SWSS: Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative to announce members at SENA

The Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative (GSSI) continues to build momentum and is preparing to publicly announce its members at the Seafood Expo North America, taking place March 6 to 8, 2016 in Boston, Mass., according to Peter Hajipieris, Iglo’s director of sustainability and external affairs and a Seafish board member.

Hajipieris, who has been involved with GSSI since Seafish backed the initiative in 2012, gave a presentation at the SeaWeb Seafood Summit on the GSSI Benchmarking Tool on Wednesday, February 3 in Malta outlining progress made in the past year and future plans.

The benchmarking tool is designed to increase buyer confidence in seafood certification and labelling programs by evaluating them with criteria evaluating their credibility. Specifically, the benchmark investigates claims of environmental sustainability in the management of fisheries and aquaculture facilities. The benchmarks were designed with the input of seafood companies, public institutions and non-governmental organizations. 

GSSI charges a one-time fee for joining the initiative and an annual fee to maintain membership. A number of seafood companies worldwide are already using the benchmark, according to Hajipieris.