Recently, the Alliance was invited by SeafoodSource to present at its Seafood 2030 Virtual Sustainability Forum. We were joined at the event by select Alliance Board members and partners to talk about our collective mission to transform seafood supply chains.
During the session we discussed the exciting turning-point we are at in the history of the Alliance: after 12 years of hard work, we have helped advance the sustainable seafood movement such that we are now on the cusp of having a critical mass of companies in the US and EU adopting more sustainable and responsible practices, ultimately making it the norm for doing business.
For example, we know that by value, about 80% of the top 25 US retailers are partnered with Alliance Global Hub members and have made sustainable seafood commitments, along with 80% of the top 9 Canadian retailers, and 70% of the top 10 EU retailers. Plus, there are over 140 FIPs (fishery improvement projects), around the world today, representing 9% of the global catch, while more than 150 seafood companies are engaged in pre-competitive platforms.
Our ambitions, however, are greater than our achievements.
We have more work to do. Our 10-year target is that by 2030, at least 75% of global production is environmentally sustainable or making verifiable improvement and safeguards are in place to ensure social responsibility. Last year we launched a new strategy and community model to help make it happen.
Since we know the movement has been through a rapid expansion of groups and tools, our strategy has us fostering alignment in priority work areas, amplifying critical work and resources from the Global Hub, and measuring our shared progress along the way to create clarity and focus in the movement. To support these efforts, we are evolving to become a more inclusive, global, cross-sector community, so that in the Global Hub, we can engage with the full spectrum of stakeholders critical to this movement.
What does participating in the Global Hub look like? Rob Johnson is Managing Director of Sea Pact (an NGO formed by a group of seafood companies), a member of our newly minted Alliance Advisory Council, and long-time member of our community. As he puts it, “the scope and urgency of the issues requires collaboration to get the durability needed to transform the industry and bring it to a more viable and sustainable place. [The Global Hub is] a dynamic space that is changing and effectively building the awareness and capacity needed for transformational change.”
During the session, John V. Young, Vice President of Operations at Euclid Fish Company, echoed Rob’s sentiments, sharing, “the heaving lifting needs to be done together. The Global Hub helps me understand and wade through fisheries management changes and other updates…so we can use that information to educate our consumers.”
Today we are excited to share that the recording of that event is now available for those who were unable to make it live and would like to catch up.
These days, our team is busily preparing for our own virtual event: the Alliance Annual Meeting, coming up November 15-18. This event convenes leaders and international experts from across the sustainable seafood movement in a series of dynamic sessions and workshops. Last year we hosted 20+ hours of content for 400+ attendees from throughout the responsible seafood industry, including NGOs, seafood companies, academia, and human rights and other experts.
To get involved in the conversation or learn more about what we do here at the Alliance, we invite you to join us at our Virtual Annual Meeting by clicking here. And, for more information about joining the Global Hub, click here.
