Partner Highlights
BSF’s focus on collaboration to advance seafood sustainability
BSF (formerly Beaver Street Fisheries) has partnered with SFP since 2015, bringing stakeholders together to solve shared problems and promote seafood sustainability.
BSF (formerly Beaver Street Fisheries), based in Jacksonville, Florida, is a leading importer, exporter, manufacturer, and distributor of frozen seafood and meat products from the US and around the world. The company has been focused on advancing sustainable seafood sourcing for nearly two decades, operating at the center of a complex global supply chain. With a wide range of source fisheries, suppliers, and customer requirements, BSF relies on collaborative approaches to better understand sustainability challenges and support continuous improvement.
BSF’s longstanding partnership with SFP has helped support this work by providing a platform to connect stakeholders, share information, and identify pathways for improvement. The company takes a practical approach – focusing on where meaningful progress can be made rather than attempting to address every fishery at once. Through its partnership with SFP, BSF has been able to better understand risks and opportunities across its supply chain and prioritize areas for engagement, recognizing that challenges and progress vary across fisheries and regions.
An early emphasis on sustainability
BSF’s sustainability journey began long before sustainability became a common focus within the seafood industry. In the early 2000s, BSF’s work in the Bahamas spiny lobster fishery helped bring together fishery stakeholders, exporters, and government representatives to form a cooperative/exporters association and advance improvements that ultimately contributed to Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification, which the fishery continues to maintain today.
As sustainability expectations across the seafood industry grew, BSF sought practical guidance to navigate an increasingly complex landscape of fisheries, certifications, and NGO initiatives. BSF began partnering with SFP in 2015, with a focus on bringing stakeholders together, supporting shared problem solving, and helping provide clarity across a rapidly evolving field.
Support for collaborative approaches
A key part of this partnership has been BSF’s active participation in SFP’s Supply Chain Roundtables (SRs). These pre-competitive forums allow processors, importers, and others that buy directly from specific fishery sectors to work together to promote improvements throughout the supply chain. Over the years, BSF has been a part of six different SRs, and currently participates in the Global Mahi, Global Squid, and Indonesian Snapper and Grouper SRs. Casey Marion, BSF’s Vice President of Quality & Sustainability, currently serves as the SR Industry Chair for the Indonesian Snapper and Grouper SR. Participating in SRs has helped BSF better understand risks and opportunities in its source fisheries, connect with key stakeholders and other seafood companies, and identify ways to support fishery improvement projects (FIPs) and other sustainability initiatives.
Beyond SRs, SFP has supported BSF in navigating sustainability challenges across its global supply chain by providing fisheries expertise, identifying risks and opportunities, and connecting BSF with key stakeholders and resources. This partnership has helped BSF strengthen supplier engagement, make more informed sourcing decisions, and advance improvement efforts across a range of fisheries, including mahi-mahi, croaker, snapper and grouper, crab, and lobster.
Customer conversations
BSF sees sustainability as both a customer expectation and an ongoing process of continuous improvement. A key part of the company’s approach is maintaining open dialogue with customers and suppliers who are interested in advancing improvements. BSF emphasizes collaboration and education to help these companies understand sustainability challenges and connect with appropriate resources to begin or advance improvement efforts.
“We’re always willing to have a conversation with a customer about a resource and where improvement can begin,” said Casey Marion, Vice President of Quality & Sustainability at BSF.
Looking ahead, BSF remains focused on strengthening collaboration across supply chains, supporting fishery improvement efforts, and continuing to work with partners such as SFP to navigate complex sourcing environments and advance practical, science-informed solutions.
“SFP is a great partner and a great resource. They help us navigate challenges in our supply chain and give us the tools and information we need to make better decisions, support our suppliers, and be better stewards.”
– Casey Marion, Vice President of Quality & Sustainability at BSF
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