Our seas and oceans can provide a low-carbon, nutritious source of protein but a new assessment claims companies are failing to deliver on key social and environmental issues. By Nick Hughes.
The world’s largest seafood companies lack transparency over the social and environmental impacts of their sourcing practices.
That’s the verdict of the latest ‘Seafood Stewardship Index’ from the World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA), which ranked the performance of the 30 most influential companies in the global seafood industry on topics such as sustainable sourcing, transparency, traceability and labour rights.
The alliance found that while progress is being made by a few leaders, most of the companies are failing to meaningfully address their social and environmental impacts.
Thai Union Group, which owns the John West brand, topped the league table with 47.5 out of 100, while at the other end of the spectrum, OUG Holdings – one of the largest seafood wholesalers in Asia – scored zero. Cargill, Nomad Foods and Royal Greenland were among the other businesses whose policies were subjected to scrutiny.
WBA said that only 5 out of 30 companies have established credible targets related to social, environmental and traceability topics and most do not provide the necessary reporting requirements to effectively monitor progress.
Although the vast majority of companies source at least some of their seafood from operations that are independently classed as sustainable or improving, fewer than a third (9 out of 30) provided evidence that they have increased their sustainable seafood portfolio since 2021. Moreover, just 7 out of the 30 have set a target to achieve 100% environmentally sustainable seafood and report on progress.
Globally, seafood is an important commodity accounting for 17% of the world’s production of animal protein and supporting the livelihoods of more than half a billion people, according to WBA.
It has also been promoted as an important part of a sustainable diet with the potential to replace higher carbon animal proteins like red and white meat. A report published by WWF earlier this year modelled an 83% increase in seafood consumption in the UK by 2030 to achieve a net-zero aligned, healthy diet, mostly due to the nutritional benefits of seafood.
Acknowledging the impact of current sourcing practices on fish stocks and marine habitats, the charity said that hitting this figure would require UK consumers to shift away from the big five species of cod, haddock, prawns, salmon and tuna that currently dominate UK consumption, and choose lower footprint seafood options where possible, particularly locally-produced seafood like mussels and more diverse species like sardines.
Risks persist
The fact that the sourcing policies of the world’s major seafood giants remain undeveloped and inadequate in the view of WBA suggests that increasing consumption sustainably will present a huge challenge. The third iteration of the index uncovered ongoing issues with illegal, unregulated, unreported (IUU) fishing, which is estimated to account for 20% of the world’s catches. Yet only three benchmarked companies currently assess IUU risks in their operations and supply chains, and none disclose the results of their risk assessments.
Less than a third of companies disclose information about the traceability systems they have in place, and only four businesses demonstrate that they are actively working towards implementing globally recognised traceability standards.
Human and labour rights abuses are another problem for the industry. WBA said seafood is a high-risk sector for human and labour rights abuses due to the isolation of workers on fishing vessels at sea and the reliance of the industry on vulnerable migrant workers. Compared to 2021, seven more companies have started to implement human rights due diligence (HRDD) in this year’s index, bringing the total to 9 out of 30 companies; however most of those assessed did not demonstrate any steps towards implementing HRDD.
“Companies’ first priority should be assessing their risk and impacts. Currently, many still don’t seem to know their impacts,” said Helen Packer, seafood stewardship index lead at WBA.
“Businesses should then focus on being able to trace their seafood products from boat to plate, to ensure they are legally caught, ethically produced and environmentally sustainable,” she added.
