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08.06.2021

We Have Renewed Our Collaboration with WWF

We have renewed our partnership with WWF®. Since 2016, we have been working with this organisation to ensure that fishing activities are conducted in an ethical, legal, transparent, and fully-traceable manner.

In renewing our collaboration with WWF in 2021, we decided to broaden the scope of our work and to focus on the concept of ‘Ocean Stewardship’. We’ve increased our sourcing from more sustainable fishing practices: 86.5% of our branded tuna now comes from responsibly-managed fisheries. We played an important advocacy role to improve the management of stocks within the international organisations regulating fishing activities in high seas. We started an exciting initiative related to the blue forest conservation project in the Gulf of Guayaquil, Ecuador, which will protect more than 7,000 hectares of mangroves.

“We aim to become the most sustainable tuna company in the world. To this end, we are confirming our objective of 100% tuna from MSC-certified fisheries or Credible and Comprehensive FIPs by 2024. On top of this, we are committing to adopting stricter sustainability criteria in line with the newly released WWF’s Tuna Strategy and to intensify our advocacy efforts,” says Luciano Pirovano, Global Sustainable Development Director of the Food Business Unit of Bolton Group.
 

We have renewed our collaboration with WWF

The partnership will actively advocate for the adoption of new measures by the Tuna Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs) with the goal of helping rebuild overfished stocks and preventing overfishing in the future. The partnership will also develop communication campaigns to promote responsible seafood consumption and increase awareness about more sustainable fishing, under the banner of ‘Together for the Oceans’.

“Tuna fisheries are part of the complex and multi-dimensional relationship people have with the ocean. Tuna is extremely valuable as a food source, particularly for coastal communities, and healthy tuna populations are essential for resilient and productive marine ecosystems. Partnerships like this are important to achieve WWF’s goal of sustainable, well-managed fisheries supporting food security, livelihoods, and ocean health,” says John Tanzer, WWF Global Ocean Lead.

Looking beyond certification

During the first phase of the partnership (2016-2020), our focus was on improving the sustainability of our supply chains for both artisanal and industrial fisheries. Today, almost 70% of the sourcing of Rio Mare comes from MSC certified fisheries or Credible and Comprehensive Fishery Improvement Projects (FIPs). In terms of transparency and traceability, 100% of Rio Mare’s tuna products are fully traceable from catch to plate, with information being shared in real-time with consumers. The Food Business Unit of Bolton Group and WWF identified the need to raise Bolton’s sustainability commitments through the adoption of a holistic seascape approach for tuna management and sourcing: while the MSC certification and Fishery Improvement Projects will remain two important tools for promoting more sustainable fisheries in phase II of the partnership, we are committed to looking beyond certification.

 

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