Sustainable Seafood Sourcing Policy

This policy sits within a suite of wider company Sustainability Policies, which seek to examine and control the impacts our business has on the environmental, economic and social fabric of not only its locality but nationally and globally.

Fish City Sustainability Mission

We envisage a community of responsible and educated citizens who are environmentally conscious, practice social responsibility in their daily lives, and inspire others to do the same. We commit to operating in an economically, socially, and environmentally responsible manner whilst balancing the interests of diverse stakeholders.

We strive to be a leader in corporate citizenship and both sustainable and environmental development, caring for our employees and customers, seeking to enrich the quality of life for the communities in which we operate, and serve as good stewards of society and the environment.

At Fish City, we believe that the health and happiness of future generations is dependent on our collective commitment to sustainable ways of living and working. We recognise that it is our responsibility to reduce any negative impact we may produce upon the environment and raise the awareness to our staff, guests and communities so that they can help us achieve our goals for sustainability.

We are committed to integrating leading environmental practices into our business and to continually exploring new ideas for improving our environmental performance.

Our wider sustainability approach covers a number of practical issues. We are focusing on practices aimed at:

• Energy Management— to reduce our consumption of energy (electricity, LPG, fuel oil, diesel, and petrol) with the aim to become carbon neutral;

• Waste Management— to reduce the overall volume of waste and maximise recycled proportion;

• Supplier Management— to work with suppliers that share our commitment to sustainability and the environment;

• Staff— to raise environmental awareness and make sustainability an integral part of our staff culture; and,

• Guests— to raise awareness and actively promote and encourage green tourism initiatives.

It is within this context that this Sustainable Seafood Sourcing Policy is anchored.

We are committed to ensuring that all seafood products used in our processes are harvested sustainably. This means that seafood is harvested at levels that maintain their availability for present and future generations.

To achieve this, we:

• will not serve seafood from supplies that are ‘Red Rated’ at the Marine Conservation Society’s (MCS) goodfishguide.org (or similar assessment);

• will preferentially source seafood from responsibly managed fisheries and farms, such as those rated 1–3 at goodfishguide.org or are certified by recognised ecolabels or standards such as MCS, ASC, Organic, Global GAP, GAA BAP (2-star or better).

Continuous Improvement

We will partner where necessary with organisations, communities, and bodies to identify opportunities to improve upon the sustainability of seafood products, even beyond that which is required by statute.

For illustration, such opportunities may be around: harvesting methods that reduce discards; distribution methods that reduce food miles; or, improving handling to maintain the quality of the product. We will seek to develop incentives for suppliers that choose to be part of this process.

Local & Seasonal Promotion

We will endeavour to source products that are harvested and processed in our local communities. Sourcing products from near to where they are sold helps to support the economic and social sustainability of our local communities. Importantly it will also contribute to the environmental integrity of our product by decreasing food miles.

Accepted Harvesting Methods

We will not purchase any seafood that is harvested using illegal methods.

We will use only products harvested using legal means in regulated environments and will work proactively with the industry to encourage investment in gear and technologies that reduce the impact of seafood productions on the environment.

We will endeavour to prioritise sourcing through harvesting methods that have the least impact on the environment and the ecosystem and that have the least amount of discards.

Seafood Education

We at Fish City view ourselves as advocates for the promotion of the use of seafood as a lifestyle choice. To that end, we are committed to educating our staff, customers, and wider communities on seafood sustainability issues. We have a schools-based extracurricular programme aimed at delivering learning opportunities to local children.

Potential suppliers will be required to contribute to that programme. Strategically we aim to promote the issue of cleaner oceans; and, in this respect we will pay particular attention to issue of degradation of plastics and other detritus at sea, as well as the subsequent effect plastic is having on the sustainability of seafood.

We will make information available to our customers and communities in a variety of engagement formats that equip them with information they need to make informed and responsible purchasing choices based on their own values around community, the environment, and their health.

Transparency

In order to ensure the credibility of our statements, positions and actions, transparency in our Policy and Programme is essential.

For us ‘transparency’ means the following:

• Making the Sustainable Seafood Sourcing Policy public;

• Releasing annual goals and actions in achieving those goals;

• Making educational material relating to seafood available to the public, including but not limited to:

  • In situ product labels and signage;

  • Websites and Social Media engagement opportunities; and,

  • Public Relations and Marketing Strategy, including materials designed to support communication and engagement with the public and our target audiences. ■