For centuries, our planet’s oceans, lakes, rivers and other water sources have shaped and inspired our societies and cultures. Continuing to safeguard our communities with the provision of food sources, trade recourses and income, as well as inform our adventurous and scientific intrigue. The global seafood industry provides employment to around 60 million people worldwide, and an estimated 660-880 million depend on the seafood industry for their livelihoods. However, alterations to our human and environmental systems in recent years resulting from climate change, growing populations and mounting seafood consumption per capita, are placing monumental pressures on aquatic ecosystems.

The Seafood Stewardship Index (SSI) aims to build more sustainable and inclusive seafood supply chains by assessing and benchmarking the performance of the world’s largest seafood companies regarding their contribution to the SDGs closest to their core business.

The purpose of the SSI is to clarify what seafood companies can do and what they are already doing to improve responsibility and sustainability in seafood supply chains. The SSI will provide a transparent and impartial framework by which seafood companies and their stakeholders can monitor stewardship performance. The SSI will recognise those companies that show strong performance, while holding poor performers to account. By highlighting best practices, the SSI will stimulate learning across the seafood industry and accelerate the private sector’s contributions to the SDGs.

Results will be published in two-year cycles to raise awareness, reward positive changes and build a better understanding of the role that major seafood companies play in promoting stewardship of natural resources and supply chains.