Press Releases

The Global Roundtable on Marine Ingredients will host a discussion around fisheries management and viable value chains' contribution to food security on the 23rd October 2024 in Lisbon, Portugal.  A range of speakers will discuss what underpins good fishery management and how to monitor impacts  as well as  how the industry can contribute to improving fishery management in some key regions, such as West Africa.

 Image by Leonhard Niederwimmer from Pixabay 

2nd February 2024

Several members of the Global Roundtable on Marine Ingredients travelled to Africa to participate in a workshop from 5th to 7th December 2023 in Accra, Ghana. The workshop focused on Sub-Saharan/West Africa, and how the regional fishery resources can best contribute to food and nutrition security, to the livelihoods of small-scale and dependent fisheries communities, including in the context of the development of the fish-based feed industry. The workshop was organized by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the EAF Nansen programme in collaboration with the Global Roundtable on Marine Ingredients and the Iceland Ocean Cluster. Guided by a 2022 FAO report, the FAO Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication, and the findings and recommendations in the Human Rights Impact Assessment which the Global Roundtable commissionned to Partner Africa in 2023, the workshop discussed solutions on a range of issues. It brought together 50 representatives of the local fishing communities, governments, private sector actors, research institutions and relevant professional and interest organisations. 

5 octobre 2023

« Cette étude souligne l'écart entre d’une part les pratiques actuelles au Sénégal et en Mauritanie et d’autre part les standards de l'industrie de la farine et de l'huile de poisson au niveau mondial. En Mauritanie et au Sénégal, où la production de farine et d'huile de poisson (FHP) représente respectivement 1,12% et 0,22% de la production mondiale[i], la Table ronde mondiale veut faire partie de la solution aux problèmes soulevés par les communautés locales. Pour y parvenir, la collaboration entre les gouvernements et les acteurs privés doit être renforcée, sur la base d'une compréhension claire des responsabilités de chacun », a déclaré Árni Mathiesen, président indépendant de la Table Ronde Mondiale. «Comme première étape, la Table ronde mondiale travaille, notamment avec la FAO, pour organiser un atelier sur l'Afrique subsaharienne. Guidé par un rapport de la FAO de 2022 et les conclusions et recommandations de l'EIDH, l'atelier discutera de solutions possibles. L'atelier vise à rassembler les parties prenantes régionales, y compris de nombreuses personnes identifiées dans l'EIDH. De plus, la Table Ronde Mondiale travaille actuellement à l'ajout d'une deuxième phase à l'étude, axée sur les impacts de la pêche par les entreprises étrangères et les flux commerciaux associés ».

5th October 2023

“This study underlines the gap between the current practices in Senegal and Mauritania and the fishmeal and fish oil industry’s global standards. In Mauritania and Senegal, where fishmeal and fish oil (FMFO) production represents respectively 1.12% and 0.22% of global output[i],  the Global Roundtable wants to be part of the solution to issues raised by local communities. To achieve this, collaboration between governments and private actors must be strengthened, based on a clear understanding of everyone’s responsibilities” says Árni Mathiesen, Independent Chair of the Global Roundtable. “As a first next step, the Global Roundtable is working with the FAO and others to convene a workshop on Sub-Saharan Africa. Guided by a 2022 FAO report and the findings and recommendations in the HRIA, the workshop will discuss solutions on a range of issues. The workshop is intended to gather regional stakeholders including many identified in the HRIA. The Global Roundtable is now working on adding a second phase to the study, focusing on the impacts of fishing by foreign companies and the associated trade flows”.

The Global Roundtable on Marine Ingredients welcomes the latest FAO’s State of the World Fisheries and Aquaculture report on 29th June 2022, launched at the recent UN Ocean Conference. This is FAO Fisheries & Aquaculture flagship, biennial, publication that under pins considerable aquatic food production activity and policy around the world. 

The theme of this year’s report is one of FAO’s priority areas: “Towards Blue Transformation,” a vision for sustainably transforming aquatic food systems. The core objectives—sustainable aquaculture expansion and intensification, effective management of all fisheries, and upgraded value chains—are shared by Members of the Global Roundtable.

Árni M. Mathiesen, Independent Chair of the Global Roundtable on Marine Ingredients, provided an update yesterday at the North Atlantic Seafood Forum held in Bergen, Norway, on the work undertaken by its Members* in three directions: West Africa, South / Southeast Asia and life cycle assessment analyses. He also announced that a new member had joined the pre-competitive platform: the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC).

Press conference held at the North Atlantic Seafood Forum (Bergen, Norway) on 21st June 2022.

The Global Roundtable on Marine Ingredients was launched in October 2021, with two objectives: increasing the availability of sustainable marine ingredients and driving environmental and social improvements in key reduction fisheries globally. Olvea, Biomar, Cargill, Skretting, Aquaculture Stewardship Council, MarinTrust, Global Seafood Alliance, Nestlé and the Federation of European Aquaculture producers have joined this initiative which was set up by Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) and IFFO, The Marine Ingredients Organisation. 

(31th March)  The members of the Global Roundtable on Marine Ingredients congratulate the Government of Mauritania for initiating the development of a management plan for the small pelagics fishery in 2018/19, which is essential for its ongoing sustainable development. They note a number of environmental and social concerns about some regional fisheries. In a document contributing to the FIP management plan, currently open to consultation, they express their support for the management plan process and put forward their suggestions for how the management plan might look. 

(8th March)  Members of the Global Roundtable on Marine Ingredients welcome the report which the FAO published on 21stJanuary 2022, entitled Socio-economic and biological impacts of the fish-based feed industry for sub-Saharan Africa. The report presents an objective assessment of regional challenges, and provides an important platform to guide continued engagement. The Global Roundtable on Marine Ingredients was formed as a precompetitive platform to drive social and environmental improvements in key fisheries and regions globally, with West Africa a top priority.