At the October 2025 CASS Conference, leaders from across the responsible seafood movement gathered to tackle a question that has become more urgent every year:
What is the future of NGO/industry partnerships in seafood? And how do we reset expectations, evolve collaboration, and find opportunities to adapt to a shifting landscape?
The room was filled with practitioners from across the supply chain—companies, NGOs, certification experts, and funders—each contributing based on the summation of their experience rather than their organizational affiliation. Over four hours of honest conversation, we examined what’s working, what isn’t, and what needs to change for partnerships to remain effective in a rapidly evolving landscape. I left feeling hopeful: this was a meaningful step forward on an important topic, and the diversity of perspectives shows just how broad and inclusive this community has become.
The conversations made it clear that partnerships remain vital. This collaboration model is one of the most powerful tools in the sustainability toolkit. NGOs bring mission, science, and credibility, while businesses provide scale, operational reach, and the ability to mainstream change. Yet several challenges are slowing progress: stretched capacity, too many parallel initiatives, misaligned expectations, and gaps in shared frameworks and data make impact hard to measure and report. Structural hurdles—such as weak government enforcement, limited input from producers and workers, and repeatedly tapping the same companies for pilots—further impede progress.
Across the discussion, though, were plenty of moments of hope and agreement. Participants quickly aligned on several practical solutions that could positively evolve how partnerships function. It starts with the NGOs, but we’ve all seen that involving diverse participants – from producers to retailers – early in these conversations is in their best interest, as early engagement drives stronger adoption and more effective implementation.
So what’s needed now? I think it boils down to the following opportunities:
- Integrated and aligned asks: Seafood sustainability requirements should be streamlined and aligned with other ESG requirements, global frameworks, and widely-accepted reporting processes. This will reduce capacity strain and enable stakeholders to focus on achieving real results rather than simply completing activities. The more NGOs can coordinate their asks and avoid constantly shifting expectations, the better positioned businesses will be to deliver strong, consistent implementation
- Real Value for Sustainability: Meaningful improvement requires resources. Better alignment and education around financial incentives (i.e., pricing, market access, efficiency gains) can help sustainability become a business driver and brand differentiator instead of a cost center.
- Voices From the Water: Too many decisions are still made without the direct involvement of producers and workers. Partnerships that incorporate on-the-ground capacity, constraints, and solutions are both more realistic and more durable. We recognize the logistical challenges of bringing these voices to the table, and the Alliance remains committed to finding ways to include producers in the conversations we convene, ensuring their perspectives are heard and incorporated into decision-making.
One of the most encouraging outcomes of the conversation was encountering not frustration, but continued commitment. It’s important to recognize that many of these partnerships are already working very well, and there’s no reason to “throw out the baby with the bathwater.” In fact, the integration of sustainability into mainstream business strategy is a major achievement that is often overlooked. Many of our member organizations are already addressing the opportunities outlined above through pilot programs, beta platforms, and other initiatives. Our role is to help amplify these efforts, increase adoption of effective solutions, and scale their impact.
This conversation is only the beginning of our community gathering to once again do what it does best: work together precompetitively to solve complex challenges. Moving forward, we’d like to dive deeper, host follow-up sessions, and get creative with our solutions. For now, I’ll take this conversation as “win” toward a more sustainable future that is coordinated, credible, and impactful, both in boardrooms and on the water.
You can view the session summary 这里.
