SUSTAINABLE SEAFOOD

Seafood industry collaboration launches first progress report

Group picture of the SeaBOS members and partners.

HRH Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden (front row, centre) pictured with company representatives and members of the scientific team during the most recent working meeting in Stockholm May 2022. Photo: E-L. Jansson/Azotelibrary.com

SeaBOS, a science-business collaboration including ten of the world's largest seafood companies, reflect on first five years of work

Story highlights

  • SeaBOS established ten commitments to guide its work, spanning from reducing IUU fishing and eliminating modern slavery to reducing greenhouse gas emissions
  • As of June 2022, all ten member companies have established time-bound climate goals
  • Progress also includes the establishment of a roadmap for reducing antibiotics in aquaculture as well as an endangered species strategy

On 29 June 2022, at the UN Ocean Conference in Portugal, SeaBOS launched its first progress report, following commitments made at the 2017 UN Ocean Conference.

Read the SeaBOS report here

Watch the report launch here

Setting out to tackle the most urgent challenges in the seafood sector, SeaBOS shares lessons learned and progress made to advance its mission: to lead a global transformation for sustainable seafood production and a healthy ocean.

Stockholm Resilience Centre is a science partner to the initiative.

SeaBOS established ten commitments to guide its work, spanning from reducing IUU fishing and eliminating modern slavery to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

As of June 2022, all ten member companies have established time-bound climate goals aimed at reducing their greenhouse gas emissions in line with the Paris agreement.

They have also undertaken to publicly report on their scope 3 emissions by October 2022.

Gearing up

Progress also includes the establishment of:

  • a roadmap for reducing antibiotics in aquaculture
  • an endangered species strategy
  • science-based best practice guidelines for reducing negative impacts on endangered species of elasmobranchs (sharks, skates, and rays) and seabirds
  • a City to Sea plastics strategy

Work is underway on commitments such as improving fisheries and aquaculture management through policy collaboration, as well as mechanisms to grow aquaculture sustainably and ensure greater transparency in seafood value chains.

“Since we launched SeaBOS at the 2017 UN Ocean Conference, much has been achieved, particularly in creating the foundations for future,” says Log Bergjord.

“This work is starting to generate results and it is inspiring others. It will be important to gear up activities and partnerships going forward.”

“The reality is clear – we still have a long way to go to create a global transformation,” addsMartin Exel, Managing Director of SeaBOS.

“But we are aligned in our journey and our vision. And we are making progress. We are reporting publicly to help others understand the situation we see now; the vision of where we are headed, and to show how we plan to get there.”

Fundamental for humanity

As a global science-business initiative, the SeaBOS model is unique. It combines trans-disciplinary scientific expertise, with transnational industry expertise.

The SeaBOS model is described in the Progress report, which focuses on how SeaBOS is working to deliver on its mission, and address the key challenges for ocean stewardship.

"We hope that the SeaBOS action will inspire others to follow, and that it will encourage governments to take urgent action for our shared ocean," says Henrik Österblom, science Director at Stockholm Resilience Centre and Chair of the SeaBOS Foundation.

Published: 2022-06-29

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