NAI becomes first U.S. supplier to join global platform for seafood industry transparency

Seafood supplier North Atlantic, Inc. (NAI) has officially joined the Ocean Disclosure Project (ODP), a platform created by Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) to increase transparency in the seafood industry by encouraging companies to publicize their seafood sourcing information. NAI is the first U.S. supplier to join the initiative and the first business to become involved outside of SFP’s direct US industry partners.

Launched in 2015, the ODP started with the support and participation of three retail and two aquafeed production companies. Since then, the ODP has expanded to include nine businesses in total, rounded out most recently by Publix as the first U.S. retailer.

NAI will use the ODP platform to share its key sourcing information, including species, catch regions, harvest methods, fishery improvement projects (FIPs), and environmental performance.

“North Atlantic is fully committed to improving the transparency and sustainability of our operations,” said Bill Stride, CEO of NAI. “The Ocean Disclosure Project offers a simple yet powerful forum for demonstrating to customers, consumers, and other stakeholders that such transparency is industry best practice. We’re proud to engage in the ODP and strongly encourage our seafood industry peers to embrace this initiative as well.”

NAI’s participation in ODP adds yet another layer to the company’s increased focus on transparency, the cornerstone of which is an on-the-ground initiative aiming to implement traceability systems on all vessels within NAI subsidiary Bali Seafood International’s operations in Indonesia. Transparency also remains a key theme of NAI’s partnership with the nonprofit sustainable seafood consultancy, FishWise.

“We are thrilled to see North Atlantic join this leading group of companies as the first U.S. supplier,” said Erin Taylor, Project Manager at FishWise. “We see NAI’s participation and the ODP overall as raising the bar for greater accountability throughout the entire supply chain, even beyond the consumer-facing level.”

Blake Lee-Harwood, Strategy Director with SFP, said: “We welcome North Atlantic to the ODP and congratulate them on demonstrating real industry leadership. We hope that many other suppliers in the US will follow this lead and participate in the ODP and that this level of transparency becomes standard practice across the seafood supply chain.”

The ODP transitioned to its own interactive website operated by Sustainable Fisheries Partnership in September and includes information on participating companies in the U.S., Norway, Denmark, UK, and France.