In 2008, we released the Common Vision for Sustainable Seafood to provide guidance to businesses on developing and implementing sustainable seafood policies. In 2022, we began revising it into two new resources. The first, A Vision for Seafood is complete. Today we are excited to share that work on the second, the Guidelines for Companies, is now underway!
We’re following a community-driven process similar to previous projects, with a working group, opportunities for community review and feedback, and opportunities to support the framework once completed.
Where are we now in the process?
We’ve recruited our Working Group and are excited to share its members:
- Michelle Beritzhoff-Law, FishWise
- Shawn Cronin, Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch
- Andy Hickman, SEA Alliance
- Ruth Hoban, New England Seafood
- Helen Packer, World Benchmarking Alliance
- Tom Pickerell, Pew Charitable Trusts
- Stacy Schultz, Fortune Fish and Gourmet
- Aiko Yamauchi, Seafood Legacy
The Working Group is the heart of our work; their expertise will guide the development of the Guidelines. Thank you to everyone who expressed interest in joining!
From your feedback, we knew that the Guidelines for Companies would require industry and subject matter expert input beyond what we’d had in previous projects and beyond what we could hope to represent in a Working Group of less than ten people. To address that, we’re holding Stakeholder Insight Interviews, where industry experts can share what they think is necessary for updated guidance on seafood commitments. Later on, we’ll provide these same experts with drafts of the Guidelines and interview them a second time to collect their feedback. We believe this will make the Guidelines more representative of the needs of the industry.
What’s next?
Our Working Group will meet for the first time in June and will then begin on the first draft. When completed, we’ll move on to the most important step: presenting the draft to you for your review. While we can’t promise that all the feedback we receive will be included, we do promise that it will all be shared with the Working Group for review.
The ultimate goal of the Guidelines for Companies is to encourage seafood businesses to set more robust sustainable and responsible sourcing policies, be transparent about progress, and ultimately meet their commitments. To accomplish that, we’re counting on the Global Hub and seafood community to inform our work. Thank you in advance for your support over the next year, we’re excited to get your input and can’t wait to share the final Guidelines for Companies with you.
