SeaChoice Launches Business Guide to Sustainable Seafood,

A ‘First of its Kind’ Resource for Seafood Buyers

Vancouver, Halifax:

The SeaChoice program announced today its release of an exciting new program and a document titled “Canada’s Business Guide to Sustainable Seafood”. The business guide highlights the opportunities for businesses to develop their own sustainable seafood procurement strategies.

“Canadian businesses are already showing interest in seafood sustainability, and SeaChoice is opening the door for more businesses to get involved by offering clear suggestions of how to move forward.” said Shauna MacKinnon from Living Oceans Society. “These efforts are needed to help ensure the long-term viability of the seafood supply and the health of ocean ecosystems.”

This comprehensive guide is the first sustainable seafood resource, tailor made for the Canadian marketplace. The Guide builds on the science-based environmental sustainability rankings of seafood products that SeaChoice already offers, by providing concrete ways for businesses to incorporate seafood sustainability into their purchasing and marketing decisions.

“This new SeaChoice initiative invites dialogue and partnerships with Canada’s major seafood buyers in order to help move retail markets towards more sustainable seafood products,” said Bill Wareham, Marine Conservation Specialist with the David Suzuki Foundation. “We look forward to working with businesses to pursue these options.”

“Sustainable seafood offers an exciting opportunity to use market-based initiatives to improve fisheries and aquaculture practices and to develop active partnerships between environmental organizations and businesses,” said Anna Magera from Ecology Action Centre.

SeaChoice is a program run by five leading Canadian environmental organizations working together to bring valuable knowledge, science and understanding of conservation issues to dialogue with industry. This new SeaChoice initiative is part of a coordinated effort amongst Canadian and US environmental organizations whom are collaborating to develop a common set of goals and objectives for sustainable seafood.

“There are many business opportunities that would improve the health of our oceans,” said Sabine Jessen from the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society. “Canada’s Business Guide to Sustainable Seafood provides helpful first steps to companies that want to make a positive change.”

More information on the launch can be viewed here. View the guide on-line here, or order a print copy by contacting info@seachoice.org.