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| 10/06/2009 |
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| Findus Group Welcomes 'The End of the Line' Film |
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As a major European food business, with a longstanding commitment to sustainable fish procurement and processing, the Findus Group (parent to Young’s Seafood, The Seafood Company and Findus) has welcomed the release of ‘The End of the Line’ film for its contribution to the debate on sustainable fishing.
James Turton, Group director of Sustainability and Corporate Affairs says,
“This is an impactful, well-made documentary and we welcome its intent to highlight the vital importance of protecting the world’s fish resources and its call for consumers to choose sustainable seafood.
“As a major seafood producer we have been involved in supplying fish for over 200 years. As such it is clearly both our duty and our interest to actively support good fisheries management and we firmly believe that sustainable practice is the only way to safeguard fish as a key global food resource both now and for future generations.
“This is why we have long been active in sustainable fisheries initiatives and why we developed our ‘Fish for Life’ approach. This is our undertaking only to purchase from responsibly managed sources. It also gives consumers ready access to responsibly sourced seafood through our Young’s and Findus brand products.”
The Fish for Life commitment is underpinned by the Findus Group’s ‘Ten Principles for Responsible Fish Procurement’ - the fundamental guiding principles by which the whole Group business buys both farmed and wild caught seafood.
James Turton says: “Our overall approach is to promote good practice and challenge bad – which drives us to actively initiate, support and stimulate any projects and policies which contribute towards long term sustainability. Fortunately there are now many examples of good fisheries, not least the growing number certified as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) process.
“We support in principle the establishment of Marine Reserves as a crucial part of future UK and EU integrated marine policy. Specific plans for their creation will need to be based on sound scientific information and arise from a constructive dialogue with all of the key stakeholders - including fishermen themselves. We will be considering ways in which we can contribute further to this going forward.”
James Turton concludes, “The End of the Line highlights some key issues for our industry. For our own business, we already commit that every purchasing decision is made only with a clear understanding of the capacity of the environment to support the fishing or fish farming effort involved. We also know that it is vital that our policies translate into actions, and our deeds match our words. One example of this in practice is our work with suppliers in the Eastern Baltic to reduce illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and help implement a recovery plan. This has recently resulted in a marked improvement in the status of the cod stock and is a good demonstration that measures taken by business, based on good science, can achieve positive, substantial change.”
Notes for Editors
Bluefin tuna
The Findus Group does not purchase bluefin tuna. This species is clearly endangered and as such it is on the Group’s ‘red list’ of prohibited species which it will not handle.
The Group does purchase a different species of tuna - yellow fin – although at present only in small amounts as frozen fish from suppliers in the Yemen. This is a responsibly managed artisinal fishery, where the tuna are hand line caught.
Recent activity
The Findus Group is at the forefront of work to develop and enhance traceability systems and controls over the seafood supply chain - through such initiatives as the ‘AIPCE Control Documents’ for Barent’s Sea and Baltic Sea cod fishing. It is also involved in promoting the wider adoption of more formal collaborative agreements between fishing nations such as the ‘Port State Control’ measures which have been proposed by the FAO of the United Nations.
The Group has been particularly closely involved in supporting improvement measures for the Eastern Baltic cod fishery. These have included lobbying Baltic state fisheries ministers regarding the urgent need for control of IUU and the business jointly drafting (with its regional supplier, Espersens) the AIPCE Control Document which outlined the measures required for improvement. The latest scientific advice observes that this fishery is now in an upward trend.
The Group’s continuing Fish for Life programme has been the recipient of a number of accolades including in 2007 the Seafish Award for Outstanding Achievement, a Business in the Community (BITC) ‘Big Tick’ and a Major Commendation in the Business Commitment to the Environment Awards 2008.
In the UK Young’s (and its sister own label business, The Seafood Company) are also market leaders in products made using sustainably-sourced fish certified by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC).
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