Ocean supplement: how business can help

As retailers we want our consumers to enjoy seafood products from around the world—but not at any price. The British Retail Consortium is committed to the aims of eradicating illegal fishing, preventing ecological destruction and avoiding unethical labour practices in our seafood supply chains.

Collapsing fish stocks can have a direct economic impact upon communities, particularly coastal towns and villages that rely on fishing, and the cost to the global economy is between $10bn and $23.5bn per year.

Considering the challenge of feeding a rapidly expanding world population (expected to reach nine billion by 2050), the consequences of depleting fish stocks become alarming. Coupled with the horrifying evidence of ecological destruction and the continued savage ill-treatment of workers, it’s clear why retailers take illegal fishing so seriously.

The retail industry has a role to play in combating illegal fishing and this is why, in 2015, the British Retail Consortium (BRC), the Environmental Justice Foundation and the World Wide Fund for Nature developed a free guidance document offering advice on practical actions to prevent illegally-caught fishery products from entering supply chains in the United Kingdom. British retailers are using their expertise to influence global sourcing for the benefit of all and the BRC is strongly encouraging seafood companies abroad to adopt these principles.

Preventing illegal fishing won’t be achieved by one country or industry alone. Coordinated action at national, European and international levels is critical. At European level, this was recognised in 2008 with the introduction of the European Union’s Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing Regulation. This aims to ensure that only legally caught seafood products that comply with strict rules are sold in the European Union. Exclusion from the EU is a harsh penalty for any country’s fishing industry because it is the world’s largest market for fish and fishery products. However, more needs to be done and the overall responsibility for tackling illegal practices ultimately must lie with governments. Retailers’ efforts need to be supported by more government action at a national and international level through a number of measures. We are proposing:

• A global record of fishing vessels using International Maritime Organisation numbers as unique vessel identifiers • A system of monitoring, control and surveillance enforced across flag, coastal, port and processing states

• Promoting the use of risk-based analysis

• Encouraging states to ratify and implement the Port State Measures Agreement • Promoting information-sharing between port states, flag states, coastal states, market states and other actors

• Standardising and improving port controls to reduce the risk of illegal fisheries products entering the EU

While the EU’s IUU regulation has been a major step forward in the fight to reduce illegal fishing, it will only be truly effective if each EU country, including Britain, ensures effective implementation of its provisions. The greater the collaboration between everyone concerned, the lower the risk of IUU fish products getting into supply chains and ultimately onto supermarket shelves.