New Trends: The Impact of Non-Competitive Alliances among Japanese Fisheries Companies

The theme of the first session on October 2nd, the second day of the Sustainable Seafood Summit in Osaka (TSSS2025), was non-competitive collaboration. Environmental due diligence, human rights due diligence, and traceability are three areas that pose significant challenges for companies working to achieve sustainability. These areas are difficult for individual companies to solve individually, and only collaboration can open up new avenues. The Japan Responsible Seafood Roundtable (JRSR), Japan's first platform for such collaboration, is now available.*The initiative was launched at the opening of this session. In addition to the companies participating in the roundtable, panelists included an international NGO that has launched many roundtables in the world of fisheries, who spoke about their vision for the new collaborative system and their expectations for the first steps.

*For more information about the "Responsible Seafood Sourcing Roundtable," please refer to the press release "Japan's first Responsible Seafood Sourcing Roundtable launched by seven seafood distribution companies - Aiming to achieve sustainable procurement through collaboration" (CLICK HERE）

Japan's first fisheries industry roundtable launched

(JRSR Secretariat Seafood Legacy Co., Ltd. Executive Vice President Aiko Yamauchi)

In order for Japanese companies to achieve responsible seafood sourcing, there are challenges that are difficult for individual companies to address on their own. The newly launched JRSR will work together with member companies in accordance with the policies and commitments they have already made public, and will also work in line with other international platforms. We aim to act as a catalyst for positive chemical reactions that will lead to collaboration between Japanese companies to solve these issues.

Among the various challenges, hereHuman Rights Due Diligence, environmental due diligence, andTraceabilityWe will focus on these three areas. We will pool our experience and knowledge and seek advice from related NGOs and experts.

Seven companies have participated in this launch (Kyokuyo Co., Ltd., Seven & i Holdings Co., Ltd., Nichirei Corporation, Nissui Corporation, Maruha Nichiro Corporation, Marubeni Seafoods Co., Ltd., and Mitsubishi Corporation; in alphabetical order). Several other companies are also considering joining, and we hope to see even more participation.

Aiko Yamauchi of Seafood Legacy, who organized the roundtable, spoke about the significance of non-competitive collaboration and her hopes for future collaboration.

Member companies take action, and the Roundtable provides support

(Carmen Gonzalez-Valles, Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, SFP)

SFPis a US-based NGO that has launched numerous non-competitive collaboration platforms. Today, I would like to introduce two of these, the Global Octopus and Global Squid roundtables, which I have been in charge of.

Our non-competitive collaboration roundtables bring together companies around a specific theme, such as a specific fish species, origin, or industry sector. The focus is on collaboration towards responsible sourcing. Sharing facts is the first step towards the goal of corporate action. To achieve this, we first conduct risk assessments and provide a platform for advice.

The Squid Supply Chain Roundtable involved different fisheries and value chains from around the world, with different regulatory frameworks for companies to follow. This meant we had to work with a coherent view and ensure our advice was valid across the board. Over the past three years, member companies have been working on various responsible commitments and projects, including the Ocean Disclosure Project.*We have agreed to disclose procurement information through

The Octopus Roundtable is a bit different, focusing on the West African region and conducting human rights-related activities in Mauritania.FIPLaunchedWith growing global demand for octopus and increasing calls for sustainability, the FIP in Mauritania became the focus of the roundtable.

*The Ocean Disclosure Project (ODP) is a web-based platform for companies to publicly disclose information about their seafood sourcing and sustainability, as well as their seafood sourcing policies or commitments.CLICK HERE

Carmen Gonzalez-Valles of SFP explains the mechanism of non-competitive collaboration and international examples

As a retailer that connects customers and producers

(Yuto Mabuchi, Fresh Produce Merchandiser, Seven Premium Development Strategy Department, Seven & i Holdings Co., Ltd.)

Seven & i's "Seven Premium" brand sells a wide range of seafood products, from grilled fish to fresh fish and mekabu seaweed. For us, sustainable sourcing of raw materials is not just a nice idea, it's a real issue.

For example, the amount of ingredients used in "Grilled Salt-based Mackerel," the best-selling product in the Seven Premium seafood category, has more than doubled in five years. With the price of imported mackerel also rising, maintaining the product depends on the sustainable procurement of ingredients. To that end, we use ingredients that have been carefully managed, and display certification marks such as MSC, ASC, and MEL to communicate the importance of these efforts to our customers.

When procuring, we would like to visit the production area to check whenever possible, but for overseas products, certification as a clear standard is effective. We also hear from domestic production areas that they would like to take on the challenge of certification in order to publicize their efforts. I think certification has played a major role in spreading this way of thinking. Of course, on the other hand, there are limits to relying solely on certification, as it remains a high hurdle for small-scale fishermen.

As retailers, we are the link between customers and producers. We believe that distributing videos conveying the voices of producers is another form of traceability that conveys information about the production site to customers, and also adds value to the product.

Yuto Mabuchi of Seven & i Holdings spoke about the importance of sustainable seafood procurement

Demonstration experiment realized, electronic traceability

(Yusuke Sato, Director of Sustainability Strategy Department, Maruha Nichiro Corporation)

Maruha Nichiro's seafood procurement policy states that it will "ensure that its products are not involved in IUU (illegal, unreported, and unregulated) fishing or human rights violations," and its KPI for achieving this is to "operate an electronic traceability system for some fish species by 2027."

In the complex supply chain of seafood, electronic traceability is essential to prove that a product is not involved in IUU fishing. To achieve this, we have conducted several demonstration experiments with the cooperation of our group companies, WWF, and systems companies.

One is a domestic initiative by a group company, and is an integrated platform that allows users to enter information on catches, landings, auctions, processing, etc. and view it on their smartphones or PCs. Although there are still issues to be resolved, feedback has been received from employees who purchased the target products in the pilot test that indicates that it may be acceptable to pass on some price increases. The other is an experimental smartphone app being implemented in Peru in cooperation with WWF. This is being trialed by a local group company.

We have been able to carry out a proof-of-concept experiment, but we believe that it will only become valuable once it is put into the actual business flow, other companies express interest in joining, and it spreads throughout the industry.

Yusuke Sato of Maruha Nichiro explains their efforts towards electronic traceability

Hurdles to non-competitive collaboration

Regarding information sharing between companies, Gonzalez-Valles says, "Information disclosure is certainly a sensitive issue. It's important to foster trust within the collaborative group while being considerate of its members, and to do so, to establish a good governance framework."

He continues, "Another hurdle is achieving consensus within the company or corporate group. We often hear of subsidiary company staff being reluctant to release information, or being scolded by their immediate superiors if they do. That's why it's important for top management to be committed and for the significance of the initiative to be shared internally."

Maruha Nichiro's Sato also said, "In the fishing industry, due to the principle of competition, it is common to conceal catch information, and there has not been a culture of disclosing information until now. Furthermore, there are voices from the field questioning the necessity of disclosing information, as customers have not requested it. However, such requests will definitely come from customers in the future. We want to have a system in place that will allow us to respond immediately when they do."

When asked about the customer's perspective, Seven & i's Mabuchi said, "Currently, we have to check the information from each supplier against our format. It would be great if this could be standardized using common guidelines and formats. It would also be helpful for suppliers if the formats required by each retailer were standardized. Not all suppliers have all the information they need, so I think it would also help to create a common understanding of what information needs to be secured."

Hoping for cross-industry collaboration to sustain Japan's fisheries industry

When asked why they are participating in Japan's first roundtable, Maruha Nichiro's Sato said, "If we were doing it alone, we wouldn't make any progress. Our competitors must have the same sense of the issues. I think that by working together, we can find solutions to even difficult problems."

Sato added, "The seven founding members of JRSR cover a large portion of the seafood distributed in Japan. If we promote 'responsible sourcing' here, we can expect a wide-ranging ripple effect. As you pointed out, if it becomes a kind of standard from the perspective of our customers (retailers), I think it will be the first step toward making sustainable seafood the norm." When asked about particularly difficult challenges, he replied, "The key is to address two issues: traceability and human rights."

Mabuchi of Seven & i said, "People in this industry know this firsthand, but it wouldn't be surprising if Japan's fishing industry disappeared in 30 years. The entire industry needs to work together to survive as an industry. I want this initiative to include not only major manufacturers, but also local fishermen and processing manufacturers. I want to protect the livelihoods of the people in the fishing areas that I have visited for many years, and I also want to preserve it as a business." Yamauchi responded, hinting at future possibilities, saying, "The large number of small-scale fishermen is a common feature not only in Japan but throughout Asia. I hope this can also be a forum for discussing systems to make this happen."

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