SalMar

No leading practices were identified in the governance and strategy area.

Ecosystem impacts of aquaculture
SalMar quantitatively reports on forage fish dependency ratio (FFDR) on both fish meal and fish oil between 2020 and 2022. In its report of FFDR, the company states an increase in the use of fish meal from 2021 to 2022. However, it is noteworthy that there has been a decrease in the use of fish meal the years 2020 and 2022. Furthermore, the company has also disclosed a consistent decline in its use of fish oil production for the years 2020, 2021, and 2022. SalMar has also set a specific target pertaining to trimmings, reporting that 32% of marine ingredients derived from trimmings were achieved in 2022. SalMar is actively investing in innovative feed ingredients, including algae and insect meal, as part of its strategic initiatives however, the company could set a specific target for the use of these alternative feed ingredients.

No leading practices were identified in the traceability area.

No leading practices were identified in the social responsibility area.

Respect human rights
Salmar has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect human rights and the human rights the ILO has declared to be fundamental rights at work, which is approved by the highest governance body. Furthermore, the company indicates that it a channel which is accessible to all workers and external stakeholders to raise complaints or concerns related to the company both anonymously and not.

Provide and promote decent work
Salmar has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect the health and safety of workers, and expects its business relationships to do the same; and it discloses how it monitors the health and safety performance of its business relationships. Furthermore, the company reports that it has at least 30% women on the highest governance body.

Act ethically
Salmar has a publicly available policy statement prohibiting bribery and corruption. It also discloses a channel for reporting grievances without fear of reprisals, which is open to anyone and there is a choice for the complainant to either remain anonymous or identify themselves.

Sustainability strategy
Salmar has an opportunity to improve in this area by defining time-bound targets on key sustainability topics for the most material parts of its value chain, and reporting on their progress.

Accountability for sustainability strategy
Salmar has several opportunities to increase accountability for its sustainability strategy. For example, it can link performance criteria in senior executives’ remuneration policies to its sustainability targets and objectives. Additionally, the company has an opportunity to disclose whether its highest governance body has expertise with respect to the company’s most material sustainability topics.

Stakeholder engagement
Salmar has an opportunity to disclose an overview of the issues raised by each stakeholder group during its stakeholder engagement activities and to describe its process for engaging with stakeholder groups, beyond its materiality assessment.

Lobbying and advocacy
Salmar has an opportunity to disclose a clear and detailed framework for assessing alignment of its trade associations with its sustainability targets. Similarly, the company can increase its transparency efforts by reporting (potential) misalignments between the lobbying activities of its trade associations and its sustainability targets.

Sustainable fisheries and aquaculture
Salmar reports sourcing marine feed ingredients products that are MarinTrust and Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified, and that 100% of their sites in Norway and Iceland are certified by Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), Global Seafood Alliance Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) or Debio. The company has a timebound target that by 2025, it seeks to achieve 100% certified marine ingredients.

Ecosystem impacts of fisheries
Salmar reports that 94% of its marine ingredients it uses meet the standards of certification from MarinTrust, the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), or equivalent. To improve its reporting and visibility into its performance, there is an opportunity for the company to specify what it means by “or equivalent” and provide a breakdown by certification scheme.

Ecosystem impacts of aquaculture
Salmar has a policy on escape incidents that presents a detailed approach to prevent and mitigate incidents, including monitoring, checking the technical equipment, as well as procedures for operations involving the handling of fish. In addition, the company is collaborating with suppliers and research institutes on the development of more secure equipment including development of more secure net pens. However, the company has an opportunity to present measures it can take to address the negative impacts after an escape incident. While SalMar provides disclosures regarding its endeavors to address the issue of salmon lice, outlining preventive measures aimed at minimizing lice infestations and detailing its comprehensive disease management strategy with specific survival rate targets set for 2025, it may be beneficial for the company to also disclose its approach to alternative medical interventions in combating sea lice.

Traceability systems and commitments for seafood products and aquaculture feed ingredients
SalMar has demonstrated its commitment to traceable marine feed ingredients. The company’s reports indicate that 57% of its sites in Norway and 100% of its sites in Iceland have obtained Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) certification which implies that there is Chain of Custody certification in place. Nevertheless, there remains an opportunity for the company to set a time-bound target to implement the Global Dialogue for Seafood Traceability (GDST) standards across its operations and supply chain and disclose progress against this target.

Risk-based approach to illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing
SalMar disclosed that 94% of the marine ingredients it sources are certified which helps mitigate IUU risks in those fisheries. However, there is an opportunity for Salmar to disclose how it assesses IUU risks across its marine ingredients supply chains and how it deals with any identified risks.

Disclosure of the source of seafood products and marine feed ingredients
SalMar discloses an overview it salmon farming sites that have been certified. The company could further provide transparency by reporting information about the origin of the marine ingredients that are not certified.

Forced Labour
SalMar has an opportunity to disclose forced labour requirements for its operations and supply chain such as a prohibition to pay recruitment fees, to retain workers’ personal documents or to restrict workers’ freedom of movement. Further, it could provide evidence of how it builds the capacity of its suppliers to prevent forced labour impacts.

Farmer and fisher livelihoods
SalMar 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
No evidence was found of a group-level approach to verify decent working and living conditions on fishing vessels. Salmar can improve its performance by ensuring that working and living conditions on vessels in its supply chain are monitored, disclosing monitoring results and demonstrating how risks are mitigated and improvements are implemented, where needed.

Respect human rights
While SalMar has a public commitment to respecting human rights, it could take the opportunity to disclose its processes to identify, assess and take action on its salient human rights risks and impacts, and how it engages with affected stakeholders, in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Human Rights.

Provide and promote decent work
While SalMar has a commitment to respect the health and safety of workers, it could add to this by disclosing all quantitative information on health and safety for its workers in line with GRI 403-9. Furthermore, it could disclose a time-bound target for paying all workers a living wage or that it has achieved paying all workers a living wage, and how it determines a living wage where it operates. It could also take the opportunity to disclose one or more time-bound targets on gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Act ethically
The SalMar has an opportunity to describe its processes to identify its bribery and corruption risks and impacts in specific locations or activities covering its own operations, and disclose that it includes anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its contracts with business relationships. Furthermore, Additionally, it could also disclose a publicly available policy statement setting out its lobbying approach, specify that it does not make political contributions and disclose its expenditures on lobbying activities.