Social Sustainability in Fisheries Value Chains

Speakers: Herman Wisse, The Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative (GSSI); Darian McBain, Thai Union; Hugo Byrnes, Ahold Delhaize; Sonja Schmid, The Consumer Goods Forum; Joe Zelasney, Food And Agriculture Organization

Globally, great efforts have been made to ensure seafood is produced and traded in an environmentally sustainable manner, while the promotion of social sustainability in seafood value chains has been much slower. The need to address critical social labor issues in the seafood industry is now globally understood and widely acknowledged. For this session, GSSI will be joined by the Consumer Goods Forum’s Sustainable Supply Chain Initiative (SSCI) to discuss the two organizations’ collaboration to develop a global benchmark for social compliance schemes in the seafood sector. By providing an open-source list of recognized schemes, the GSSI – SSCI benchmark tool will deliver clear guidance on which seafood schemes cover key social compliance criteria and apply robust verification practices. GSSI and SSCI will also be joined by industry experts from across the supply chain and international organizations to discuss the role of international instruments and the importance of multi-stakeholder collaboration in safeguarding human rights throughout seafood value chains.