June 1, 2021 — The following was released by the Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative:

The development of the seafood-specific social benchmark tool by the Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative (GSSI) and the Sustainable Supply Chain Initiative (SSCI) of The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) continues to progress. On Thursday, May 27, the virtual launch event was held for the inclusion of the At-Sea Operations Scope (ASO) and Primary Production Scope (PP) into the benchmarking tool. The delivery of these scopes are the result of a 12-month enhancement process led by GSSI and SSCI partners and experts.

Thomas van Haaren and Sairindri Christisabrina of SSCI moderated and facilitated the event, joined by a warm welcome from Richard Smucker of the J.M. Smucker Company and Tony Bruggink from IDH, The Sustainable Trade Initiative. Insightful knowledge was shared from a dynamic panel of industry experts from GSSI Partners. Speakers included Ahold Delhaize’s Vice President, Hugo Byrnes, Sustainability Director of SeaDelight, Steve Fisher and NovaNam’s Executive Chairman, Miguel Angel Tordersillas.

We are happy to share that the first scheme has already applied to obtain SSCI recognition. With this recognition, schemes prove their ability to meet social sustainability standards for fishing vessel operations and aquaculture activites, as well as work to raise the social compliance bar across the seafood sector. This is exciting news, and we hope to see more applications in the time to come.

Over 70 participants joined the virtual event to gain insight into the processes behind the benchmarking scopes. The event highlighted the value that the social benchmark will add to the seafood sector and how the GSSI-SSCI Collaboration has contributed to this.

GSSI is looking forward to continue addressing the concerns surrounding social standards and labour conditions in the seafood supply chain, together with SSCI. Building on the success of the Global Benchmark Tool, this joint benchmarking tool will allow the seafood industry to have access to a list of recognized social compliance schemes that operate within the sector. GSSI’s expertise in the seafood sector matched with SSCI’s experience in supply chain social compliance makes for a strong and reputable collaboration. This collaboration will help drive market alignment on sustainable seafood production and sourcing worldwide.