Following the October Dialogue at Lake Annecy, members finalised a comprehensive package of measures in 2024.
• Keystone Projects remain a core mechanism to deliver on-ground impact and outcomes, aligned with SeaBOS commitments. Members agreed to continue the West Coast Africa Keystone Project and the Antimicrobial Resistance Keystone Project as well as establishing Procedures for assessing future keystone projects. Sponsor CEOs were identified for existing projects to support implementation and drive successful outcomes.
• Reinforced their commitment to have no IUU fishing products, or modern slavery in their own operations or supply chains, through clarifying the Task Force I goals to become:
– SeaBOS members:
i. Commit to having no IUU fishing products or modern slavery in our own seafood operations after Oct 2021.
ii. Require all suppliers and processors of seafood products to affirm that they have no IUU products and do not use forced, bonded or child labour in their operations or supply chains.
iii. Will act swiftly and transparently on any evidence that activities involving IUU fishing or modern slavery exist within our own operations and/or supply chains.
We recognise that IUU fishing and modern slavery are endemic within the global seafood industry and require continuous vigilance by all actors. To address these issues, we will proactively assess risks, take necessary due diligence actions, and engage with policymakers to support the elimination of both IUU fishing and modern slavery in our supply chains. We will report in October 2025 on progress towards meeting our goals, including updates on any action plans.
• Released an Update on future work on Biodiversity and Ecosystems explaining the shift in
focus for Task Force II and recognising the challenges we had in meeting previous goals, and
the establishment of a new time bound goal, such that:
– By October 2025, all SeaBOS companies will have individually assessed and transparently
disclosed their risk, dependencies and impacts on biodiversity along their operations, supply and
value chains and portfolios.
• Signed the SeaBOS Code of Conduct on Reducing Antibiotic Use and Risk of Inducing Antibiotic Resistance and developed Supporting information for the AMR Code of Conduct
and Stewardship Roadmap. This is a significant milestone following development of the
Antibiotics Stewardship Roadmap by Task Force III in October 2021. Each company will
separately establish individual company time bound goals on antibiotics stewardship under the
Code of Conduct, and report back in October 2025.
• Released a Public summary of SeaBOS internal review, and established clarity around Roles
and Responsibilities for the different elements of SeaBOS, to help guide work in future.
More information is available from Martin Exel, Managing Director martin.exel@seabos.org
You can download the SeaBOS strides in 2024 document here.
