14/06/2017

Thai Union Commits to Ambitious SeaBOS Ocean Stewardship Pledge

Thai Union Group PCL has signed a groundbreaking pledge as part of its membership in the Seafood Business for Ocean Stewardship (SeaBOS), committing to improve operations as well as challenge the rest of the seafood industry to follow, all with the goal of helping the world achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

SeaBOS is a unique initiative that brings together some of the largest seafood companies in the world to identify science-based solutions to issues the industry faces. In 2016, eight of the world’s largest seafood companies, including Thai Union, joined together to form this initiative.

“The companies which make up SeaBOS operate on every continent and in all segments of seafood production, from wild capture fisheries to aquaculture businesses. By building trust and adopting science-based approaches, it creates positive change for our companies, our industry and the world,” said Dr. Darian McBain, Ph.D., Thai Union’s global director for sustainable development. “Thai Union is committed to doing its part to ensure the oceans are healthy for current and future generations.”

The signatories specifically pledge to:

• Work diligently to eliminate IUU products and any form of modern slavery in our supply chains
• Actively use and develop fish health management systems and health prevention methods before treatments make efficient use of aquaculture feeds and to use fish feed resources from sustainably harvested stocks
• Together with governments, actively improve existing regulations for fisheries, for aquaculture, and for the ocean; and more.

To read the full pledge, click HERE.

The SeaBOS pledge comes the same week that Thai Union released its fourth annual Sustainability Report, publicly detailing the company’s performance against key indicators and targets outlined in SeaChange®, Thai Union’s sustainability strategy.

Additionally, Thai Union recently committed to the World Economic Forum’s Tuna 2020 Traceability Declaration.

SeaBOS started as dialogue between scientists and business leaders that led to the signing of a 10-point commit to action on ocean stewardship by two of the largest tuna companies in the world (Thai Union and Dongwon Industries), two of the largest companies by revenues (Maruha Nichiro Corporation and Nippon Suisan Kaisha, Ltd), the two largest salmon farmers (Marine Harvest ASA and Cermaq—subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corporation) and the two largest aquafeeds companies (Skretting—subsidiary of Nutreco, and Cargill Aqua Nutrition).

The initiative is supported by numerous stakeholders including, the Stockholm Resilience Centre, The Beijer Institute on Ecological Economics, The Royal Swedish Academy of Science and others.

Photo (above) Caption: A school of tuna are pictured swimming in the ocean. Thai Union recently signed the groundbreaking Seafood Business for Ocean Stewardship pledge along with some of the world’s largest seafood companies to improve operations in the seafood industry. Credit: Shutterstock/Ugo Montaldo