Marine conservation organisation Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) has entered into a new agreement with Thai Union Group, which will see the world’s third-largest seafood company require its suppliers to participate in fishery improvement projects (FIPs) and Supply Chain Roundtables (SRs).
The partnership, which is dedicated to delivering healthy marine and aquatic ecosystems and a secure seafood supply through the creation of a responsible seafood economy, will allow ongoing audits of Thai Union’s supply chains.
Thai Union will also remain engaged at SFP roundtables critical to the company’s supply chains.
“Thai Union is constantly exploring new opportunities to strengthen transparency across its entire operations, and our partnership with SFP is further evidence of that unwavering commitment,” said Adam Brennan, Group Director – Sustainability at Thai Union.
Brennan said that a key element of the new partnership will be Thai Union’s ability to use SFP’s Seafood Metrics system, which helps businesses evaluate the sustainability of their seafood, understand the effectiveness of existing improvement efforts, and identify the most important priorities for improvements.
Jim Cannon, Founder and CEO of SFP, said the partnership with Thai Union continues SFP’s tradition of innovation and creating fisheries improvement at scale and globally by working with major seafood buyers to leverage change in their sourcing and supply chains.
“Lasting conservation and environmental improvement can only be achieved with industry leadership by companies like Thai Union, who can advance widespread adoption of best sustainability practices,” he said.
SFP’s tools and technologies are now among the most-used methods for monitoring and assessing progress in seafood sustainability and fisheries improvement around the world.
“We have made tremendous progress, but our work is not yet done,” Cannon said. “To make seafood sustainable, we need to tackle tough challenges that current fisheries improvement efforts have not yet solved.”
To meet these challenges, SFP is launching a series of broad-scale initiatives aimed at protecting ocean wildlife; ensuring that small-scale fishers can participate fully in fisheries management; combating illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing; and improving regional management of aquaculture production.
Thai Union initially began participating in SFP’s Ocean Disclosure Project (ODP) in 2021 to demonstrate a commitment to transparency as part of its SeaChange programme.
As part of SFP’s Protecting Ocean Wildlife initiative, a new industry-led, international effort to protect endangered, threatened and protected (ETP) species, Thai Union will conduct a “bycatch audit” of its tuna supply chain. This assessment will review the bycatch risks to sharks, seabirds, marine mammals and sea turtles in Thai Union’s source fisheries.
Thai Union’s global brand portfolio includes Chicken of the Sea, John West, Petit Navire, Parmentier, Mareblu, King Oscar and Rügen Fisch.
