High Liner Foods Announces Commitment to Purchase Only From Sustainable and Responsible Sources by End of 2013
High Liner Foods Inc., a leading North American processor and marketer of superior quality seafood, announced today that the company has made a commitment to source all of its seafood from certified sustainable or responsible fisheries and aquaculture farms by the end of 2013, reports www.megafishnet.com with reference to High Liner Foods.
With this commitment, High Liner Foods will require wild-caught seafood and farmed products to either come from fisheries and aquaculture farms certified as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), the Global Aquaculture Alliance's (GAA) Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) program and the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), respectively, or require those suppliers not certified to be on a clear, defined path toward being sustainable and capable of documenting measurable improvements. High Liner Foods will collaborate with its NGO partner, the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, to achieve these objectives.
"High Liner Foods is committed to our goal of doing business only with suppliers who share our vision of sourcing seafood responsibly, and with a dedication to environmental stewardship to ensure that our natural resources are available for generations to follow," said Henry Demone, president and CEO of High Liner Foods. "This proactive, ongoing effort will include engaging with our suppliers in projects that make the long-term viability of these farms and fisheries possible."
For those fisheries that are not under assessment by MSC, High Liner Foods will ensure that they are "responsible" fisheries. This means those fisheries must use "best in class" methodologies to demonstrate documented improvements in fishing practices as reported by, FishSource(TM) (www.FishSource.org) or evaluated by an equivalent standard. For those fisheries that have made sufficient improvements to enter into the MSC program, High Liner Foods will require them to enter the full MSC assessment process.
In addition, by the end of 2013, all of the uncertified sources that High Liner Foods works with must have undergone an independent evaluation, and enter a third-party assessment program such as MSC, GAA's BAP program, or the ASC. Also, all sources undergoing improvements will be required by High Liner Foods to report an improvement work plan and milestones to be achieved.
"As an organization, one of our key strategic goals is to be proactive and bring about positive change for our industry," said Bill DiMento, corporate director of sustainability at High Liner Foods. "We will work closely with our uncertified suppliers to drive meaningful, quantifiable changes, ensuring that they are acting responsibly, and that they are on a path to being certified sustainable."
For more information about the High Liner Foods' commitment to sustainability, visit the company's sustainability information website (http://www.highlinersustainability.com/en/index.htm ).
About High Liner Foods Incorporated
High Liner Foods Incorporated is a leading North American processor and marketer of prepared, value-added frozen seafood. High Liner's branded products are sold throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico under the High Liner(R), Fisher Boy(R), Mirabel(R) and Sea Cuisine(TM) labels, and are available in most grocery and club stores. The Company also sells its High Liner(R), FPI(R) and Mirabel(R) food service products to restaurants and institutions, and is a major supplier of private label seafood products to North American food retailers and food service distributors. High Liner Foods is a publicly traded Canadian company. Its common shares trade under the symbol HLF and its Non-Voting Equity Shares trade under the symbol HLF.A on the Toronto Stock Exchange.