Let me be very clear - sustainability is an imperative feature for the future of seafood (aquaculture and wild catch). However, the future is about more than just sustainability, its about corporate responsibility.
What do I mean by corporate responsiblity? Check out the corporate responsibility reports of all the world’s leading retailers and food manufacturers and you’ll find slightly different definitions and practices (its well worth doing this, you’ll have your eyes opened).
The basics are pretty much the same though, its about trying to minimise your negative actions and maximise your positive actions. Create a positive impact from your business activities.
Examples of corporate responsibility might include product positioning, environmental impact of business activities, integrity of sourcing practices, impact on local communities etc.
Will this help your business? From my experiences working in the UK with Young’s Seafood and Sainsbury’s, and contact I have had with Wholefoods in the US. The answer is YES YES YES. See these examples:
To capitalise on the market opportunity you have to give the customer what the consumer wants. Corporate responsibilty can give you a point of difference as you develop your aquaculture business.
Can anyone share any other examples of exemplary corporate responsibility amongst producers / suppliers or retailers inside or outside the seafood industry?
Nigel Edwards, Technical Director of Seachill, presented a clear set of insights on the priorities held by large retailers and processors in seeking to meet the needs of their customers. As a result of rapidly evolving customer priorities, these are the innovation challenges from the retailer/processor point of view:
- The industry must maintain the considerable nutritional benefits from eating farmed fish and provide for increased demand despite the stable or declining feed fish stocks
- All feed raw materials must be demonstrably sustainable, we need a responsible sourcing standard for feed producers
- There is a need to reduce the contaminants in fishmeal and oil
- The top line feed conversion ratio could be improved
- It is unacceptable to enhance the human nutritional benefits by genetic modification of fish
Improving the ratio of conversion of feed fish to farmed fish should be a research priority but not at the expense of
- fish health
- human nutrition, (especially EPA and DHA content)
- intrinsic quality of the final product
- cost of production
Reduce cost of production by
- automation
- improved feed conversion
- reduced mortality
- lower energy use
- lower feed wastage
Improve fish welfare by:
- introducing new vaccines
- improved fish handling techniques
- instantaneous stunning prior to slaughter
Other innovation priorities:
- introduce new species to aquaculture especially those that have a low cost of production
- Support development of organic standards for all species and assist farmers to be efficient within organic farming regime
As well as working for Seachill (part of the Icelandic Group), Nigel is a member of the GLOBALGAP Aquaculture Sector Committee. GLOBALGAP is a private sector body that sets voluntary standards for the certification of agricultural products around the globe.
Nigel’s March 2007 presentation can be viewed here.
