Delivering Trusted and Transparent Fishing Vessel Standards

through Cost Effective Audits - Learnings from the Quayside

and the Deck

Nigel Edwards, Technical & CSR Director, Icelandic Seachill

John Connelly, President, National Fisheries Institute

Bill DiMento, Vice President of Quality Assurance, Sustainability and Government Affairs,

High Liner Foods

Libby Woodhatch, Head of Advocacy, Seafish

John Connelly

National Fisheries Institute

June 2017

The Why

Labor Issues in Seafood Supply Chain

Labor in Seafood Supply Chain Overview

Most vessels operate in legal framework protective of labor rights

Some vessels have failed and abused workers

This is not solely about Thailand and aquaculture

Foundations, NGOs, and media see labor issues as the next aspect of sustainability

Governments are reacting, and their actions are not focused just on where abuse occurred …. looking at seafood from harvest through retail, globally

Companies are being sued for failing to warn consumers of “slave seafood”

Companies are acting, throughout the supply chain

Companies seek to avoid duplication, competing demands, and efficient and effective solutions

Labor in Seafood Supply Chain Examples of real, perceived, or alleged abuses

Crew held in cages (Indonesia)

Abuse on vessels (New Zealand)

Filipino crew not paid (Ireland)

Crew not allowed off vessels (United States)

Labor in Seafood Supply Chain Media blood in the water

AP Wins 2016 Pulitzer Prize Guardian Reports Garner Governments’ Attention

Media success breeds more stories, resulting in cycle of press reports

Labor in Seafood Supply Chain Government action

California Supply Chain Transparency Act: Explain to public actions taken to avoid slavery in supply chain

US State Department: Provided grants to NGOs working on trafficking

EU IUU Red Card System: Although not part of regulation, labor being included in reports

US Trade Enforcement Act: Allows public to make slavery allegations against seafood imports

UK Modern Slavery Act: Explain to public actions taken to avoid slavery in supply chain

Labor in Seafood Supply Chain Foundation and NGO action

Funded by owner of EBay. Fund NGOs and investigative journalists

Investigative NGO, with reach in Asia, Africa, and Europe

Sees as natural extension of their marine conservation work

2017: Fisheries: Self declaration free of “unacceptable” labor practices

Supply Chain: Auditable MSC labor standard or equivalent

2020: Fisheries: Auditable MSC labor standard or equivalent

Retained consultant to determine how to engage in social issues

Labor in Seafood Supply Chain Retailer and foodservice actions

RFS certification for sale in UK (2017 for UK vessels and 2019 for imports)

Mandating SMETA or similar audits

Helping lead development of tuna vessel labor standards in Seafood Task Force

Seafood Systems Is it time to rethink traditional approaches?

2000 2017

Libby Woodhatch, Head of Advocacy, Seafish

@libbywoodhatch

Global Risk Assessments and Audits

Agenda

• Setting the scene

– The Seafood Common Language Group (SECLG)

• Seafish/Seafish partnership tools to help identify challenges and mitigate risk

– Tools for Ethical Sourcing of Seafood (TESS)

– The Seafish Responsible Fishing Scheme (RFS)

– Human Rights Risk Tool for Seafood (HRRTS)

What are the

challenges?

Where are the

challenges?

How can I address the challenges?

Seafood Ethics Common Language

Group

INDUSTRY QUESTIONS

Update on ethics

What are the

challenges?

Where are the

challenges?

How can I address the challenges?

SECLG

15 Region / Country Profiles

HRRTS

SHORT TERM LONG TERM

TESS

OUTREACH

REDUCING RISK

WHAT DO WE DO?

INDUSTRY QUESTIONS

Update on ethics

www.seafish.org/tess

Seafish Responsible Fishing Scheme (RFS) update

Responsible Fishing Scheme

• The Seafish Responsible Fishing Scheme (RFS) is a voluntary vessel based programme certifying high standards of crew welfare and responsible catching practices on fishing vessels.

• Open to all types of fishing vessels.

• ‘Business- to-business’ tool with independent, third-party auditing

• ISO17065 compliant

• Aimed at the global marketplace

• Launched to UK vessels in 2016

Seafish Board

RFS Oversight Board

RFS Technical Committee

Expert Working Group

Expert Working Group

Expert Working Group

Public Review and Stakeholder Comment

Standard Holder

Standard Direction

Standard Development

Governance

Safety, Health and Welfare

The Vessel and its mission

Care of the Catch

Training, Professional development

Care for the Environment

RFS Standard Core Principle 1: Reduce accidents and fatalities. Promote decent working conditions, respect & integrity

Core Principle 3: demonstrate due diligence; seek to apply best practice

Core Principle 4: Focus on supply of safe, high quality, wholesome product with known provenance

Core Principle 2: improve skills, knowledge & understanding; raise standards & open up new opportunities

Core Principle 5:

behave responsibly,

respecting the environment

Supply Chain Supporters

“We have committed to incorporating the Responsible

Fishing Scheme certification into our sourcing policies”

March 2017 Seafish Board confirmed next steps

– Commitment to make RFS a global scheme focused on socially responsible fishing

– Appoint RFS International Working Group

• Conduct international fisheries pilots

• Proposals for revision of standard and audit methodology

– Design new RFS NewOrg governance structure • Initiating the process of commissioning an entity to run,

manage & govern RFS on a global scale

RFS International Working Group • An independent group of representatives of harvesting companies or organisations that will fund,

manage and run RFS pilots (Seafish oversight capacity)

• The pilots will reflect the geographic, species and harvest types of various fisheries and harvesters.

• Deliverables

– Completed international fisheries pilots via an established International Translation Process (Q2-4 2017)

– Providing input to RFS standard & audit methodology revision process (Q4 2017)

o Strengthening of crew voice

o Vessel and group certification options

o Burden/value of Principles 4 & 5

• First meeting Brussels 27/04/17

Background & Introduction to HRRTS

Human Rights Risk Tool for Seafood

Seafood Human Rights Risk Tool

• Collaboration to develop one risk assessment approach

• Identify and assess the risk of human rights abuses in fisheries worldwide

• Produce risk ratings of human rights abuses by country and fishery

• Incorporate measures implemented to mitigate such abuses

Accomplishments & Outputs To Date

• Conceptual Model, talking points & long-term vision

• Decision Tree developed

• Peer review; responses collated and implemented as appropriate

• 2 User-guides drafted

• Pilot fishery profiles developed

• Expert analyst w/ 15yrs experience w/ ILO hired

Critical

High

Medium

Low

Evidence of success of mitigation measures

KEY Fishery Level Country Level

The Concept

Risk Categories

• Critical risk - documented evidence by an internationally recognized government agency, peer-reviewed publication, media report, or credible NGO that forced labour is occurring in the profile fishery

• High Risk – documented evidence that human rights abuses are occurring in fishing in this country, but not pinpointed to the profile fishery

• Medium risk - no evidence of human rights abuses in fishing AND country may have limited or no protections for workers – is not in good standing (e.g. country may be cited by EU with a yellow or red card and may not have ratified all international agreements)

Risk Categories

• Low risk - no evidence of human rights abuses in fishing AND country is in good standing (i.e. ratified all global conventions AND not on Tier 3 or Tier 2 watch list or with yellow or red card)

• Low risk due to mitigation - if evidence is found of human rights abuses in fisheries in the country, there are implemented, robust measures that minimize any chance of slavery occurring in the profile fishery (e.g. the profile fishery is certified by the RFS)

Decision trees

Timeline of Development 2017-18

• Create a host website to house the tool and database – Consultation with users during summer

– Test and refine functionality

– Target launch Autumn ‘17

• Expert review of decision tree to refine methodology and complete the development of c.24 fishery profiles by end 2017

• Establish medium-long term funding and management strategy to ensure scalability, longevity and credibility

Keep up to date online…. • Ethics webpage

– http://www.seafish.org/responsible-sourcing/ethics-in-seafood

• TESS – www.seafish.org/tess

• Factsheet; Seafish role in ethics More to come from our ethics team… • Continue TESS development • Human Rights Risk Tool for Seafood (HRRTS) • Continue working with industry stakeholders;

outreach and SECLG • Promoting our activities • Developing our strategy

Our work on ethics

Update on ethics and TESS

Nigel Edwards Technical and CSR Director

Seaweb Seafood Summit - Seattle 5th June 2017

Social Risk Assessments

and Audits

Agenda

– Intro and context

– Tesco perspective

– Seachill approach

– Case study - vessel audits

– Summary

100% Grimsby

3 Sites Wet fish Coated Smoked

Bringing fresh quality fish to the freezer

Caution: Images may induce feelings of hunger

“Commercial fishing can be one of the most dangerous

and unregulated types of work there is.”

Reports of serious labour abuses

• Every worker should have freedom of

movement. The ability of workers to move freely

should not be inhibited by their employer.

• No worker should pay for a job. Fees and costs

associated with recruitment and employment

should be paid by the employer.

• No worker should be indebted or coerced to

work. Workers should work freely, aware of the

terms and conditions of their work and paid

regularly as agreed.

We need to identify and address the most serious issues…

Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) Commitments

45

A varied supply chain with different levels of risk…

46

Data Gathering

SEDEX Self-Assessment

Questionnaire?

Tesco Steps to Improvement

Risk assessment

In-depth investigation

Improvement and

remediation

Human Rights Risk Tool for

Seafood

FNET

NGOs,

Fisheries associations

Authorities

NGO collaboration

Progress monitoring

To assess our seafood supply chains for labour risks, and work with partners to address them

through credible improvement programmes.

Icelandic Seachill Approach • Responsible Sourcing – to SSC codes

• Risk Assessments / Mapping our supply chains to understand labour risks

• Registering suppliers (factories and vessels) and audits on Sedex

• Reassurance – Verification audits - direct and 3rd party

• RFS - UK oversight board and supporting RFS International pilots

• Reputation protection – Confidence in protection of fishers welfare

Social Assessments

Audits and Knowledge

Database

Seachill Risk Assessment HRRTS

Risk Assessment

RFS Audits

FNET Risk

Assessment

SeachillAudits

SMETA Audits

GSSI Audits

Reproduced from Stronger Together

Food Network for Ethical Trade (FNET)

Retailers and suppliers working to improve human rights in global supply chains

• To drive a consistent approach to managing ethical trade to identify, manage and

respond to global supply chain ethical trade risks

• To identify current and potential opportunities for collaborative approaches that

improve working conditions in food supply chains

• To promote trust and build a forum for sharing issues and challenges in confidence

Factory

Vessel

Fish Meal

1 2 3 4 5

Vessel name

Unique Vessel Identifier (UVI)/ IMO

number

Flag State Vessel owning

company

Nationality of vessel owning company

This will ideally be the name as it appears in RFMO

records.

Where vessels do not have IMO numbers, please provide the identifier

issued by the flag State where possible.

This is the state under whose flag registry the

vessel operates.

Where the owner is not known, please indicate

"unknown".

This will be the country of registration/incorporation.

Method of hiring of crew

Typical length of contracts of crew

Number of crew employed on vessel

Nationalities of crew

Where applicable, names of labour

brokers involved in hiring of crew

Indicate whether crew are hired directly or through a

labour broker.

Indicate if contracts are short-term e.g. for specific fishing voyages, or longer-

term

This may be an approximate number where the exact

number is not known.

Where specific information is not available, indicate

known nationalities of crew working on the vessel.

This is the name of the labour brokering

companies.

Supporting RFS International Development

• Hosted RFS feasibility study in Iceland - 2015

• Meetings in Ben Tre Province, Vietnam - Nov 2016 and May 2017

• Trained RFS auditor vessel inspections - eg Norway March 2017

• RFS International Pilot of Swordfish fleet in Brazil - planned for mid 2017

Fishing vessel approval Process

• Supplier Code Agreement • Self Assessment • Risk Assessment

Case Study – MSC Barents Sea Fishery

Vessel Standards

• Clean and hygienic

• Well invested and equipped

• Controlled with a focus on quality

• Often branded with a reputation to protect

• Convert large volumes into frozen fillets / H&G quickly

Crew Welfare Assessment

• HR / Training records

• Safety equipment

• Working hours

• Mess room / food

• Cabins

• Crew interviews

Fully document transparency on crew

• Nationality

• Age

• ID check

• Skills

• NOK records

• Wage shares

Barents Sea fleet - What have we learnt?

• Strong legal frameworks

• Economically successful fleet leading to desirable jobs

• Full crew records in place including safety training

• Joined up Inspection authorities – eg. Fishery Protection inspections will report any labour discrepancies

• Full program of H&S equipment inspection

• Working 6 hours on 6 Hours off – 50% rest

• En-suite cabins, Satellite TV, Good Food!

• Masters / captains welcome the engagement including crew interview, but are less warm to any additional paperwork

Summary

Transparency and Trust

• Registration and mapping

• Risk assessment and audit

• Identifying improvement needs and delivering actions

• Robust evidence that fishers rights and welfare are protected

Safe - Secure - Sustainable

Thank You

NigelEdwards@Seachill.co.uk

The role of ethical audits

“While we recognise that ethical audits can be successful at addressing on site risks such as health and safety, they are not necessarily the right tool to address more systemic problems like modern slavery, which are more complex.” Changes to Tesco’s Ethical Requirements for UK ROI Food and Non-Food Grocery Suppliers FAQs 10/05/2017