Partner highlights
Congalsa’s support for improvements in key priority fisheries
Congalsa became SFP’s first Spanish corporate partner more than a decade ago, beginning a collaboration that has impacted fisheries around the globe.
Congalsa is Spain’s leading producer of pre-cooked and frozen seafood products, supplying major retail and foodservice chains and exporting to markets around the world. Since our partnership began, Congalsa has been an active supporter of efforts to improve the fisheries that supply its raw materials, to ensure that its products come from legal, well-managed, and sustainable or improving sources.
A pioneering partnership
In 2013, when SFP was seeking industry leadership to transform the Spanish seafood market toward more responsible supply chains, Congalsa stepped forward, becoming SFP’s first partner in the country. At the time, Congalsa already had a formal sustainability policy focused on responsibly sourced raw materials, supported by its own inspectors to ensure compliance.
Looking to deepen its commitment to sustainability and proactively understand the potential risks in its source fisheries, Congalsa worked with SFP to conduct a detailed analysis of its supply chains, using tools such as SFP’s FishSource and Seafood Metrics. The result was an environmental risk map that identified three priority fisheries for evaluation and targeted improvement strategies: Peruvian jumbo flying squid, Spanish swordfish and blue shark, and Argentine shortfin squid.
From assessment to action
Based on the results of that initial assessment, Congalsa has been a strong voice for and supporter of improvements and action in all three identified priority fisheries.
Peruvian jumbo flying squid
Since the first meeting of the jumbo flying squid supply chain in 2015, Congalsa has been a leader in bringing together local companies and international buyers to work together on improving the world’s largest squid fishery. With SFP’s support and Congalsa’s leadership, the first jumbo flying squid fishery improvement project (FIP), was launched in 2018, with participants that include Peruvian exporters and European and North American importers.
This FIP also helped lay the groundwork for what is now SFP’s Global Squid Supply Chain Roundtable, where Congalsa works pre-competitively with other major squid industry players to actively promote actions to improve squid sustainability.
Spanish swordfish and blue shark
Congalsa and SFP were the first non-fishing entities to publicly support a transparent, collaborative mechanism for improvement in the Spanish surface longline swordfish fishery, to proactively address market concerns about the lack of responsible management for shark species such as blue shark, which are also caught in the fishery.
Between 2016 and 2019, Congalsa, through its subsidiary at the time Allpelagic, facilitated dialogue on this topic among Galician fishing associations (ARVI, ORPAGU, OPROMAR, and OPP-7 Burela) and seafood-processing companies. This process led to the creation of the Blues FIP, a collaborative project led by 14 Spanish companies. The FIP, which is supported by an innovative governance and funding model, is now working to expand its work from the Atlantic to the Pacific and Indian oceans.
Argentine shortfin squid
In 2018, SFP and Congalsa worked with other companies and the Argentine Squid Fishing Vessel Owners’ Association (CAPA) to develop an Argentine shortfin squid FIP, to drive improvements in the world’s second-largest squid fishery. The FIP, which was launched in 2022, includes Spanish, French, and U.S. importers and Argentina’s National Institute for Fisheries Research and Development (INIDEP).
“Over the last decade, Congalsa has strengthened its role as a leading company in the prepared and frozen food sector, acting responsibly and combining economic growth with a strong commitment to the environment. Our sustainability policy has been reinforced by joining SFP and has allowed us to implement a purchasing strategy based on initiatives that help ensure the conservation of marine resources.”
– David Comesaña, Purchasing Director, Congalsa
“A decade of collaboration with Congalsa shows that turning sustainability commitments into action delivers concrete results that can transform sourcing practices and drive real change in the sector and in the health of marine ecosystems.”
– David Parreño Duque, SFP Partnership Engagement Specialist
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