Japan’s first BtoB sustainable seafood catalog launched!
Contributing to SDGs14: “Life Below Water” and 12: “Responsible Consumption and Production” and Supporting the Sustainability of the Fishing Industry and Food Industry
On this occasion, Seafood Legacy Co., Ltd. (CEO Wakao Hanaoka, headquartered in Chuo-ku, Tokyo) would like to announce the launch of Japan’s first sustainable BtoB website “Sustainable Seafood Catalog”, which facilitates the trading between suppliers and buyers specializing in sustainable seafood.
Today, the world fish stocks are on the verge of becoming depleted due to overfishing and related issues, making it urgently necessary to ensure the sustainable procurement of seafood. To overcome this predicament, it is important to select “Sustainable Seafood” that is caught or farmed based on proper resource management and eco-friendly principles.
We hope to contribute to the promotion of sustainability for the fishing industry by encouraging more businesses to choose sustainable seafood through the use of this website.
https://seafoodlegacy.com/catalogue/
The world produces around 177.3 million tons of seafood annually (*1). However, the yield of wild fish has reached a peak in recent years due to overfishing and similar factors, while the ratio of fish stocks that have room to grow have continued to decline from 90% in 1974 to 65.8% in 2017 (*2). As for the fish stocks in and around Japan, roughly half of the fish species are being overfished while only 20% are available in abundance (*3).
To overcome this challenge, it is imperative to switch to sustainable seafood that ensures proper stock management, considering environmental, and social responsibilities such as workers’ rights.
Fortunately, the momentum of SDGs is accelerating globally, leading to a gradual increase in interest for sustainable seafood. For example, the survey released by MSC—known for their seafood ecolabel—showed that 1 in 3 Japanese consumers would choose sustainable seafood to protect fishery resources (*4).
However, due to the scarcity of sustainable seafood suppliers at the moment, it takes enormous effort for buyers to find and purchase products that meet such needs.
Thus, we launched “Sustainable Seafood Catalog” (hereafter referred to as SusSea Catalog), a BtoB website that lists only sustainable seafood products.
The SusSea Catalog only lists sustainable seafood that can be procured within Japan or seafood by businesses taking necessary measures to improve their fishing methods to acquire sustainable seafood certification. It currently lists around 70 products offered by 15 businesses and we plan to increase that number over time (as of December 2021).
Kaijun Sun, the manager of “SusSea Catalog”, commented, “I hope that retailers, restaurateurs, and food distributors will use this tool to make choosing sustainable seafood easier while seafood suppliers will use it to promote and market their sustainable seafood. We believe that “SusSea Catalog” will help us promote sustainability for not only seafood but also the whole food industry and is also a tool that will help bring new businesses into the market, contributing to everyone as a whole.”
URL：https://seafoodlegacy.com/catalogue/
＜Features＞
As the products are categorized according to fish species, like prawns or salmon, it allows you to quickly choose specific products. Other than showing if products are certified as sustainable seafood by the likes of MSC or ASC, the name of the supplier, place of origin, product specification, and minimum order quantity are also displayed to help you choose according to your needs.
2. Search function
You can search products according to country of origin, type of certification, processing, supplier, and your needs.
3. Quick contacting the supplier
At the bottom of each product page, there is a “Purchase Inquiries” button that allows you to contact and discuss deals with the supplier.
＜User reviews＞
As the number of sustainable product offerings continues to rise, it really helps to have this kind of catalog. It took a lot of pains to find them due to their scarcity, so this comprehensive list has helped me save a lot of time and effort searching for them and connecting with new suppliers. I eagerly anticipate more product listings in the future.
-Mr. Kazuma Yamachi, product buyer of Nippon Suisan Kaisha, Ltd.
Being the first platform with a comprehensive collection of sustainable seafood, it has helped us to promote our products to a wider audience instead of convincing buyers one at a time, making it an extremely effective marketing tool. We no longer have to wait for offers to come to us and can even request for 1-on-1 matching with businesses that we want to market to as well as organize business talks, so we are also very excited to use this feature to find new clients.
-Mr. Katsuhiro Yoshinaga, product supplier of Ishihara Marine Products Co., Ltd.
We will continue to work on expanding our product listing and promoting the catalog as a powerful tool for both suppliers and buyers of sustainable seafood.
We look forward to hearing from suppliers of sustainable seafood, and to helping buyers who are looking for sustainable seafood.
Contact:Kaijun Sun
kaijun.sun@seafoodlegacy.com
参考：サステナブル・シーフードとは（Seafood Legacy Timesより）
※1 FAO,2021
※2 FAO,『世界漁業・養殖業白書2020』
※3 国立研究開発法人水産研究・教育機構,「我が国周辺の水産資源の現状を知るために」
※4 https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000016.000059178.html
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