Seafish has announced its support for the new Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative (GSSI).
The organisation will collaborate with the GSSI, share knowledge and expertise and offer backing. The company will also sponsor the GSSI Kick-Off workshop at the Sustainable Seafood Summit which takes place in Hong Kong in September this year.
Peter Hajipieris, board director, Seafish, said: “One of my key commitments as a Seafish Board member is to encourage industry to operate efficiently and sustainably. The need for the GSSI to inform is right and so is the timing. There is universal agreement across the whole industry and stakeholder community that far too much confusion exists in the understanding and interoperability of seafood standards. This is making the industry less efficient and using up stakeholder resources at a time when we are all striving to supply safe, sustainable seafood that is affordable. I am pleased to be asked to chair the GSSI workshop and hope that the event will shed more light on the purpose of the GSSI and stimulate participants in an area that is giving all stakeholders many challenges”.
GSSI aims to provide a better understanding of global seafood certification programmes, labelling initiatives and the internationally accepted models for these programmes. As well as this, GSSI aims to aid further development towards a sustainable future for the industry through a group of key stakeholders, including harvesters, producers, processors, manufacturers, NGOs and academics.
