Sustainable Fish Sourcing Strategy

1. Sustainable Fish Sourcing Strategy

2. Sustainable Fish Sourcing Strategy – Fresh Wild-caught Fish • The scope of this plan: • Wild-caught fresh fish for FY11 • Excludes: • Aquaculture fish/seafood; wild-caught fresh seafood (apart from fish); wild-caught and farmed frozen fish/seafood; canned fish and ready meals/packaged fish/seafood. • The Purpose of this Plan • To help implement Woolworths public commitment to sustainable fish sourcing announced on 17 March 2011.

3. Our Public Commitment • As part of our commitment to responsible sourcing and retailing, Woolworths • announced its Sustainable Fish Sourcing Strategy on 17 March 2011. • Woolworths is undertaking a sustainability assessment with the Sustainable Fisheries • Partnership (SFP) of its fresh wild-caught fish to identify species that are sustainable • and fisheries that need improvement in their sustainability practices. • Woolworths will offer funding incentives under its Fresh Food Future sustainable food • program to a select number of fisheries in its supply chain to conduct MSC • assessments and develop improvement plans for more sustainable practices • leading to MSC (Marine Stewardship Council) certification. • The full Media release is available on WOW website.

4. Objectives of the Strategy • The objectives of the Strategy are: • Improve sustainability of our food supply chain • Secure our food into the future • Give our customers the right information so they can make informed choices • Enhance Woolworths reputation in sustainable retailing

5. Key Delivery Steps • The main steps in delivering this Strategy are: • Assessment of the sustainability of the fresh wild-caught fish range in stages • Scientific assessment of the fish range based on detailed ecological information available from reputable scientific research institutions nationally and internationally • 2. Stakeholder engagement • Engage with and communicate to key Stakeholders • Staff training and instore execution

6. Sustainability Assessment • What is the scope of the assessment? • The scope of this assessment includes fresh wild-caught fish sold in the fish counter: • 7 species and 10 fisheries assessed by end of May 2011. • Additional 6 species and at least 10 fisheries assessed by 30 June 2011. • At this time, the assessment does not include frozen fish or seafood, farmed fish or seafood (fresh or frozen) and any other seafood categories. The assessment of these categories will be phased in after the fresh wild-caught fish range assessment has been completed and the in-store labelling and communication has been piloted and refined. • Who will do the assessment? • Woolworths has formed a partnership with Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) to carry out the sustainability assessment of its fresh wild-caught fish range. The assessment will be based on scientific information and evidence. SFP is a US based not for profit group with extensive expertise in fisheries management. SFP has worked with many US (e.g. Walmart) and European retailer on similar assessment programs. For more information on SFP go to www.sustainablefish.org or www.fishsource.org

7. How will the assessment be done? • The assessment will be based on 4 key • factors or contributors which are critical to • sustainability of fish and seafood: • Stock health – the population of species being fished is healthy and abundant. • Fishing gear – impacts are keep within expectable limits. • Catching – catching and discarding of unwanted marine life is kept within acceptable limits. • The fishery is well managed. • The fish assessed will be categorised and ranked based on its sustainability risk • High • Moderate • Low

8. What about third party certification? • There are a number of global and local third-party endorsement programs with varying • degrees of rigour and credibility. The sustainability criteria for marine species/fisheries • are different to those of farmed species as the risks and impacts of the two sourcing • methods are different. • Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Certification • Woolworths preferred third party certification for wild-caught fish/seafood is the Marine • Stewardship Council (MSC) certification. MSC is growing in recognition around the • world and is endorsed and supported by the major global retailers such as Walmart, • Tesco and Carrefour. The major retailers support indicates that customer recognition of • the MSC brand will grow as these retailers increase the use of the brand on-pack. • Aquaculture Certification • Woolworths does not have a preferred third-party scheme for aquaculture at this stage. • The two that are currently being looked at are • Aquaculture Stewardship Culture (ASC) www.ascworldwide.org • Global Aquaculture Alliance gaallianice.org • Clobal Gap

9. What’s important to SFP? • Status of species – overfished or not, overfishing or not • Some species are divided into different stocks and one stock may be OK and the other not • Different gear types have different interactions with the environment and require different management measures • Management needs to effective whether or not quotas are used

10. For stock status and management questions SFP asks five simple questions ? • Is the management strategy precautionary? i.e. when the stock goes down do the catches go down as well? • Do managers follow scientific advice? • Do fishers comply? – how do catches compare to, say, TACs? • Is the fish stock healthy? – generally compared to reference points • Will the fish stock be healthy in the future?

11. The environment component for SFP focuses on the following areas • Interactions with protected, endangered and threatened species • Levels, status and nature of by catch • Areas set aside in protected zones • Evidence of major fishery induced ecosystem change