High Liner Foods Inc. has announced a commitment to source all of its seafood from certified sustainable or responsible fisheries and aquaculture farms by the end of 2013.
High Liner Foods will require wild-caught seafood to come from fisheries certified as sustainable by the MSC program, or require those suppliers not certified to be on a clear, defined path toward being sustainable and capable of documenting measurable improvements.
For those fisheries that are not under assessment by MSC, High Liner Foods will ensure that they are "responsible" fisheries. This means those fisheries must use "best in class" methodologies to demonstrate documented improvements in fishing practices as reported by FishSource(TM) (www.FishSource.org) or evaluated by an equivalent standard. For those fisheries that have made sufficient improvements to enter into the MSC program, High Liner Foods will require them to enter the full MSC assessment process.
In addition, by the end of 2013, all of the uncertified sources of wild-caught seafood that High Liner Foods works with must have undergone an independent evaluation, and enter a third-party assessment program such as MSC. And, all sources undergoing improvements will be required to report an improvement work plan and milestones to be achieved.
"As an organisation, one of our key strategic goals is to be proactive and bring about positive change for our industry," said Bill DiMento, corporate director of sustainability at High Liner Foods. "We will work closely with our uncertified suppliers to drive meaningful, quantifiable changes, ensuring that they are acting responsibly, and that they are on a path to being certified sustainable."
