Wales Group (Sea Value & Sea Wealth)

Sustainability strategy

Wales Group shares a scarce amount of information about its sustainability activities. Only subsidiary Sea Value makes a reference to sustainability and only a limited commitment to sustainability activities on its website. Wales Group should devise and implement a group-wide sustainability approach with time-bound objectives and targets to increase its accountability and transparency around sustainability. Furthermore, there is little information available about Wales Group’s corporate structure or which subsidiaries are under the parent company. By disclosing more to interested stakeholders, for example on a group-level company website, Wales Group could begin a dialogue on group-wide sustainability activities and oversight.

Implementation of human and labour rights policies

Wales Group does not disclose the procedures or mechanisms through which its human and labour rights policies are implemented. Subsidiary Sea Value has made several commitments to uphold human and labour rights through its ethical trading and social policy, along with its codes of conduct for both international and local fisheries. However, it is not clear to what extent these policies apply to Wales Group –making it difficult to assess the group’s performance in this measurement area. The group should disclose more information about its human and labour rights activities.

Traceability of marine ingredients

While Wales Group does not have a group-wide traceability system, subsidiary Sea Value has a system that tracks its tuna from capture to store shelf. It gathers data on the name and flag of catcher and transshipping vessels, fish species, ocean of capture corresponding to tuna regional fisheries management organization (RFMO) area, fishing trip dates, fishing gear employed, date the company took ownership of the fish and each species by weight. Wales Group could ensure that other similar traceability systems are implemented for the entirety of its seafood operations.

Support for local communities

Wales Group does not disclose information on its activities involving local communities and their outcomes. The group could better demonstrate how it takes local communities into account in the areas where it operates and how its operations benefit the livelihoods of people living in surrounding areas.