Your company's role as a buyer/influencer

Your company's role as an employer

Throughout the roadmap, we use the language "buyer" and "employer" to describe the roles that companies play throughout a supply chain. Here's what they mean:

BUYER

Includes: brands, retailers, restaurants, food service, distributors, vendors, wholesale/fishmonger/auction markets.

• Needs to consider risks and ensure compliance with your upstream or downstream business operations

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• Buys from other operations that need to conform to your supply chain expectations and practices

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EMPLOYER

Includes: producers, primary processors, harvesters, vessel owners, farm owners, breeder/hatchery

• Directly responsible for the welfare of your workers

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• Needs to assess risk and ensure best practice within your own businesses operations

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• Needs to assess risk and monitor working conditions within your supply chains

Both: secondary processors, suppliers, brokers, fish meal plants

CONSIDERATION:

Companies making requests of upstream supply chain operations should consider that suppliers may face a variety of constraints that impact their ability to fulfill expectations. Buyers should seek to support supply chains to implement required improvements. 

Before you dive in, there are a few more pieces of context

to help you get oriented.

These resources provide more information about important topics and issues. 

WORKER-CENTERED SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

Worker-centered supply chain management reflects that going beyond a compliance based approach is the best way to protect workers and companies long-term. “Worker-centric” and ethical supply chain management are what we call an approach that moves beyond compliance to consider:

• What workers need

• How companies can engage them, and

• Which data collection, data verification, worker feedback, employee recruitment, and other practices give the company confidence that its workers are being treated fairly

However, worker voice doesn’t mean that workers should be engaged without safeguards and access to remediation in place.

Ethical supply chain management consistently returns to the idea of doing no harm.

It means that companies should consider the human rights and labor conditions in their supply chains. If workers are to be engaged in that process, the essential guiding principle of do no harm needs to followed, which is aided by the presence of worker voice, worker safeguards, and channels for remediation.

Explore the materials below to understand a worker-centered approach to supply chain management for social responsibility in seafood:

What is Ethical Supply Chain Management?

Key information about an ethical, worker-centered approach to due diligence.

Access information offline: 

Download all actionable RISE recommendations in one place

Access information offline: Download key myths and truths about critical social responsibility topics in seafood

Social ISSUES IN SEAFOOD

This section provides essential context for any company seeking to work on social responsibility. Get up to speed with key background information:

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• A description of the primary human rights challenges in seafood supply chains;

• A broader look at the components of socially responsible seafood, including equality and equity, and food and livelihood security;

• Information on relevant legislation and international frameworks; and

• The links between human rights abuses and IUU fishing.

This guidance provides recommendations and resources to help companies uphold legal and ethical conditions for workers in supply chains.

Socially responsible seafood also encompasses the important dimensions of equity, equality, food and livelihood security, as described in the Monterey Framework. Over time, we plan to include additional guidance for supporting these dimensions as well.

eVALUATE AND MONITOR

Explore the actions below for guidance on evaluating and monitoring supply chains for human and labor rights abuses.

IMPROVE

Explore the actions below for guidance on improving social responsibility supply chain practices to safeguard

worker well-being

COMMUNICATE

Explore the actions below for guidance on communicating company commitments, expectations, and progress