This year has been a quite remarkable one, with disasters — natural and economic — changing the landscape of seafood, perhaps forever. In spite of the tough backdrop, the global seafood industry continued to maintain its evolutionary trajectory throughout. So as 2011 draws to a close, we take a look back at the 10 stories that defined the sector.
10) This year was a year that many businesses unveiled new sustainability programs. In October, the United Kingdom’s second largest supermarket chain, Sainsbury’s pledged that by 2020 it would only sell seafood that has been independently certified as sustainable. This was part of its overarching GBP 1 billion (EUR 1.2 billion, USD 1.5 billion) “20 by 20 Sustainability Plan.” The UK retailer also said it would diversify its product mix beyond “the big five” species of cod, haddock, salmon, tuna and prawns by pushing sales of underutilized species. In addition, it would train its fish counter staff to an accredited standard and support the designation of marine protected areas (MPAs) worldwide. While Sainsbury’s efforts were justly applauded, it wasn’t enough to hang on to the Best Seafood Retailer Award at the UK Retail Industry Awards 2011. The accolade went to high-end supermarket chain Waitrose.
9) In August, a new survey from Young’s Seafood revealed that 11 percent of the UK population barely manages to include seafood in their diets once a month, despite government advice to eat fish at least twice a week. The survey found 48 percent of Brits fail to eat fish twice a week. The top reasons given by those surveyed include inability to cook or serve seafood (12 percent) and fear of choking on a fish bone (10 percent). A massive 22 percent eat no seafood whatsoever out of fear that their culinary skills aren’t up to scratch. The survey results came as Young’s teamed up with celebrity chef Jamie Oliver to launch a new fish range, aimed at encouraging Brits to eat more seafood. “Fish is definitely an area where people are really nervous. They’re overcooking it, they’re under cooking it and don’t even mention the word bones,” said Oliver.
8) Underlining the Netherlands’ penchant for eco-labels, in December the Dutch Retail Association (CBL) committed to, by 2016, offering in its supermarkets only farmed fish certified according to Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), or equivalent, standards. The association made a similar pledge with wild seafood, and now about 85 percent of its members’ wild seafood offerings are certified according to Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), or equivalent, standards. CBL members include Albert Heijin, Laurua, C1000 and Wholesale Super Unie and operate about 4,500 stores.
7) There was a crackdown on the tuna products sold in European retail that started in January with Sainsbury’s announcing that it would sell only tuna that was pole-and-line caught. The move quickly also became policy for rival Tesco and Marks & Spencer, Waitrose, Asda and Morrisons. And, in the summer, leading brand John West announced that it too would launch a range of pole and line-caught tuna products as part of a new five-year plan, developed in conjunction with Greenpeace, the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) and marine scientists. Under this plan, by the end of 2016, John West will source 100 percent of its tuna sold in the United Kingdom from “audited” pole-and-line tuna fisheries and will not source tuna caught in a purse seine using fish aggregating devices (FADs) under a gradual phase-out.
6) The main market for Norwegian farmed salmon is the European Union. This surely gives reason enough for the inclusion of the turbulent year experienced by salmon producers. This year started very well with some of the main players like Marine Harvest and Leroy posting record first-quarter results, but by the start of the summer, things had gone pear-shaped. The problem — which will continue well into 2012, barring any unforseen circumstances — is that supplies have grown so substantially that prices have nosedived. While at the start of 2011, the farm gate price was touching NOK 50 (EUR 6.44, USD 8.39) per kilogram, at the end of the year it was less than half that price. It should be noted that while farm gate prices tumbled in 2011, the same could not be said for consumer prices.
5) In an historic move, the United States and EU announced in September they had joined forces to end pirate fishing. In a joint letter, U.S. Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans Jane Lubchenco and EU Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki said only by working together, as two of the largest importers of fish, could they successfully combat illegal fishing. It’s estimated that up to USD 23 billion (EUR 17.7 billion) in income for fishermen is lost to illegal fishing annually.
4) McDonald’s iconic Filet-O-Fish sandwich started to bear the MSC eco-label in restaurants across Europe in October. For many of the 39 European countries in which McDonald’s is located, this is the first time an MSC-certified product will be available in foodservice. In 2010, the fast-food giant sold approximately 100 million Filet-O-Fish sandwiches across Europe. The fast food chain uses hoki sourced from the Southern Hemisphere. New Zealand’s hoki fishery has been MSC-certified since 2001. It was the world’s first major whitefish fishery to earn the distinction.
3) In a bid to boost seafood sales, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced in June the country’s “fish tax” would be axed as of 1 January 2012. The 2 percent tax — imposed on seafood sales, except oysters and mussels sales, in fishing ports — became effective in January 2008. The tax brought between EUR 70 million and EUR 80 million annually into state coffers, contributing to a general fund to help the seafood supply chain in France. The country’s retail association, the Fédération du Commerce et la Distribution (FCD), welcomed the end to the tax, “particularly at a time when the French seafood supply chain aims to encourage consumption of seafood products.”
2) Damanaki spent much of the first half of 2011 touring Europe in a bid to secure support for her much-anticipated proposals for reform to the EU’s “broken” Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). However, when these proposals were eventually published in mid-July, they failed to impress many of the groups who had rallied behind the commissioner in earlier talks. Damanaki suggested bringing in tradable fishing rights and decentralizing some fisheries policy decision-making, but crucially only called for a gradual ban on discards, which upset many green lobbyists.
1) Discards was without question seafood’s biggest topic of 2011, and at the center of the storm was campaigning chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and his “Fish Fight” initiative, which continues to call for an EU-wide ban on the practice of discarding fish at sea. It all began with an award-winning TV series that aired on Britain’s Channel 4 in January and has since provoked the involvement of many other EU member states. To date, there are more than 769,000 registered supporters on the Fish Fight website. But, commercially speaking, off the back of Fish Fight, retailers and foodservice suppliers sold a lot more so-called “alternative species” in 2011. With the new CFP not to become law until the end of 2012, expect Fearnley-Whittingstall and Fish Fight to crank up the campaign another notch in the coming months.
