LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM — The Certification and Ratings Collaboration today released an updated version of its data tool, which provides a high-level overview of the performance of global seafood production. By taking into account a range of factors affecting sustainability, the Collaboration’s environmental data tool supplements the recently-released Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA) report, which evaluates fisheries’ sustainability by reference to target species stocks alone.

“Sustainability is about more than the target species stock, and issues ranging from forced labor to climate change determine whether the fish we eat today will be available tomorrow,” said Chris Ninnes, CEO of the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) and chair of the Collaboration’s steering committee. “The standards employed by Collaboration members and other contributing organizations take those factors into account, and the Collaboration’s data tool presents those analyses in an accessible way.”

The tool consolidates and summarizes data from collaboration member organizations ASC, Fair Trade USA, Marine Stewardship Council, Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch® Program, and Sustainable Fisheries Partnership. It also integrates data from the Global Seafood Alliance’s Best Aquaculture Practices program and the Qingdao Marine Conservation Society.

The updated data tool shows improvement over time in our understanding of the environmental performance of global seafood production. Since 2020, the share of worldwide production that has been certified or rated by organizations contributing to the data tool has grown from 39% to 51%.

The Collaboration also hosts a social data tool, which compiles human rights abuses and risks data on 96 countries that account for nearly all (98.7%) of the world’s seafood production. The updated social data tool documents that:

• The percentage of countries assessed with evidence of abuses rose from 65% to 68%. In absolute terms, five countries already profiled have new evidence of abuses and four of the countries newly profiled have evidence of abuses.
• The percentage of countries assessed with significant risk factors for human rights abuses, namely flags of convenience and evidence of failing to tackle illegal fishing, rose from 16% to 19%.
• And 95% of countries assessed have failed to ratify at least one key convention or fundamental ILO treaty.

“This data confirms the human rights concerns so many NGOs, advocates, and organizers have raised,” said Ninnes. “Responsible seafood companies must lead the charge for reform across their supply chains, working with fishers, farmers, processing workers, governments, and civil society to protect the people who feed the world.”