To raise the level of transparency with regards to the marine ingredients that it uses in its aquafeeds throughout the world, Skretting and sister-company Nutreco have developed a new responsible sourcing policy.
According to Stavanger, Norway-headquartered Skretting, the document builds into the ambitions made in Nutreco’s Sustainability RoadMap 2025, which aims to ensure that by 2025, Skretting sources marine ingredients that are 100% certified or coming from a fishery improvement project for its global operations, as well as ensuring that all the fishmeal and fish oil used to produce feeds originate from fisheries that are managed according to the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries.
The policy includes specific criteria on what its procurement teams can buy according to five sustainability classes of marine ingredients coming from whole fish, by-products from wild-caught fish and by-products from aquaculture. These are aligned with fishery management certifications.
Skretting has also mapped countries identified with a high risk of IUU fishing activities, with the policy determining that marine ingredients from these countries cannot be sourced unless they come from the highest sustainability classes. Similarly, countries with a high risk of forced labour onboard fishing vessels have also been mapped, and for these, Skretting has placed additional requirements on marine ingredient manufacturers.
In 2021, 80% of fishmeal and fish oil originating from whole fish and by-products purchased by Skretting came from fisheries certified according to the MarinTrust or Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) programmes, or from fisheries that were part of a MarinTrust Fishery Improvement Programme (FIP). This is compared with 69% reported in 2020.
“We’re taking a critical step forward in outlining a clear path to attaining our RoadMap 2025 targets for marine ingredients. This marine ingredient sourcing policy sets a milestone in industry transparency and traceability in the very complex value chain of sourcing marine ingredients,” Jose Villalon, Nutreco Corporate Sustainability Director, said.
Skretting Sustainability Manager, Jorge Díaz, added, “The responsible use of marine ingredients is under constant scrutiny and we have an important role to play to contribute with more transparency in the industry. Through this policy we’re open about the criteria that we will use to source our ingredients and we want to be accountable for that.
“Reaching our targets is not something that we can do alone, and it comes with challenges, but we will not shy away from them and will keep collaborating with all the relevant stakeholders to identify and mitigate the risks of our operations.”
