Maruha Nichiro

No leading practices were found for the company in the governance and strategy measurement area.

No leading practices were identified for the company in the ecosystems measurement area.

Commitment to traceable seafood
As member of SeaBOS, Maruha Nichiro is committed to the GDST. With this commitment, the company supports implementing robust traceability systems in the seafood industry.

No leading practices were identified for the company in the social responsibility measurement area.

Sustainable development strategy
Maruha Nichiro has a Medium-term Sustainability Management Plan where it discloses its process for identifying and prioritising its most relevant sustainability topics as well as the outcome of this process in relation to its sustainability strategy. The company can improve its strategy by developing time-bound targets for key seafood sustainability topics.

Governance and accountability
Maruha Nichiro’s chief operating officer is the chair of the sustainability committee, showing that oversight of the company’s sustainability strategy lies with the highest governance body. However, no remuneration policy linked to sustainability objectives was found.

Stakeholder engagement
Maruha Nichiro’s stakeholder engagement covers sustainability topics related to ecosystems and social responsibility across its value chain. The company also discloses the outcomes of its stakeholder engagement and the integration into its sustainability strategy. It can further improve its stakeholder engagement by disclosing its process for identifying and engaging with stakeholders across its value chain. Also, the company can further engage with stakeholders on specific seafood-related topics, such as traceability of seafood products and sustainable sourcing.

Engagement in policy advocacy
As a member of the Seafood Business for Ocean Stewardship (SeaBOS), Maruha Nichiro takes part in collective advocacy activities through statements and calls to action aimed at governments. Examples of these activities are calls for governments to support boat crews and ocean workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Statement on Traceability and Port State Measures to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Next to these statements, no further information was found about specific advocacy activities the company undertakes, individually and/or collectively, to improve public policies and strengthen legislation, nor was any reporting on results or impacts of policy advocacy activities.

Commitment to sustainable fisheries and aquaculture
Maruha has not set time-bound targets but has formulated a broad objective towards sustainable fisheries and aquaculture. The company publicly discloses little information about the sustainability of the seafood products in its operations and supply chain. While Maruha Nichiro states that it aims to increase the volumes of certified seafood in its product portfolio, no evidence was found indicating that its activities are following a positive trend towards sustainable use of marine resources.

Ecosystem impacts of fisheries
As member of SeaBOS, Maruha Nichiro is committed to tackling abandoned, lost and discarded fishing gear, also known as ghost gear, by joining the Global Ghost Gear Initiative. The company also started surveys to assess the level of sustainability of the seafood products in its operations and supply chain. Despite these activities, Maruha Nichiro lacks public disclosure about its activities to manage fishing impacts on target and by-catch species. Also, the company does not provide information about its impacts on endangered species and sensitive habitats.

Ecosystem impacts of aquaculture
Maruha Nichiro does not disclose information about how it promotes sustainable aquaculture practices in its operations and supply chains. The company can improve its performance by disclosing how it addresses important issues in aquaculture, such antibiotic use, aquaculture feed use, animal welfare, and impacts on endangered species and sensitive habitats. It could also disclose information about outbreaks, medicine use and disease management plans in its aquaculture operations.

Traceability system for seafood products and aquaculture feed ingredients
While Maruha Nichiro has publicly committed to the GDST, it does not disclose information about how it traces and verifies the origins of seafood products. Robust traceability systems contribute to reducing social and environmental risks in a company’s operations and supply chains, so Maruha Nichiro can improve by presenting its traceability system. This would include key data elements that are collected and also mechanisms to verify the information along the supply chain.

Risk-based approach to IUU fishing
Maruha Nichiro’s strategy to reduce IUU risks is to source more certified seafood products. However, the company fails to disclose whether it has a mechanism in place to conduct risk assessments on IUU fishing as well as due diligence processes to identify and mitigate these risks across its operations and supply chain.

Disclosure of the origin of its seafood and marine feed ingredients
Maruha Nichiro does not publicly disclose information about the source of its seafood products. By being transparent about the source of its products, the company would show responsibility and accountability for its operations and supply chain. Maruha Nichiro can improve its performance by disclosing an overview of its fishing and aquaculture operations and the seafood products it sources, including information about species, geographic location and management status.

Forced labour
While the company is committed to prohibiting forced labour in its own operations and supply chain, it could disclose a requirement that prohibits its suppliers from retaining workers’ personal documents and restricting their freedom of movement.

Working and living conditions on board fishing vessels
Maruha Nichiro does not publicly disclose a policy or code of conduct to ensure decent working and living conditions on board fishing vessels within in its own operations and supply chains. The company can improve its performance by monitoring these conditions on its vessels, disclosing monitoring results and showing how risks are mitigated and improvements are implemented, where needed.

Respecting customary and indigenous rights and support for local communities
Maruha Nichiro discloses examples about how it supports local communities but has not committed to respecting customary and indigenous rights. The company can improve its reporting by disclosing a systematic/set process for engaging with local communities in its own operations and supply chains. It could also track progress of the results and impacts of its engagement with local communities and commit to respecting customary and indigenous rights.

Maruha Nichiro has publicly committed to respecting human rights and the rights of its workers. However, it does not disclose sufficient information on its human rights due diligence system, particularly the processes in place to assess and act upon human rights risks. Although the company states that it engages with various stakeholders, it does not disclose the categories of stakeholders whose human rights have been or may be affected by its activities. Regarding a grievance mechanism, it is unclear whether the company guarantees anonymity for its workers and whether the mechanism is accessible to external individuals and communities as well.

Maruha Nichiro places health and safety expectations on suppliers and monitors their performance, but it could further improve by developing a policy statement on health and safety across its operations. The company discloses data related to workforce diversity and is committed to gender equality and women’s empowerment. However, it does not disclose women-to-men salary information, and only 7% of its board members are women. No information on paying a living wage or sufficient details on decent working hours was found in the public domain.

Maruha Nichiro has publicly committed to personal data protection, but no privacy statement relating to sharing and accessing personal data was found. And the company’s bribery and corruption policy does not prohibit these activities explicitly. Similarly, no responsible tax approach or jurisdiction-level tax disclosures and no responsible lobbying policy were found in the public domain.