Nippon Suisan Kaisha (Nissui)

Sustainability strategy
Nissui discloses its process for identifying and prioritising its most relevant sustainability impacts as well as the outcome of this process, in relation to its sustainability strategy.

Stakeholder engagement
Nissui discloses an overview of the issues raised during its regular/ongoing stakeholder engagement activities as well as the engagement channels and frequencies, for each stakeholder group.

No leading practices were identified in the ecosystems area.

No leading practices were identified in the traceability area.

Forced Labour
Nissui prohibits the payment of any recruitment fees or related costs to secure a job, and it does not retain workers’ personal documents or restrict workers’ freedom of movement in its supply chain.

Respect human rights
Nissui publicly commits to respecting human rights and the ILO core labour rights. It extends this commitment to suppliers as well. In 2020, the company conducted a human rights risk assessment through a cross-departmental workshop. This assessment aimed to identify risks related to the company’s value chains, including general and cross-industrial human rights risks. The assessment also took into consideration perspectives from the country and fish species standpoint. In line with transparency, three potential human rights risks were identified: forced and child labor in marine product raw materials, foreign technical intern trainees’ work environment, and labor safety. The company also discloses the categories of stakeholders whose human rights have been or may be affected by its activities. Also, it lists the identified risks while engaging with different stakeholders The company facilitates a whistle-blowing system for its employees, allowing them to report violations anonymously or openly. This initiative demonstrates commitment to accountability and ethical conduct.

Provide and promote decent work
Nissui has a publicly available policy statement, which requires its business partners to prioritize the health and safety of their employees. Additionally, the company provides information on the percentage of women in various employee categories within its direct operations workforce. Furthermore, the company has set specific targets to maintain a 50% representation of women in its new hires each fiscal year, as well as ensuring that at least 10% of all managers and executive officers or general managers are women by 2025.

Sustainability strategy
Nissui discloses certain sustainability objectives/targets. However, there is an opportunity to establish group-wide targets for the most significant aspects of its value chain. While the company reports on some of their targets, there is an opportunity to report consistently across all its targets.

Accountability for sustainability strategy
Nissui discloses a remuneration policy related to sustainability performance but can further link this policy to enhancements in ecosystems, traceability and social objectives. Furthermore, there is an opportunity for the company to disclose whether its highest governance body has specific expertise with respect to the company’s most material sustainability topics.

Lobbying and advocacy
While Nissui discloses its participation in external organizations, it has an opportunity to state a list of trade associations of which it is a member. Furthermore, it could provide a clear and detailed framework for assessing the alignment of these trade associations with its sustainability targets and report any (potential) misalignments between the lobbying activities of its trade associations and its sustainability targets.

Sustainable fisheries and aquaculture
While Nissui has a commitment to sustainable seafood. Based on an assessment conducted in 2020, the company reports that in 2019, 38% of its marine products portfolio was certified, 12% was engaged in a fishery improvement project (FIP) and 49% was not engaged in a sustainability program. The company has an opportunity to disclose up to date information as well a time-bound target to achieve sustainable seafood across its entire portfolio.

Ecosystem impacts of fisheries
Nissui has a general commitment to sustainable seafood. Based on an assessment conducted in 2020, the company reports that in 2019, 38% of its marine products portfolio was certified, 12% was engaged in a fishery improvement project (FIP) and 49% was not engaged in a sustainability program. Therefore, the company could improve by disclosing up to date information about the sustainability status of its marine product portfolio. The company could also improve by explaining how it deals with the impacts of the fisheries it sources from that are not already certified or engaged in a FIP.

Ecosystem impacts of aquaculture
Nissui has limited disclosure about how it addresses the impacts related to its aquaculture products. Although the company has developed an Aquaculture Health Management System to monitor the health of farmed fish, it has an opportunity to provide evidence on how it aims to reduce the use of medicine and medically important antibiotics. Regarding fish escapes, Nissui reports on the species, the number of incidents, the number of fish and the country of which the incidents occurred. In 2021, the company reports that it had one major incident in which more than 20,000 fish escaped.

Traceability systems and commitments for seafood products and aquaculture feed ingredients
As a member of Seafood Business for Ocean Stewardship (SeaBOS), Nissui endorsed the Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST) standards. However, Nissui can strengthen its commitment to traceability by making a time-bound commitment implement the GDST standards in its operations and supply chain.. Nissui has a chain of custody certification in place the certified products its sources. However, Nissui does not disclose any information about how it traces and verifies the origins of its seafood products. Nissui can improve by disclosing what traceability systems are in place in its operations and supply chain, including which key data elements (KDEs) that are collected and mechanisms to verify the information along the supply chain.

Risk-based approach to illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing
Nissui claims that it is not involved in illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. However, it does not disclose how it ensures that IUU risks are addressed and mitigated. Therefore, the company has an opportunity to improve by demonstrating how it assesses IUU risks across its operations and supply chains and subsequently addresses any identified risks.

Disclosure of the source of seafood products and marine feed ingredients
Nissui provides a map of its geographic sourcing locations, but the data is from 2019 and only broadly identifies the locations. Nissui could improve its performance by disclosing an up-to-date overview of its fishing and aquaculture operations and the seafood products it sources, including information about species, specific location and management status.

Forced Labour
For its operations, Nissui could prohibit the use of recruitment fees or related costs to secure a job, retain workers’ personal documents or restrict workers’ freedom of movement. Furthermore, it could indicate how it is building the capacity of its suppliers to prevent forced labour impacts.

Farmer and fisher livelihoods
Nissui has an opportunity to identify living income benchmarks and assess living income gaps for some commodities and regions. Also, it could adopt procurement practices and develop supply chain relationships that improve farmers’ income resilience.

Working and living conditions on board fishing vessels
One of Nissui’s subsidiaries (Australian Longline) has certified its fishing vessel against the Responsible Fishing Vessel Standard from Global Seafood Assurance. However, there is no evidence that Nissui has a group-level approach to verify decent working and living conditions on board fishing vessels in its operations or supply chains. Nissui can improve by learning from the experience of its subsidiary and developing and implementing a group-level approach to monitor conditions on vessels and show how risks are mitigated and improvements are implemented, where needed.

Respect human rights
Nissui has an opportunity to provide clarity on how it identifies human rights risks and impacts in specific locations or activities within its supply chain. Currently, the company states that it conducts human rights risk assessments and implements measures to prevent, mitigate, or remediate its salient human rights issues. However, it should also elaborate on how this process applies to its supply chain.

Provide and promote decent work
It would be beneficial for Nissui to provide a policy statement that demonstrates its commitment to ensuring the health and safety of workers. The company also has the chance to reveal its methods for monitoring the health and safety performance of its suppliers. Although the company claims to pay minimum wage to its employees, it can make a commitment to paying a living wage by setting a specific deadline. Additionally, the company has an opportunity to explain how it determines what constitutes a living wage in the regions where it operates. While the company has established expectations regarding the wages paid by its suppliers, it could also incorporate a requirement for them to pay a living wage. It should also enhance transparency by disclosing how it supports suppliers in meeting this requirement. Furthermore, although the company has a statement on gender equality and women’s empowerment, it could take this further by creating a public policy document that translates this commitment into concrete actions. Lastly, the company could disclose the ratios of basic salary and remuneration between women and men in its total direct operations workforce.

Act ethically
While Nissui already prohibits bribery and corruption, there is an opportunity to reinforce this commitment by formalizing it in a public policy document. The company also has the potential to enhance its transparency and mitigation of bribery and corruption risks. This can be accomplished by clearly outlining its procedures for identifying these risks in specific locations or activities, especially concerning its own operations. Furthermore, the company can strengthen its stance against bribery and corruption by incorporating anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses into its contractual agreements with business partners. The company currently provides a means for stakeholders to report concerns related to bribery and corruption. However, it is unclear whether this mechanism is easily accessible to all stakeholders and if individuals have the choice to remain anonymous. Additionally, it has the opportunity to publicly disclose a policy statement confirming that it does not make any political contributions. The company could also consider disclosing its expenditures related to lobbying activities. Additionally, implementing a requirement for third-party lobbyists to adhere to the company’s lobbying and political engagement policy would reinforce its commitment to ethical conduct