Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) is pleased to announce that US- and Italy-based seafood importer and distributor PanaPesca has become SFP’s newest Target 75 Champion.
Target 75 Champions have made a specific commitment to support SFP’s Target 75 initiative, which has set the goal of seeing 75 percent or more of global seafood volumes in key sectors being produced in a manner classified as sustainable or improving toward sustainability by 2020. Champions join SFP partners in supporting Target 75 and SFP’s broader mission to engage and catalyze global seafood supply chains in rebuilding depleted fish stocks and reducing the environmental impacts of fishing and fish farming.
“Having PanaPesca Italy and PanaPesca USA among the supporters of the Target 75 initiative will help SFP to increase the initiative’s traction in key seafood sectors—such as squid and octopus—among the US industry, as well as to bring the Italian market into the game,” said Pedro Ferreiro, SFP’s Deputy Division Director for Buyer Engagement.
PanaPesca has been a leader in SFP’s squid and octopus supply chain roundtables (SRs) since the SRs first formed, supporting at least three different squid fishery improvement projects (FIPs), as well as pre-FIP work in three other octopus fisheries through the Global Octopus SR. The company has also demonstrated willingness to engage the industry on sustainability efforts even outside of PanaPesca’s own supply chains, such as markets in Italy.
“As an importer of a wide range of seafood products sourced from all over the world, it is essential for PanaPesca USA to support the development of sustainability initiatives, like Target 75, and organizations committed to improving seafood sustainability, like SFP, to better serve the needs of our customers and ensure the practice of environmentally friendly and socially responsible methods of fishing,” said Stefano Pagliai, PanaPesca USA Procurement Director.
“PanaPesca is one of the leaders in production and distribution of frozen fish products,” said Fabrizio Paesini, PanaPesca Italy Group CEO. “For more than 40 years, PanaPesca has guaranteed food safety and best quality, always respecting marine life and supporting sustainability as well as social welfare. These principles have led us to become the first Italian company to collaborate with SFP to improve seafood sustainability by actively supporting the Target 75 initiative, in which we firmly believe.”
To learn more about Target 75, please join SFP at a T75 luncheon prior to the start of Seafood Expo North America in Boston, on Saturday, March 16, from 12:30 to 2 p.m. in the Burroughs Room at the Westin Waterfront Hotel. You can also visit SFP on the show floor at booth 182.