SeaWeb Seafood Summit Promotes Social Responsibility in Seafood

Photo courtesy of SeaWeb Seafood Summit

With increasing concerns about unethical practices and the need for transparency within global seafood supply chains, the sustainable seafood sector raised the topic of human rights at numerous industry events over the past year. These important conversations are set to continue at this year’s SeaWeb Seafood Summit in Malta, January 31st – February 3rd, 2016. The 2016 conference program will address The Future of Production, The Supply Chain of the Future, and The Future of Consumption. Topics will focus on the success and innovation in sustainable seafood that will lead us into the future, and the challenges, strategies, and emerging issues that will shape the marketplace a decade from now.

To kick off the event, Seafish will host a workshop on Social Responsibility in Seafood. Seafish has helped the British seafood industry to become actively engaged in a series of work areas to reduce unethical practices in national and international supply chains. Recognizing that many existing and proposed initiatives from across the globe aim to tackle seafood ethics, this workshop will allow participants to consider aligning efforts made by various organizations to ensure action is complementary and synergistic. To support these conversations moving forward, the workshop will aim to produce a clear map of many of the tools and solutions available to seafood supply chains to address ethical issues.

On February 2nd, the Environmental Justice Foundation breakout session will shine a spotlight on the approaches required to secure ethical and sustainable seafood supply chains. The panel will focus on Thailand as a case study to highlight problems with regards to Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing and the use of trafficked, forced, and bonded labor within the fishing industry. Attendees will learn about some of the cost-effective solutions available to producers and buyers of seafood to increase traceability and maintain labor and human rights standards throughout their extended supply chains.

Wrapping up the Summit, FishWise will team up with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the International Labour Organization, and industry representatives in a breakout session: Building partnerships and frameworks to address human rights and labor issues in seafood supply chains. In this two-part session, we will first highlight the importance of an international legal framework of standards and guiding principles in relation to decent work in fisheries and consider how it can be strengthened. Next, the panel will turn to the private sector to discuss how seafood businesses can engage their supply chains to make human rights improvements and form new partnerships to connect social impact to their business goals. This session will showcase how other industries have tackled labor issues, existing examples of best practices, and encourage pathways toward authentic and effective supply chain engagement via collaborative initiatives.

For more information about the 2016 SeaWeb Seafood Summit, check out the FAQ with general Summit information. We hope to see you there!