From Our Expert Network: Evolving Human Rights Assurances in International Seafood Supply Chains
GSA’s Amy McGann discusses how GSA is working to improve human rights and working conditions in the seafood supply chain.
At GSA, we strive to advance responsible seafood practices, including decent work in the industry. The primary tools that we use are our third-party certification programs, with standards covering both aquaculture and wild capture supply chains (hatchery, feed mill, farm, processing plant and fishing vessel). Each of our standards has a social responsibility pillar that covers labor criteria and each year, an auditor visits certified producers to ensure that they are complying with the requirements in the standard.
The annual audit process, when nonconformities are identified and corrective actions are taken, results in safer workplaces and improved respect for labor rights. We continue to strengthen our standards as well as requirements for audits to improve their rigor and minimize blind spots. However, we recognize that more can be done to bolster the assurances that GSA offers beyond audits.
To understand more about these issues, a series of meetings was launched in the fall of 2024. GSA, in partnership with the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF), hosted a human rights workshop in Paris, bringing together NGOs, audit firms, producers and retailers to better understand where and why social audits fall short and how we can effectively close these gaps. This was followed by a meeting in Scotland, at last year’s Responsible Seafood Summit, and by a series of virtual meetings this year.
One critical insight has stood out throughout these discussions: When workers are represented by an independent trade union, it helps us understand what is happening at a production site and address issues that arise. According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), this is the enabling right. Workers are at the site day in and day out, and when a union is present, those workers have a formal and organized means of raising concerns and a mechanism for addressing them. In the seafood industry, unionization rates are low, so unless that changes, an alternative method to capture workers’ experiences at scale is needed. Through the series of meetings, stakeholders landed on two work streams, outlined below.
Pre-competitive human rights working group
The first work stream is focused on developing a mechanism to allow retailers and foodservice companies from around the world to come together to share lessons learned, and to collaborate, safely and where appropriate, on collective issues and cases. This collaborative approach provides companies with an opportunity to avoid duplication and can be a powerful force for driving meaningful change.
Collecting and analyzing additional data sources
The second work stream revolves around collecting and analyzing additional data sources to provide a richer picture of working conditions at a production site, allowing stakeholders to identify trends, target interventions and drive systemic change.
Social KPIs developed through multi-stakeholder consultation will be collected directly from producers. This data will help provide insight into how business practices affect workers and can offer a more comprehensive way to track improvements in working conditions over time.
Anonymous surveys will be deployed to allow workers to safely share honest feedback about their experiences. Triangulating the data from these additional sources will address the underlying issues and drive improvement.
Pilots of anonymous worker surveys and social KPIs are under way. If you are interested in learning more about this initiative or how you can get involved, please contact me at amy.mcgann@globalseafood.org or Iain Shone at iain.shone@globalseafood.org.
Amy McGann
Director of Social Responsibility
