According to UN FAO
, fish and shellfish is one of the largest traded food commodities in the world and provides sustenance to billions of people worldwide (around 3 billion people rely on both wild-caught and farmed seafood as their primary source of protein) and much needed economic benefits to coastal communities.
Since the development of modern technology in the fishing industry in the 1950s, there has been a significant impact on the marine environment and over-fishing has depleted stocks of many species. Irresponsible fishing practices can also harm other sea life and habitats and waste millions of tonnes of non-target fish each year. Fish farming (aquaculture) is a relatively young and evolving industry. Although it continues to bring many positive sustainability benefits, and is now responsible for more than 50% of all seafood produced for human consumption, aquaculture has also impacted coastal habitats, lakes and rivers through, amongst other things, disease management, excessive waste unsustainable aquafeed and mangrove clearance.
We have had a sustainable sourcing policy
in place since 1997. Sourcing seafood responsibly, from healthy, well-managed fisheries and farms, helps safeguard our supply chains and aquatic ecosystems as well as the livelihoods of coastal communities.
Commitments and targets
We want to lead the retail sector in sustainable production and consumption, offering our customers the good value, high quality products and services they expect from M&S, while respecting planetary boundaries and the need for social equity. We recognise the integral role of animal health and welfare in sustainable food production and strive to continue progressing the highest welfare standards.
Our goal is to ensure that all wild-caught and farmed seafood, as well as aquafeed, come from the most responsibly managed sources.
Fish and shellfish are very important to M&S. We use about 60,000 tonnes of seafood (whole weight) annually with approximately two thirds wild caught and the remainder farmed. We source over 30 wild-caught species ranging from Atlantic cod, haddock, plaice and lemon sole to Orkney crab and cold water prawns, and nine farmed species (Atlantic salmon, rainbow trout, sea bass, sea bream, halibut, pangasius, mussels, farmed shrimp and oysters).
We have been working with WWF
since 2004, initially on specific initiatives such as sustainable fishing, aquaculture and forestry. Then, in January 2010, we became the first UK company to sign up to the WWF Seafood Charter
. This commits M&S and WWF to work as partners to drive our supply chains towards more responsible sourcing, and to take a leadership role in bringing improvements to fisheries and aquaculture operations globally.
We are also a founding member of the Sustainable Seafood Coalition
, a cross-industry group in the UK using our influence as seafood businesses to tackle seafood sustainability issues since 2012. We are united in a vision for sustainable seafood and have pledged to work together to achieve this.
We are committed to providing a high level of transparency about our fish and seafood policies and the sustainability status of the species we sell. M&S was the first UK retailer to report our seafood sourcing since the launch of the Forever Fish campaign in 2012 and we are the first retailer to disclose the information of our primary suppliers. We communicate to our customers and the public via a number of channels including this website, in-store décor and on pack messages. In 2019/20, 90% of wild-caught fish and shellfish sourced for M&S products came from a Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative (GSSI)
recognised third party certified source. 100% of farmed fish and shellfish sourced for M&S products came from third party certified sources. Find out more about our approach to product sustainability.
Our approach to sourcing the most responsible fish and seafood focuses on: