GDST and SeaBOS join forces

March 17, 2019 — The Seafood Business for Ocean Stewardship (SeaBOS) and the GDST are joining forces in support of seafood traceability. The two leading seafood industry groups—which together include seven of the world’s ten largest seafood production companies with combined seafood sales of well over USD $35 billion per year—are now pledging to work jointly towards the adoption of global industry standards that will improve the quality, efficiency, and affordability of seafood traceability. These unprecedented pre-competitive voluntary standards will equip the seafood sector for the 21st Century’s globalized, information-based economy, and will help make digital seafood traceability a universal industry practice.

Download the joint statement, here.

Here is what a few GDST and SeaBOS members have to say about this initiative:

“As a leading member of both SeaBOS and GDST, Thai Union is committed to responsible seafood sourcing, and we are fully supportive of this initiative. The widespread adoption of GDST traceability standards across seafood supply chains will benefit the industry globally.”

— Dr. Darian McBain, Global Director for Corporate Affairs and Sustainability, Thai Union

“Transparency of the value chain is increasingly important in food and especially aquaculture, with consumers paying more attention to the origin of feed. We have to be closer to our customers to support them in their markets and this collaboration with GDST will enable us to align our approach”

— Adriano Cesar Marcon, President and Group Leader, Cargill Aqua Nutrition

“METRO is a committed supporter of cross-industry collaboration to drive the development, acceptance, and implementation of digital traceability solutions in the seafood industry on a large scale. We owe it to our oceans and future generations to work together to develop the best possible tools and practices to ensure fish and seafood sustainability as well as social standards and transparent supply chain management in the sector.”

– Britta Gallus, Director, Programs and Risk Assessment, Supply Chain Management (SCM), METRO AG

“The globalized seafood industry needs globalized information. We are finally getting close to the pre-competitive framework we need to share information rapidly, reliably, and securely across the planet.”

–– Therese Log Bergjord, CEO, Skretting

The GDST organizers also strongly welcomed this development in public.  The GFTC issued this public statement:

“IFT is excited to see this focused effort on seafood traceability and we are honored to be a partner in this global initiative.”

— Bryan Hitchcock, Senior Director of Food Chain and Executive Director of IFT’s Global Food Traceability Center

WWF promoted the joint statement during public appearances at the Seafood Expo North America (SENA 2019) in Boston, as reflected in this online article from SeafoodSource.

For more information about the joint statement, please contact Jennifer Braner at jbraner@ift.org.

For more information about SeaBOS, see https://keystonedialogues.earth/.