Business View - January 2016 17
tional Labor Organization (ILO), and the NGO com-
munity to establish and expand social responsibility
programs. Said Jeff Sedacca, President, Shrimp Divi-
sion, National Fish & Seafood, “Our commitment to
social responsibility has been long-standing because
it is the right way to do business.”
In 2010, National Fish was the first importer of Thai
shrimp to ban the use of shrimp peeling houses
located outside the processing plants since such
houses are not included in plant audits, allowing for
the potential use of illegal and underage labor. All
shrimp processed for and imported by National Fish
have remained in the care, custody and control of
the audited processor through the entire production
process, and the company requires suppliers to pro-
vide it with verifiable documentation on responsible
farming practices and labor conditions.
National Fish has been a leading force in implementa-
tion of farm and plant certification through the Global
Aquaculture Alliance’s Best Aquaculture Practices
(BAP) certification scheme, which contains a so-
cial responsibility component benchmarked against
the international Global Social Compliance Pro-
gram. Since its inception, National Fish has hosted
hundreds of hours of training seminars throughout
Southeast Asia to teach farmers and processors to
meet the internationally recognized certification re-
quirements. “We closely monitor social compliance
at these facilities and require regular unannounced
ethical sourcing audits,” continued Mr. Sedacca.
James Baros, Aquaculture & Sustainability Manager,
National Fish & Seafood added, “Earlier this year, we
helped our Thai supplier to build a feed mill to supply
farms contracted for National Fish & Seafood produc-
tion. This undertaking successfully further secured
our supply chain, giving us increased control over
all inputs ensuring legality and fair labor practices of
our fishmeal suppliers and affiliated fishing vessels.”
All purchases are accompanied by the Marine Catch
Purchasing Document, which demonstrates trace-
ability, and sources include both IFFO-certified (Inter-
national Fishmeal and Fish Oil Organization) Peruvian
fishmeal and tuna by-product fishmeal.
Mr. Baros led National Fish & Seafood in joining the
Thai Shrimp Sustainable Supply Chain Task Force
(Task Force) in 2015, formed to address illegal, unre-
ported and unregulated fisheries and labor abuse in
Thai shrimp supply chains. Comprised of key indus-
try stakeholders drawn from seafood processing,
importers, and retail businesses, the Task Force is
working to develop robust, actionable solutions fo-
cused on three objectives:
• Implement Track & Trace systems with internation-
al verification
• Drive Thai Port Codes of Conduct with international
recognition
