Digital Dialogue

The fifth keystone dialogue was a digital meeting held in early October 2020. During the Dialogue the companies agreed a number of goals towards achieving their original commitments from 2016:

• Have no IUU fishing or forced, bonded and child labour in our own operations – and recognising these issues are endemic within the global seafood industry, implement measures to address them in our supply chains – with public reporting on progress in October 2022 and 2025
• Implement a ‘City to Sea’ strategy to reduce plastics pollution from our coasts and waterways
• Agree to create a strategy for reducing impacts on endangered species by October 2021
• Agree to create a roadmap to address the use of antibiotics by October 2021
• Agree to establish a communications Task Force and strategy towards transformation throughout the seafood sector
• Agree to work collaboratively with other groups and governments to improve sustainability of fisheries, and increased traceability and transparency of operations
• Set science-based greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals and reporting approaches from each company by October 2021.

These goals will guide SeaBOS activities over the coming years, and are accompanied by toolkits for action and other science-based solutions. The inaugural Chair of SeaBOS, Shigeru Ito, former CEO of Maruha Nichiro (and now Chairman), handed over the chairmanship of the initiative to Therese Log Bergjord (COO Skretting/COO Nutreco) confident that SeaBOS had moved from a concept being discussed amongst scientists and industry, to become a reality with great potential.