Saving Seafood

With support of Walmart Foundation, FishWise increases focus on human rights in seafood

February 6, 2020 — The Santa Cruz, California, U.S.A.-based nonprofit FishWise has received a substantial grant from The Walmart Foundation to increase its work to address modern-day slavery and labor abuse in seafood supply chains.

The USD 934,000 (EUR 848,800) grant will allow FishWise to increase seafood industry engagement through its RISE platform while increasing the impact of the platform by aligning it with other international initiatives. RISE (an acronym for “Roadmap for Improving Seafood Ethics”) is a publicly available, open platform initiative that supports seafood companies’ evaluation and monitoring of their product and supply chains.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

FishWise report outlines steps to improve labor conditions at sea

March 15, 2019 — Nonprofit seafood sustainability consultancy FishWise has released a report providing suggestions for ways seafood companies can improve vessel monitoring and transparency.

The report, “Open Water: Guidance on Vessel Transparency for Seafood Companies,” recommends companies obtain an International Maritime Organization (IMO) number for each fishing vessel, be proactive in transferring data to public vessel lists, and support the implementation of international agreements related to illegal fishing, improving vessel safety and standards, and protecting workers.

The report was issued in response to growing concern for the treatment of fishing crews on the high seas, including from U.S. government agencies, FishWise CEO Tobias Aguirre said in a press release.

“In order to safeguard human rights and reduce illegal activity at sea, companies – along with NGOs and governments – must commit to initiatives which improve vessel monitoring and transparency,” Aguirre said.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

New partnership to tackle seafood traceability

November 20, 2017 — A new effort funded by the U.S. government and several philanthropic foundations aims to improve seafood traceability by launching a knowledge-sharing network.

The Seafood Alliance for Legality and Traceability (SALT) will promote legal and sustainable fisheries by improving supply chain transparency and traceability. The partnership will bring together seafood industry representatives, nongovernmental organizations, and governments to collaborate on ways to combat illegal seafood and share best practices.

The exact activities of the partnership will be decided in the coming year with input from seafood companies and other interested parties.

“SALT will catalyze solutions that transform how the seafood industry and governments collect, share, verify, and ultimately utilize data in the pursuit of sustainable fisheries,” Tobias Aguirre, CEO of FishWise, told SeafoodSource.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource.com