Year in Review
Highlights from 2021
SFP Partners Expand Commitments to Responsible Sourcing
Many of SFP’s corporate partners introduced new sustainable seafood commitments in 2021:
Asda committed to protect endangered, threatened, and protected (ETP) ocean wildlife species, including sharks, sea turtles, seabirds, whales, and dolphins, from being accidentally killed in the fisheries that Asda sources from.
Auchan released a new sustainability commitment that includes a purchasing preference for seafood from FIPs rated A-C through SFP’s FIP Evaluation Program, support for SFP’s Supply Chain Roundtables, and an intention to begin mapping its aquaculture sources in 2022.
Disney Parks, Experiences and Products made the commitment to serve 100-percent environmentally responsible seafood by 2022, including products that are actively engaged in fishery improvement projects (FIPs).
Sea Pact, a group of North American seafood companies working together to drive improvements in the seafood supply chain, formally adopted SFP’s Target 75 initiative as a key strategy to focus its support.
Seattle Fish Co. released a new 2021-2025 Sustainability Commitment that includes a commitment to actively support fishery and aquaculture improvement projects (FIPs and AIPs).
Protecting Ocean Wildlife
After piloting the first bycatch audit with Asda, SFP continued working with Birdlife International and Whale & Dolphin Conservation throughout 2021 on additional audits for several other SFP partners, with public releases beginning early next year.
SFP’s Expert Brief examined the threat posed to North Atlantic right whales by North American lobster and crab fisheries – through entanglement in fixed fishing lines – and the potential for ropeless gear to eliminate this threat.
Supporting Small-Scale Fishers
We teamed up with the Peruvian Ministry of Production (PRODUCE) and local NGO Sociedad Peruana de Derecho Ambiental (SPDA) to launch www.pescaformal.pe, to help small-scale fishers legally register their vessels. In just the first few months, one-third of the fleet (more than 1,150 vessels) received their vessel licenses.
We helped launch the BSC Fishers Communication Forum (Forkom Nelangsa) for blue swimming crab (BSC) fishers in Indonesia. Forum members participated in a review of the national blue swimming crab Fishery Management Plan (FMP) with the Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (MMAF).
Improving Fisheries Management
Fisher associations from Ecuador and Peru and processing plants from Ecuador, Peru, and Costa Rica, all members of COREMAHI (the Regional Committee of Mahi), agreed to implement a Code of Conduct, the first-ever regional coordination mechanism for improving the sustainability of the Eastern Pacific Ocean (EPO) mahi-mahi fishery. SFP provided technical support and coordination in developing and approving the Code.
Ecuador approved the first national-level fisheries management plan for its small pelagic fishery. This milestone reflects the advocacy of the Small Pelagics Sustainability Fishery Improvement Project and the Ecuadorian Sustainable Small Pelagic Fishery Platform, a co-management mechanism developed and implemented by Ecuador’s government with support from the Global Marine Commodities project, an interregional initiative funded by GEF that receives technical support from the UNDP and is facilitated by SFP.
Promoting Sustainable Aquaculture
SFP’s Aquaculture Technology Spotlight report highlighted the growing number of data-driven tools that bring fish farmers and their data together to monitor the cumulative impacts and shared risks associated with aquaculture, beyond the traditional farm scale.
SFP Supply Chain Roundtables Work Together Toward Sustainability Improvements
SFP’s Supply Chain Roundtables (SRs) were busy in 2021:
SFP and IFFO (The Marine Ingredients Organization) launched the Global Marine Ingredients Roundtable, for companies to drive environmental and social improvements in key fisheries that supply marine ingredients (fishmeal and fish oil).
Members of the Global Squid SR joined forces to create a working group to address illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) squid fishing.
The US Gulf of Mexico Shrimp SR became one of the first 100-percent industry-funded SRs.
The new Mexican Shrimp SR now has six participating companies that have agreed to implement a rigorous legal verification system and share all resulting information with SFP.
25 members of the Global Longline Tuna SR signed on to a joint advocacy letter with a total of 112 supply chain companies, advocating for the WCPFC to progress work on harvest strategies during the 2021 Commission meeting.
SFP Tools, Science, and Services Support Industry Sustainability Goals
SFP’s suite of innovative tools and services continued to expand in 2021:
We expanded our Seafood Metrics system to include a new set of aquaculture indicators to assess management at the provincial or state level, an updated Human Rights Risk Indicator tool, and an increased program for suppliers to help them better serve their customers.
We added an updated scoring method for environmental impacts to our FishSource online information system. Along with the already established scoring for stock status and management quality, this new method will help fisheries and FIPs better track the improvements being made on the big issues they are facing.
We introduced a major update of our FIP Evaluation Tool to better assess the link between FIP tasks and actions and impact on the water.
With the Hilborn Lab at the University of Washington, we released an improved version of our Fishery Improvement Projects Database (FIP-DB), to help researchers understand what approaches contribute to success in FIPs.
The Certification and Ratings Collaboration, of which SFP is a member, released an updated version of the Sustainable Seafood Data Tool.
Learn more about SFP
Contact us to learn more about SFP’s progress in improving the sustainability of fisheries and aquaculture around the world.