Walmart and Sam’s Club Toughen Seafood Policy for Tuna Supply Chains
At Walmart and Sam’s Club, we are dedicated to helping people save money and live better. Our customers and members count on us to deliver products that are more sustainably sourced, including key seafood commodities that provide protein, nutrition and income for hundreds of millions of people around the world.
Today we are announcing stronger standards aimed at improving transparency and data gathering in the tuna supply chain to address issues such as accidental catch of non-targeted species, illegal fishing and abandonment of fishing gear, all of which continue to pose a threat to ocean ecosystems. Our enhanced seafood policy covers Walmart U.S., Walmart Canada and Sam’s Club suppliers and asks tuna suppliers to:
- Source exclusively from vessels that have 100% observer monitoring (electronic monitoring or human observer)1 by 2027;
- Source from fisheries using zero high seas transshipment unless the transshipment activity is covered by 100% observer monitoring (electronic monitoring or human coverage)2 by 2027.
Continue reading here (Source: Walmart).
Highest Ocean Temperatures Ever Recorded for the Month of May, NOAA Says
Scientists have gathered further evidence that ocean waters are continuing to warm along with the rest of the planet.
Ocean temperatures reached record-breaking highs for the month of May, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced during its monthly climate call on Thursday.
Four main factors are contributing to such historic warming of global sea surface temperatures: human-induced climate change, a developing El Nino event, effects from the 2022 Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano eruption and a new shipping emissions policy aimed at reducing air pollution, said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles. Continue reading here (Source: ABC).
Bumble Bee Seafoods Introduces 12 New Tuna Product SKUs
Bumble Bee Seafoods has introduced 12 new tuna products that will be available at retail outlets across the United States.
The San Diego, California, U.S.A.-based firm, which was acquired in 2020 by Fong Chun Formosa (FCF) Fishery Company, sells a full line of seafood and specialty protein products in the U.S., Canada, and around 50 other markets globally under the Bumble Bee, Anova, Brunswick, Clover Leaf, Snow’s, Wild Selections and Beach Cliff brands.
Continue reading here (Source: SeafoodSource).
Pacific Island Ministers Hold Meeting for Sustainable Fisheries for Economic Growth & Development
Ministers from Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu, Tokelau, and Solomon Islands met in Honiara from 15-16 June 2023 for their 18th Annual Meeting, with the theme “Sustainable Tuna Fisheries for our Economic Growth & Development.” The Federated States of Micronesia was represented by a Senior Official. The meeting was chaired by Hon. Nestor Giro, Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources for Solomon Islands.
The eight countries that are Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) and Tokelau control the world’s largest sustainable tuna purse seine fishery.
Ministers had the opportunity to travel to Noro before their meeting to visit the centre of Solomon Islands tuna industry, including the Soltuna processing facility, on the occasion of the celebration of 50 years of the operation of the tuna industry in Solomon Islands. Continue reading here (Source: Parties to the Nauru Agreement).
The Pacific Is Becoming a Testing Ground for Green Geopolitics
The recent security agreements between Papua New Guinea and the United States are a good deal for the planet—but a tough pill for Beijing to swallow, and one that might come with potential blowback.
The new agreements accelerate coastal security strategies that also help with climate change adaptation by protecting vulnerable fisheries. These new moves point toward greater opportunities for further climate mitigation and resilience, using existing climate programs in Papua New Guinea and international climate financing. Papuan Prime Minister James Marape has often spoken of his enthusiasm for climate financing, which is also a high priority for the whole of the Blue Pacific Continent 2050 strategy that was endorsed and launched last July 2022 by a coalition of island nations. With the Biden administration set to host a major U.S.-Pacific island summit this fall, American interest in Pacific climate adaptation is growing.
But one aspect of these programs that American officials discuss only behind closed doors is their role in countering Chinese influence in the Pacific. Some of the programs are aimed at curbing environmental damage committed largely by Chinese companies through questionable fishing practices and widespread logging and mining. Pushing Chinese firms with dubious environmental practices out of Papua New Guinea and elsewhere also helps reduce the role of Chinese money, and influence, in Pacific politics—a double win for the United States. Continue reading here (Source: Foreign Policy).
Grupo Calvo Increases Its Sales by 22% in 2022, a Year Marked by Inflation and Increased Costs
Grupo Calvo increased its sales by 22% in 2022, reaching 678 million euros, while achieving a gross operating result (Ebitda) of 51.6 million euros in a “complex” year marked by inflation and the increase in costs, as reported by the company in a statement.
The Spanish multinational specialized in canned fish has specified that the increase in total turnover is mainly due to the partial transfer to the sale price of the increase in costs experienced by all the components of its product portfolio.
In this way, he pointed out the rise in prices of prickly pear, energy, which is necessary both in production and extractive processes, and oil, both olive and sunflower, due to a historically low harvest and the war in Ukraine. Continue reading here (Source: Tapas Magazine).
