Sea the solution / The Social Challenge
Cermaq engages closely in international cooperation to create frameworks and agreements that can contribute to ensuring that fish farming is indeed sustainable, says Linda Sams, Director of Sustainability at Cermaq Canada.
“Profitable operations these days are synonymous with good sustainability performance and investors are increasingly looking to the ESG performance of companies as an indicator of profitability and growth. To achieve this, the fish-farming industry must work together, and we believe we have a responsibility to collaborate broadly to meet the vision of the countries we operate in and to meet global challenges,” Sams says.
International initiatives
On a global level, Cermaq Group participates in several international initiatives that seek to promote sustainability in the food industry, as well as the care of the oceans.
These partnerships have different focuses:
SeaBOS
A unique collaboration between the ten largest seafood companies and leading scientists around the world. Addressing key challenges in the seafood sector to find solutions to tackle overfishing and social conditions in the supply chain, and climate resilience in fisheries. Also working with governments to develop and enforce regulations.
SeaBOS - Seafood Businesses for Ocean Stewardship
In 2021, SeaBOS companies confirmed that individual risk assessments of their own operations showed no IUU fishing or forced-labour activities. Members will now extend efforts to assess the risk of IUU fishing and labour abuse across their entire supply chains.
Global Salmon Initiative (GSI)
A pre-competitive cooperation within the salmon sector, consisting of 14 companies within production and feed. They share best practice and develop industry sustainability reports. GSI aim to make significant improvements across the industry in terms of social responsibility, environmental impact, and social contributions through global collaboration and research, pooling of resources, and sharing of knowledge.
GSI
- GSI has contributed to halving the use of antibiotics in the global salmon sector over the course of the past seven years, due to improvements in antibiotics stewardship, disease control and fish welfare.
- Since 2013, there has been a 50 percent decrease in the use of sea lice medicines, and a 130 percent increase in non-medicinal approaches.
UN Global Compact (Ocean Stewardship Coalition in the UNGC)
The ocean is important for many things besides food production. Protecting a thriving ocean environment needs to include other sectors such as energy, seabed mining, and shipping to mention a few. The UNGC works across ocean industries to develop holistic solutions for marine spatial planning and the sustainable use of ocean resources. In this global collaboration platform Cermaq has been involved in developing the Ocean platform.
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Food production and security are more important than ever, but the global environment is under pressure
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The world´s growing population needs more food, but almost 100 per cent of available agricultural land is already in use. We need to see a major transition to more sustainable food production.
Sea the Challenges
The Food ChallengeThe Social Challenge
The Environmental Challenge
The Climate Challenge
