The HKSSC

M&C Asia is a member of the Hong Kong Sustainable Seafood Coalition

A coalition of industry members aiming to advance the sustainable seafood market in Hong Kong through good sourcing practices.

Driving change through industry voluntary codes of conduct

The HKSSC is an industry-led coalition, comprising of members from Hong Kong’s seafood industry including suppliers, buyers, restaurants, hotels and retail outlets.

The HKSSC offers a practical and collaborative way to demonstrate good sourcing practices through the commitment of its members to voluntary codes on responsible seafood sourcing.

Buyers and sellers come together to find solutions to shared challenges. HKSSC members drive the agenda with the support of a secretariat. Expert groups are engaged to ensure sourcing practices tackle pressing issues such as illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing, overfishing, traceability, harmful fish farming practices and risks to human health.

HKSSC is not a certification scheme or an eco-label.

Objectives

Members of the HKSSC aim to advance the sustainable seafood market in Hong Kong, by promoting responsible purchasing and consumption.

Our vision is for all seafood imported into Hong Kong to be legal and sustainable.

The coalition works to address the following challenges:

• Lack of common language and confusion regarding ‘sustainable seafood’ terminology;
• Lack of knowledge and access to information throughout the industry, which hinders communication;
• Limited availability, choice and consistency in supply of sustainable seafood; and
• Low consumer awareness of seafood sustainability and related issues.

Our commitments as a member for 2021:

• Create an updated internal sourcing policy which respects the HKSSC sourcing code criteria.
• Liaise with suppliers for research and provide evidence (documentation, certifications, reports).
• Reach NGOs and other independent structures in order to check the information.
• Remove one or more products from our portfolio should they not fulfil all criteria highlighted by the coalition (sustainability, traceability). Screening to be done every quarter.
• Set up regular checks in our operations supply for documentation and products labelling (twice a year).
• Recruit up to 10 new members of the coalition from our clients base or among M&C Asia’s network.

More information on the Hong Kong Sustainable Seafood Coalition website: http://hksustainableseafoodcoalition.org/