80 tools, standards, initiatives, and platforms from multiple organizations, along with guidance and case studies on practical steps to improve feed sustainability.
Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) and Seafood and Gender Equality (SAGE) Partner to Advance Gender Equity in the Global Seafood Sector
October 15, 2024 — The following was released by Sustainable Fisheries Partnership and Seafood and Gender Equality:
Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) and Seafood and Gender Equality (SAGE) today signed a groundbreaking Memorandum of Understanding to advance gender equity in the global seafood sector. The two organizations – leaders in addressing environmental and social responsibility in fisheries, aquaculture, and seafood production – announced their partnership at the Conservation Alliance for Seafood Solutions annual conference.
Industry collaboration driving Sustainable Fisheries Partnership’s recent efforts
April 10, 2024 — The Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) works at all levels of the seafood supply chain to achieve steady and continuous improvements in fisheries and seafood production.
At the 2024 Seafood Expo North America (SENA), which took place from 10 to 12 March in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A., SFP highlighted its innovative approaches to engaging industry, such as through their Supply Chain Roundtables; its support for effective small-scale fishery co-management; and its Bycatch Solutions Hub, which connects seafood companies and other industry players in an attempt to reverse the decline of ocean wildlife populations.
Major seafood buyers support US proposals to address IUU fishing and human rights violations in the South Pacific
January 26, 2024 — The following was released by the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership:
More than 30 major seafood companies, industry associations and pre-competitive coalitions expressed their support for addressing illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and human rights violations to the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organization (SPRFMO), which begins its annual meeting in Ecuador today.
“We wish to see the Commission accelerate the fight against the IUU fishing in the Convention area by implementing appropriate procedures and measures to identify infringements and violations by vessels on the high seas,” the companies wrote, in a letter submitted to the Heads of Delegation of Members and Cooperating Non-Contracting Parties (CNCPs) to the SPRFMO.
The letter asks the State Members and CNCPs to take the following actions at the 12th Annual SPRFMO meeting, which takes place all week in Manta, Ecuador:
1. Support the introduction of labor issues to the SPRFMO agenda, including the creation of a specialized working group and the establishment of the first Conservation and Management Measure (CMM) on guidelines for crew members’ safety and equitable treatment, as proposed by the US, Ecuador, Australia and New Zealand.
2. Amend the jumbo flying squid CMM to progressively increase onboard observer coverage to 20%, as proposed by Australia and New Zealand.
3. Fully discuss and consider the five proposals on increasing monitoring, control and surveillance to combat IUU fishing in the jumbo flying squid fishery.
The 17 State members of the SPRFMO Commission, including the US, China and EU, will meet from January 29 to February 2 to consider proposals to improve the jumbo flying squid Conservation and Management Measures. If adopted, these actions will improve transparency and controls to prevent IUU fishing in the world’s most important squid stock.
Seafood Companies, Governments, and NGOs Support ‘Seabird-Safe’ Fishing Toolkit
December 5, 2023 — The following was released by the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership:
Action and momentum is building across the Asia-Pacific tuna industry to reduce capture of threatened albatrosses and other seabirds in longline fisheries.
Last week, Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) joined more than 80 fishing company representatives and government officials from nine APEC economies in a roundtable to develop the Seabird-Safe Fishing Toolkit to help solve the problem of seabirds becoming entangled, hooked and drowned in fishing operations.
The toolkit project is a New Zealand-funded project, with the support of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Oceans and Fisheries Working Group. The project is co-sponsored by Chile, People’s Republic of China, Peru, Chinese Taipei, and the United States. The toolkit will be developed over 2024 and presented to the APEC Oceans and Fisheries Working Group in August 2024.
Mandy Leathers, Senior International Advisor at New Zealand’s Department of Conservation, said the toolkit is a “one-stop shop” that brings together essential information about the ocean areas important to threatened seabirds, the best measures to avoid bycatch of seabirds, and robust monitoring methods.
A growing number of global companies involved in tuna fishing want to address impacts on threatened marine wildlife to meet the demands of their markets. We want to support them as much as we can.
Unlike many global environmental issues, there are effective ways to solve the problem of seabird captures in longline fishing operations. This relies on fisheries having the necessary information, as they have a key part to play,” said Leathers.
Seafood companies Thai Union and Tri Marine, and Seafood Business for Ocean Stewardship (SeaBOS) attended the roundtable and support the toolkit.
Martin Exel, Managing Director of SeaBOS, said science-based solutions like this toolkit, developed and implemented by conservation and science in conjunction with industry, are critical to reducing impacts on endangered species of seabirds, and achieving sustainable seafood production.
“Reducing the impacts of fishing on endangered species of seabirds is something we must all do, and having the options and approaches outlined in this way will speed up the process of restoring seabird population health, while also improving catches and returns for the industry. It’s a win-win for seabirds, the seafood sector, conservation, science, government, and industry,” said Exel.
Thai Union’s Sustainable Fish Sourcing Director, Fong Lee, says the development of the Seabird-Safe Fishing Toolkit marks a pivotal moment in their ongoing efforts to safeguard marine biodiversity.
“At Thai Union, our commitment extends beyond pledges. It’s about tangible actions and continuous improvement. This toolkit is a critical step towards resolving the pressing issue of seabird bycatch in fishing operations. By harnessing best practices, innovative technologies, and collaborative efforts, we aim to significantly reduce the unintended harm to seabirds.
Thai Union has already pledged to only source from vessels that are implementing best practices to protect ocean wildlife from bycatch, including seabirds. Our goal is clear – to ensure that our oceans remain vibrant and teeming with life, for the seabirds and all marine creatures. This is a responsibility we shoulder and a challenge we embrace wholeheartedly,” said Lee.
Conservation and Sustainable Seafood NGOs also have a key role in the development of the toolkit.
Alexia Morgan, Ocean Wildlife Manager at Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP), said SFP is engaging with its partner wholesalers and buyers, who want to understand the impacts of their sourcing on the wider ecosystem.
“We have a narrow window of time to stop albatross extinctions. The toolkit will help accelerate progress by supporting these companies in delivering on their existing sustainability policies to protect albatrosses and other seabirds,” said Morgan.
Matt Watson, Senior Fisheries Program Manager for the Asia Pacific at the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), said consumer demands are driving a shift in the tuna sector.
“Retailers, brands and restaurants around the world are choosing to source MSC certified tuna and use the MSC blue fish tick label on their products and menus.
“Fisheries need to demonstrate that they are minimising mortality of threatened species through best practice management measures, which now require independent verification. We hope the toolkit will help fishing fleets navigate these challenges and achieve certification,” said Watson.
New SFP Report: Concerns for South American Reduction Fisheries
October 24, 2023 — The following was released by Sustainable Fisheries Partnership:
South American reduction fisheries continue to decline or are stagnant in their management performance, according to a new report by Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP). Compared to 2022, in the sustainability category, two European fisheries improved while two South American fisheries dropped. The majority of fisheries assessed continue to be reasonably well managed or better, but performance has been slowly declining since 2018.
“Six months ago, our last report recognized rebounds and the industry’s role in supporting improvements in key European reduction fisheries. And, in this new report we see two more European fisheries regaining lost ground,” said Dave Martin, program director at SFP. “But South America is headed in the opposite direction. We hope this will motivate industry, science, government and other stakeholders to come together to reverse this trend.”
The 2023 report marks part 1 of the 14th edition of SFP’s assessments. These evaluate key fisheries based on sustainability scores in FishSource, SFP’s public database of fisheries information. Part 2 is expected to be published in March 2024.
South American countries like Chile and Peru are recognized global leaders in the production of marine ingredients. Countries like Chile and Ecuador are also leaders in production of farmed seafood. Throughout SFP’s annual assessments, reduction fisheries in the region have consistently demonstrated middling performance, particularly in FishSource management strategy scores.
The drop in performance of three South American Fisheries* make these three of the four fisheries in the lowest sustainability category (Category C – poorly managed), after recent improvements in European fisheries.
*Anchoveta – Southern Peru/Northern Chile; Anchoveta Chile Valparaíso (V) – Los Lagos (X); and Araucanian herring – Central-South Chile.
The stalled or declining performance in these fisheries, compared with the recent turnaround in several European fisheries, highlights the importance of increased regional cooperation on shared fisheries, and the critical role that pre-competitive industry and multi-stakeholder collaboration has in improving fisheries management.
“There is a clear need for industry, governments, scientists and others to redouble efforts to support and deliver sustainable fisheries,” said Martin.
SFP Launches New Projects to Address Carbon and Biodiversity Impacts of Aquaculture
September 19, 2023 — The following was released by the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership:
Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) today announced a new landscape-based aquaculture initiative to create the scale necessary for seafood buyers, processors and farmers to address the cumulative impacts of aquaculture, beyond the farm and the critical environmental and socio-economic challenges they face.
“Retailers and major buyers of seafood are looking for actionable solutions to have a positive impact,” said Braddock Spear, global policy director at SFP. “The time is now to link improved aquaculture production and sourcing to broader goals and positive impact on climate change, biodiversity and strengthening communities.”
Made possible by funding from the Walmart Foundation, SFP will initiate two new projects within its aquaculture programs. These include: 1) organizing market demand in support of more sustainable aquaculture feed and 2) building the foundation and roadmap for landscape-scale aquaculture improvement of farmed shrimp in Andhra Pradesh, India, in conjunction with the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC).
Increasingly, retailers are setting ambitious targets around climate change and biodiversity. Feed is typically the single biggest contributor to the carbon footprint of shrimp and salmon aquaculture. And many feed ingredients (e.g., fishmeal/oil, soy and grain) have direct biodiversity impacts, including overfishing and deforestation. This is driving increased attention and questions about aquaculture, particularly how improving feed inputs can help achieve these commitments.
“We have an exciting and unique opportunity to work with seafood buyers and supply chains to develop collaborative efforts around feed,” added Dave Martin, program director at SFP. “This project will allow us to engage industry to better understand, measure and reduce the environmental footprint of aquaculture feeds.”
SFP will focus industry improvements and collective action to address aquaculture feed sourcing risks. Key products include an industry action toolkit to facilitate positive and aligned supply chain engagement on aquaculture feed sustainability. SFP will work with other leading NGOs and related initiatives to ensure consistency in advice and recommendations.
Currently, only about 24 percent of farmed shrimp from India is certified. As demand from international markets for certified product grows, there will be an urgent need to address sustainability issues at the landscape level, beyond what can be delivered through farm-level certification. At the same time, certification is often out of reach for most smallholder farmers. This project will seek to build strategies to engage smallholder farmers in improvements and certification. Working at a wider scale will enhance environmental benefits and can lead to production and management efficiencies.
“ASC brings world class standards and a proven ability to work with local stakeholders. Our partnership with ASC allows us to provide comprehensive sustainability solutions to Indian shrimp production,” continued Spear. “With the motivated seafood buyers in SFP’s partnerships and our Asian Farmed Shrimp Supply Chain Roundtable, we will seek to harness market leverage and buying power to support on-the-ground improvements.”
SFP will work with the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) and shrimp supply chains to foster landscape-level improvements in Indian aquaculture. The goal is to identify farms, processors and other stakeholders within Andhra Pradesh to make verifiable improvement progress at a jurisdictional level. Using available tools and verification mechanisms, SFP and ASC will build stronger connections between production in this area and shrimp buyers and retailers.
“We at ASC have shared goals with SFP of driving more responsible seafood production, and this project provides us with a great opportunity to advance our objectives and untangle some of the barriers often experienced in aquaculture improvement projects,” said Jill Swasey, head of monitoring and evaluation at ASC. “Our work together will allow us to demonstrate our collective positive impact as we connect on-farm improvements to verified progress at landscape levels.”
In April 2023, SFP and ASC signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to enhance responsible aquaculture production. The MoU creates the path for the two organizations to innovate and scale their efforts in the aquaculture improvement space.
“The Improver Programme by ASC offers a structured and transparent roadmap for shrimp farmers to implement the requirements of the ASC Standards,” said Roy van Daatselaar, ASC Improver Programme global lead. “On top of that, we work with partners to develop scalable solutions that address impacts beyond farm level. We are thrilled to be working with SFP on designing landscape-level improvement pathways that the market can endorse to enable the sustainable transformation of the sector for shrimp farmers in Andhra Pradesh.”
Op-ed: Seafood business action on human rights is essential
September 6, 2023 — Chris Ninnes is CEO of the Aquaculture Stewardship Council. Brad Spear is global policy director at Sustainable Fisheries Partnership. ASC and SFP are members of the Certification and Ratings Collaboration.
Around the world, seafood production supports more than 600 million livelihoods and feeds more than 3 billion people. Yet significant social responsibility challenges exist in the supply chains of wild-caught and farmed seafood products from around the world.
Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Joins New Nature Crimes Alliance
August 24, 2023 — Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) yesterday joined World Resources Institute (WRI), the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment, U.S. State Department, and others in announcing the new Nature Crime Alliance and the Vancouver Statement on Nature Crime at an event at the Seventh Assembly of the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The Alliance brings together critical stakeholders to combat a broad range of nature crimes. SFP is a founding member of the Alliance and will participate in its work to combat illegal fishing.
“Effectively fighting illegal fishing requires coordination and collaboration of key stakeholders,” said Braddock Spear, global policy director at SFP. “To stop illegal fishing, we need solid and just laws with broad support, and good and fair enforcement. The Alliance will bring together necessary stakeholders and resources at a global scale never done before, and create a platform to implement our shared vision of stopping illegal fishing.”
SFP is the first organization to join the Alliance to focus specifically on improving fisheries management and enforcement at national and international levels to stop illegal fishing. The initial aim is to bring together government officials, seafood buyers, and companies to develop and enhance electronic monitoring systems and verification through better data sharing, transparency, and best practices.
“We joined the Alliance at its inception to scale-up and speed up initiatives to fight illegal fishing and improve fisheries management systems globally,” said Spear. “SFP is poised to bring the seafood industry along on its journey to coordinated action against illegal fishing to a global level.”
SFP, in conjunction with WRI, will engage and mobilize their extensive networks to recruit additional partners, forge new collaborations, and raise funding for new and expanded projects. The Alliance will also heighten knowledge and awareness of the problems and costs of illegal fishing.
According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), fishing nations, especially developing countries, lose billions of dollars due to illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing each year. IUU fishing is a major driver of the destruction of marine ecosystems and accounts for one-fifth of the global fish catch, making it the most lucrative natural resource crime after illegal timber and mining.
Thai Union and Sustainable Fisheries Partnership record successes in first year of partnership
August 22, 2023 — The following was released by Sustainable Fisheries Partnership:
Thai Union Group PCL and Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) released a report on the achievements of their first year of collaboration, solidifying their commitment to transforming the seafood industry for the better, backed by Thai Union’s recently launched SeaChange® 2030 sustainability plan.
As one of the world’s leading seafood companies, Thai Union recognizes its profound responsibility for sustainable and ethical seafood sourcing. Thai Union is committing the equivalent of its entire 2022 net profit of THB 7.2 billion (USD 200 million) to SeaChange® through 2030 to help reshape the seafood industry with solutions across people and planet that better sustain a future for all.
“The time for aggressive action is now. Through SeaChange®, we aim to drive meaningful improvements across the entire global seafood industry. Commitments this ambitious require the power and collaboration of partners like SFP that can help make long overdue structural changes a reality. Together, we’re asking the wider industry and our peers to join this effort,” said Adam Brennan, Chief Sustainability Officer of Thai Union.
“Thai Union is setting a new level and expectations for seafood sustainability with its ambitious and concrete commitments to protect ocean wildlife. If everyone followed suit, the seafood industry could play a huge role in addressing this biodiversity crisis and help restore marine wildlife,” said Kathryn Novak, Biodiversity and Nature Director, SFP.
The partnership with SFP, an organization with nearly two decades of experience catalyzing positive change across seafood supply chains globally, has been instrumental in Thai Union’s recent sustainability journey. The collaborative effort has achieved significant advancements across five pivotal areas:
1. Protecting Marine Biodiversity: Through a partnership with SFP, Thai Union audited its supply chain to address bycatch risks, resulting in a commitment to sourcing exclusively from vessels implementing ocean wildlife protection practices. Thai Union’s pioneering endorsement of the Protecting Ocean Wildlife Pledge and focus on responsible sourcing are reflected in SeaChange® 2030.
2. Understanding its supply chain – and sharing it with the world: Utilizing SFP’s Seafood Metrics system, Thai Union gained insights into its global supply chains, promoting transparency in its approach. The company’s disclosure of wild-caught and farmed seafood sources via SFP’s Ocean Disclosure Project underscores its commitment to accountability.
3. Reducing confusion in seafood supply chains: As early adopters of SFP’s universal fishery identification system, Thai Union improved traceability within its blue swimming crab supply chain. The standardized codes for global fisheries are helping Thai Union to improve traceability.
4. Addressing climate change through responsible aquaculture: Aligned with SeaChange® 2030, Thai Union championed landscape-level aquaculture management to minimize ecosystem impact. The company’s leadership in chairing SFP’s Asian Farmed Shrimp Supply Chain Roundtable contributes to climate resilience and the restoration of mangrove ecosystems.
5. Setting a good example and rallying the seafood industry for change: Thai Union’s commitment involves dedicating its entire 2022 net profit of USD 200m to SeaChange® through 2030, serving as an industry-wide call to action. The company’s collaboration with SFP and participation in multi-stakeholder groups displays its dedication to driving collective improvement, using best practices to protect ocean ecosystems.
Reflecting on this significant partnership milestone, Thai Union and SFP are committed to building upon their first year. Their shared vision and complementary expertise promise to continue fostering progress, driving transformative change within the seafood industry.
For a comprehensive overview of their partnership achievements, refer to the full report.
Explore Thai Union’s extensive sustainability efforts in the 2022 sustainability report.
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