Major initiatives to boost sustainability of world's oceans

Efforts to put the world's oceans on a pathway towards sustainability got a major boost this week with the announcement of two major initiatives.

CEOs of 10 of the largest seafood companies in the world behind the Seafood Business for Ocean Stewardship (SeaBOS) initiative announced they will increase their efforts to strengthen sustainable practices in the seafood industry following their meeting in Japan this week.

They agreed to address key topics affecting ocean health and seafood sustainability, including illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and modern slavery, and they committed to improving transparency in reporting, to substantially reducing their use of antibiotics in aquaculture and plastic materials in their supply chains.

Members of SeaBOS include salmon farmers Marine Harvest ASA and Cermaq, aquafeed companies Skretting and Cargill Aqua Nutrition, and tuna fishers Thai Union Group PCL , Dongwon Industries and Kyokuyo.

Norwegian initiative

In Norway, the world’s richest government-owned investment fund has called on companies it invests into integrate ocean sustainability into their strategy.  

Oslo-based Norges Bank Investment Management, whose fund value reached a record $1-trillion last year, said many companies in its investment portfolio depend on the ocean as part of their business model.

It now requires them to integrate measures that will help to identify and minimize the impact of their activities on the ocean.  In the aquaculture industry, the fund has investments in Huon Aquaculture Group of Australia.

"The ocean is a vital part of the biosphere and an important part of the global economy," Yngve Slyngstad, NBIM's CEO, said in a statement on Wednesday. "We expect companies to manage the challenges and opportunities related to sustainable use of the ocean."