New assessment shows companies need to move from talk to action, and fast.
After a long process of research, consultation, and iterative development, the World Benchmarking Alliance recently released the results of the Seafood Stewardship Index (SSI), which ranks the world’s 30 largest and most influential seafood companies against seafood-relevant commitments in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Specifically, the SSI assessed what contribution these companies were making towards the achievement of SDG 1 (no poverty), SDG 2 (zero hunger), SDG 5 (gender equality), SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth), SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production), SDG 14 (life below water) and SDG 15 (life on land).
The SSI is designed to show us what companies have committed to doing to advance sustainable seafood, how transparent they are about their activities and how well they are meeting their targets. The supporting framework consists of 60 indicators across five measurement areas: governance and management of stewardship practices, stewardship of the supply chain, ecosystems, human rights and working conditions and local communities. Each indicator measures commitment, transparency or performance within these five areas.
The approach taken with the SSI is similar to the methodology SeaChoice followed for Seafood Progress – companies’ profiles were first completed using publicly available information, and then companies were invited to submit further information to address any gaps. Interestingly, the exact same proportion of companies decided to engage in both initiatives from the get-go – two-thirds submitted additional information, while one-third chose not to.
Of the 30 companies profiled in the SSI, there are three Canadian companies or companies with direct (as in, not run by subsidiary companies) and significant activities in Canada:
- Cooke, ranked 25th out of 30, has salmon farming at its core but is also involved in fishing and aquaculture feed production. The SSI summarizes that “compared to its peers [Cooke] underperforms, primarily due to the general lack of information surrounding its activities. Cooke discloses few details about its operations and policies with respect to most measurement areas.”
- High Liner Foods, ranked 21st, processes and sells value-added frozen seafood products (such as battered or breaded fish fillets or bites) to retailers, restaurants, institutions and foodservice providers. High Liner Foods scored well on the design of its environmental and social commitments, but less well on performance indicators due to the lack of information available for how it is addressing potential adverse human rights impacts.
- Mowi (formerly known as Marine Harvest), ranked 2nd, is the world’s largest producer of farmed salmon, both in terms of volume and in terms of revenue. The company’s headquarters is in Norway, but it operates large-scale open-net pen salmon farms on Canada’s Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Mowi ranked 2nd in the benchmark, scoring well on indicators related to transparency and its commitment, but distinctly less well on indicators related to its performance against those commitments. Mowi’s profile summary ends with “although Mowi’s overall performance is good, there remain sustainability issues the company faces, such as the high quantities of fish escapes from its farms and its environmental footprint.”
The companies profiled are so large that it must have been difficult for SSI researchers to decide on their scores, particularly when the performance of multinational companies vary across geographies or subsidiaries. For example, Mitsubishi Corporation (ranked 8th) owns over 1,400 subsidiary companies in 90 countries. One of their subsidiaries, Cermaq, runs large-scale open-net pen salmon farms on B.C.’s coast. Mitsubishi’s SSI profile summary states that “to support local communities, Mitsubishi recognises the rights of indigenous peoples. Its subsidiary Cermaq is also active in local community engagement and development programs. Moreover, Cermaq has a strong commitment to area-based management for fish farming to limit its impacts on the ecosystem.” SeaChoice can’t speak to Cermaq’s operations in other jurisdictions, but there is currently no area-based management salmon farming in Canada, and the rights of indigenous people in some areas where Cermaq operates in BC have only just started to be considered after years of formal opposition and protest.
As with all commitment tracking and reporting platforms, the results will only be as good as the information that was fed into the analysis. To help increase the accountability of information submitted by companies, the scoring guidelines for the analysis are designed to encourage companies to make information publicly available (although the SSI methodology does allow for confidential information to be provided under non-disclosure agreements).
In any case, the SSI very clearly shows that businesses need to be taking much more action to contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. And while retailers weren’t included in the scope of the SSI, as major purchasers of seafood produced around the globe, they also have a role to play in demanding and supporting truly sustainable seafood.
