When it comes to the issue of sustainability, the waters of the seafood industry can be murky with ambiguity and confusion. There are so many different certifications, accreditations, and rating systems that have been designed to help analyze information, that it can be hard to distinguish what they all mean. There’s the Marine Stewardship Council Certification, the Aquaculture Stewardship Council Certification, Global GAP, and Seafood Watch, to name a few.
To be clear, we applaud and support all of these efforts, and share the belief that we all need to take more action when it comes to purchasing and consuming more sustainability. So for the many chefs, fishmongers, and consumers that want to take the next step and make responsible purchasing decisions, vote with their dollar, and make a positive impact on our environment – where do they start?
As your seafood partner, we view it as our job to try to answer that question and help to clear up some of the murkiness. We launched the Seattle Fish Co. Eco Score program to recognize and elevate the good being done in the industry through these sustainability initiatives, and provide clarity for you, the customer, to make easy, informed purchasing decisions which result in a direct, positive change to the health of our oceans. We’re proud to be the first seafood distributor in the industry to offer a program and tool like this to our customers.
How It Works
We Compare All The Data To Our Benchmarks
Our Eco Score takes into consideration the major, credible seafood sustainability certifications, accreditations, fishery improvement projects, and rating programs and then compares them to our own internal benchmarking standards. We use this information to score every single seafood product that we source and purchase, and label them accordingly in our system.
Then, We Analyze & Score Your Purchases
We then use that scoring data to analyze your purchases on a monthly basis and provide you with a custom email detailing each product you ordered, plus your cumulative Eco Score. Since this email is specific to your business, you’ll be able to review your results and quickly decide if your current purchasing choices are where you’d like them to be, or if you want to adjust for improvement in certain areas.
We view scores of 6 and above as “Good”, and anything above 7.75 as “Excellent”. One thing to keep in mind: there is no “perfect score” since it is impossible for any item to be 100% sustainable, but your informed and strategic buying choices can get you very close.
We Review Your Score & Make Changes Together
We encourage our customers to review these Eco Score emails on a monthly basis, and also on a trending basis over the span of a few months. You’ll be able to see a noticeable change in your score just by switching up a few items on your menu or in your seafood case. Seattle Fish Co. can also help to recommend substitutions for any items you have questions or concerns about. We want to make it as easy as possible for you to identify opportunities to improve your purchasing and have an impact on our oceans.
So What’s Next?
Seattle Fish has made a commitment to continually improve and increase our Eco Score every year, aiming to be consistently in the “Excellent” category before 2025 with all of our purchases. This is an ambitious goal – we distribute over 15 million pounds of seafood each year – but one we feel is important for the health of our oceans, and the future of our business.
Additionally, right now our Eco Score program is focused on seafood only, but Seattle Fish Company has many more products to offer. In 2021, we hope to expand into additional categories like meat or cheese and adding those to the Eco Score program as well. This will give our customers an even more well-rounded look at your purchases across the board.
How To Sign Up For The Eco Score Program
We’re thrilled you want to sign up for the Eco Score program! We need you to fill out a super simple form with your info so we can get you started. Please click the link below, and have your customer number handy if possible (this can be found on your invoices).
Our next Eco Score email will go out on December 2nd, 2020, so be sure to sign up today to get added to the program!
If you have any questions about the Eco Score program, please reach out to our Sustainability Manager & Buyer: Mac Paranto (mparanto@seattlefish.com) or directly with your Seattle Fish Co. Sales Rep.