Sustainability & Traceability
Our Approach
Sustainability has become a normal part of business in the seafood industry. These industry norms have been refined over the course of the past 20 years to support the sustainable sourcing of fisheries and aquaculture products. The Fishin‘ Company was not only a participant in that trend: we lead the charge. But we believe it isn’t enough. There are continued challenges in the seafood industry that standards and audits alone won’t be able to solve. At The Fishin‘ Company we have always thought about sustainability differently.
For us, sustainability is our ability to engage deeply in our supply chains to develop innovative solutions that push the envelope of what’s possible. It is to support our partners, who are trying to reach their goals, so they can ultimately achieve them. Sustainability is building new farms in rural communities and factories that benefit our customers. These initiatives aren’t just good business practices, they incentivize lasting change in the industry. To us, sustainability is understanding the ambitions of our partners, developing new ideas, and creating innovative solutions that enable our customers to hit their goals.
To be sustainable is to create a mindset within The Fishin‘ Company and our supply chains that fundamentally changes our industry for the betterment of individuals, economies, and climates around the world.
What we do the Fishin’ Company is not just sustainability, it is a Global Development Practice – a position in the industry in which we embrace.
Sustainable Sourcing
The Fishin’ Company has been a leader in sustainable sourcing since our founding in 2002. With a product offering consistently over 90% certified through BAP, MSC or ASC, we have been able to reach our customers’ needs consistently on their sustainable sourcing policies. For those fisheries not certified we recognize the need for a pathway, so we engage in Fishery Improvement Projects to directly assist in efforts to gain certification and better management practices both on and off the water.
Traceability
The Fishin’ Company utilizes an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system to ensure robust lot tracing for all products. This system enables swift and complete action in the event of a recall. We are fully committed to supply chain traceability to track our products’ source and production conditions to ensure the highest quality products that adhere to our stringent standards. Illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing threatens ecosystems, fisheries, and fishers. Through our ERP system, all receipt and sales data are available for reporting to ensure lot-level tracing from the point of purchase through the sale. We carefully follow customer and regulatory requirements for sourcing, sustainability, and traceability, as we are fully committed to the best practices for both the planet and people. As such, The Fishin‘ Company has developed its own supplier standards to ensure responsible sourcing and traceability.
To showcase our commitment to transparent and responsible sourcing, our systems can track all lots back to the processing plant or further upstream for government regulations, among other requirements. Most of our farmed products are 4-star BAP products and can be traced back to the processing plant, farm, hatchery, and feed mill. For MSC-certified products, the chain of custody traceability extends to the fishery. For all products under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Seafood Import Monitoring Program (NOAA SIMP) scope, where The Fishin’ Company is an importer of record, suppliers must provide requisite additional data and documentation. Additionally, as members of the Seafood Task Force (STF), we have undertaken additional supply chain mapping and due diligence, adhering to the STF Code of Conduct. In these ways, Fishin’ Co is committed to transparent and responsible sourcing across the full extent of the supply chain.
Emissions
Emissions monitoring and mitigation is a critical aspect of our environmental governance and sustainability strategy. The Fishin’ Company’s extensive distribution system acknowledges the emissions resulting from its business activities and relationships. We aim to catalyze the sustainable transformation of fishing and aquaculture and are diligently working to mitigate emissions to the best of our technological capabilities. The impact of emissions represents both immediate and long-term impacts as carbon markets and legislation evolve and because greenhouse gases continue to impact global warming long after they are originally emitted.
Waste
As leaders in sustainable fishing, waste management holds serious actual and potential impacts to our business activities and relationships. In the case of waste, we prioritize the actual impacts associated with waste management considering their tangible, immediate nature. The Fishin‘ Company identifies and tracks its products that generate the most waste, outlines waste management, and the emissions associated with waste disposal. We take an active role in establishing goals and targets informed by authoritative intergovernmental instruments, in line with scientific consensus, with short- and long-term goals around waste reduction and related emissions reductions.
Key Partners
Building a thriving, long-term seafood industry relies on strong partnerships among retailers, importers, producers, NGOs, fishermen, and governments. The Fishin’ Company has many close partnerships with leading organizations that are deeply committed to the growth and sustainability of the seafood industry, and we are honored to work with them toward common sustainability goals.
The Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) works to develop fisheries and aquaculture efforts into sustainable and responsible sources of seafood. Their leadership and expertise in all areas of seafood sustainability have led to the transformation of many crucial fisheries. The Fishin’ Company has supported SFP in numerous Fishery Improvement Projects (FIPs) and Aquaculture Improvement Projects (AIPs) around the world by providing market support, financial resources, supplier roundtable presence, and more.
The development and evolution of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification and others like it have changed the overall landscape of the sustainable fisheries movement. MSC certification has become the global standard for sustainable fisheries, and The Fishin’ Company supports the efforts of fisheries to achieve this rigorous goal.
The Global Seafood Sustainability Initiative (GSSI) Benchmarking Tool is the first collective and non-competitive approach to provide clarity on seafood certification worldwide. GSSI will publicly recognize seafood certification schemes that meet GSSI Components grounded in the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and the FAO Guidelines for seafood certification and eco-labelling. As a strong supporter of GSSI, we pledge to include the outcomes of the GSSI Benchmark Tool in our daily operations by recognizing all GSSI-recognized certification schemes as acceptable when sourcing certified seafood. We encourage companies across the seafood sector worldwide to join in our commitment.
The Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA) and its certifying body, Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP), have been driving factors in building an ever-growing aquaculture industry that can be trusted and is dependable. The Fishin’ Company has supported and partnered with GAA and BAP for many years, and we wholeheartedly believe in their commitment to constant improvement.
The National Fisheries Institute is a non-profit organization dedicated to the education of seafood safety, sustainability, and nutrition. As a proud member of the NFI, the Fishin’ Company has a strong commitment to the NFI’s initiatives to improve business conditions for the seafood industry in the US. The NFI brings a precompetitive platform for industry stakeholders to gather and discuss external challenges facing seafood and it facilitates conversations to find solutions.