Ten of the world’s largest seafood and aquatic feed companies, including Skretting and Cargill, have announced that they will increase their efforts to strengthen sustainable practices in the seafood industry.
Leading seafood and aquatic feed companies decided to combine the forces seafood sector. The announcement followed a meeting in Japan where a dialogue between the companies concluded with a shared commitment to advance sustainable practices within their global operations and supply chains. The dialogue marks the third in a series of keystone dialogues between companies from Asia, Europe and the Americas and facilitated by Stockholm Resilience Centre. These companies collaborate in the Seafood Business for Ocean Stewardship (SeaBOS) initiative, with the objective to take leadership on ocean stewardship.
In line with the SeaBOS charter, the meeting resulted in an agreement to address key topics affecting ocean health and seafood sustainability, including illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and modern slavery. SeaBOS companies are now piloting and testing new technologies for traceability in their global supply chains and will actively engage in the ongoing Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability to improve existing global standards. All companies are committed to transparent reporting and aspire to play a leading role in improving global ocean policy and regulations in support of ocean stewardship.
In the dialogue, the SeaBOS organization was also formally established with the appointment of Shigeru Ito, CEO and President of Maruha Nichiro Corporation – the largest seafood company in the world, as the first chair of the SeaBOS initiative. Knut Nesse, currently CEO of Nutreco, was appointed managing director of SeaBOS from January 1, 2019. “SeaBOS is a global coalition between companies with a strategic vision to actively contribute to addressing the ocean stewardship challenge. I am committed to making this initiative a great success and ensure that we take on a global responsibility,“ said Mr. Ito.