The SSC has had a busy start to 2016, gaining visibility at this year’s Seaweb Seafood Summit in Malta, and seeing several members recognised for their leadership and commitment to seafood sustainability. The event’s global attendance list created an ideal setting to share learning from the UK seafood supply chain.
In a panel discussion on 3 February, three members presented their experience of collaborating as part of the SSC to develop solutions that work for their businesses. Young’s Seafood (David Parker) spoke of their engagement with a fishery improvement project for scampi, while Icelandic Seachill (Kevin Powell) reflected on how collaboration amongst SSC members helps deliver and reinforce their commitment to sustainability. Finally, Harbour Lights (Peter Fraser) highlighted the challenges and opportunities the SSC offers for an independent fish and chip restaurant. The discussion was a productive one – with interest in how members made the SSC model work, and how collaboration on improvement projects can help build consumer trust.
We were also invited to join in a panel discussion on consumer attitudes to sustainability, on the same day. This was another useful opportunity to sharing the UK’s experience on the challenges of agreeing what fish sustainability means, and how to best communicate it to consumers.
As we had announced in September, the SSC was a finalist in the 2016 Seafood Champion Awards Vision category – not a negligible feat with 90 applicants. While we were unsuccessful this time, we extend our congratulations to the Parties to the Nauru Agreement Organisation for their inspiring initiative to preserve Pacific tuna stocks. SSC members did gain some special recognition – as Sainsbury’s Aquaculture and Fisheries Manager, Ally Dingwall, won the Leadership category award. In other good news, representatives of Marks & Spencers (Hannah Macintyre) and Young’s Seafood (David Parker), both SSC members, were nominated as future seafood leaders in Intrafish’s 40 under 40 campaign. Congratulations!
