Mitsubishi-owned canned seafood company Princes Group reached its goal last year of responsibly sourcing 100 percent of its branded tuna range.
The group committed in 2018 to only purchase tuna for all its brands from fisheries that are either already Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified, engaged in a fishery improvement project (FIP), or from “verified and well managed” fish aggregating device (FAD)-free or pole-and-line sources.
Princes said that 100 percent of its Princes branded tuna in the UK, Netherlands and Poland was sourced via a FIP or MSC-certified source in 2021, while its Austrian Vier Diamanten brand was sourced principally from FAD-free and pole-and-line fisheries.
“We’ve applied ourselves fully across all areas of our tuna sourcing to reach our 100 percent target,” said Neil Bohannon, group director for seafood at Princes.
“This has been achieved despite the significant supply chain pressures that businesses across the industry are continuing to face during this turbulent time, as a result of the pandemic.”
The group announced last year that it reached its goal of reducing Indian Ocean yellowfin tuna sourcing by 50 percent, a year ahead of its 2022 deadline.
However, it said challenges remain in maintaining the reduction -- which was largely aided by the COVID-19 pandemic -- into 2022 and beyond. The cut is equivalent to 70 million cans of tuna a year.
Princes Group saw its earnings rocket 52 percent in its latest financial year as COVID lockdowns sparked stronger retail sales.
The group’s profit before tax, restructuring costs, and impairment charges for the year ended March 31, 2021 reached £46.2 million (€55.3 million/$62.5 million), while sales rose 2 percent to £1.56 billion (€1.9 billion/$2.1 billion) from the year prior.
