The Seafood Ethics Common Language Group — Seafish
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The Seafood Ethics Common Language Group

A group which brings people together to find out more about ethical sourcing and issues concerning labour and worker welfare.

The Seafood Ethics Common Language Group (SECLG) provides a safe meeting space to discuss the key ethical issues faced by the international seafood industry. The group looks at social welfare issues that affect the UK seafood supply chain, whether in the UK or seafood imported into the UK. This covers human trafficking, labour abuses, child labour, debt bondage, forced labour, migrant workers, and modern slavery. It is an opportunity to share new ideas or best practice case studies from around the world.

The group is led by our industry and we take responsibility for running the SECLG. The Group has met twice a year since 2014. The SECLG brings together seafood industry representatives from major supermarket chains, smaller retailers, processors, foodservice and the catching sector.  Other people who attend are not-for-profit voluntary groups, welfare charities, consumer groups, government and social research scientists.

There are generally two meetings a year. The presentations and minutes from the most recent meetings are below. Presentations and minutes from previous meetings are available from Karen Green.

We are running a mix of in person meetings and shorter online bite-size SECLG sessions at the moment.

Next meeting

The next SECLG online bite-size meeting is on Thursday 12 October 2023. Our topic is: The role of social audits. For further information, please contact: Karen Green

Previous two meetings

SECLG in person meeting. Driving improvements in human rights and labour standards (5 July 2023). This group last met in person on 5 July 2022 so this was an opportunity to look at what has happened in last year. Globally there was an update on the ratification of key conventions and what this means for workers and seafood businesses, and how we can work towards wider adoption of this convention and other key instruments. This was followed by a look at the role of voluntary standards, and a focus on worker voice and grievance mechanisms as a key part of that. The afternoon session focussed on what has happened in the UK over the last 12 months. Please look at the presentations.

SECLG online session. Worker-Driven Social Responsibility (WSR) (19 April 2023). Worker-Driven Social Responsibility (WSR) is a new and evolving model for tackling workplace abuse and exploitation in corporate supply chains. The defining feature of WSR, compared to other models for tackling labour abuse and exploitation in corporate supply chains, is that it provides a way of addressing the power imbalance not only between workers and their direct employers, but also between buyers and suppliers. WSR has already been tested in protecting workers in highly challenging contexts in different parts of the world and in different sectors. This meeting explored how this model works in other sectors, looked at the adaptability of the model to the UK context, and how it could work for the seafood industry in the UK and elsewhere. Please look at the presentation.

  • WSR and how it works. Greg Asbed, Coalition of Immokalee Workers and Judge Laura Safer Espinoza, Fair Food Standards Council.

SECLG meeting notes

SECLG monthly newsletters

We send monthly emails with a round up of stories, research and projects in the seafood industry. Subscribe to receive our monthly update and meeting details.

Terms of Reference and archive

Our social responsibility work

Contacts

For further information, please contact: Karen Green

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