09 Jun 2010 Lusitania and Fish on Line hook up for sustainability
Lusitania Food Products, leaders in food distribution, has recently partnered with Fish on Line, as a preferred supplier of top quality fish and seafood.
”This alliance, which is exciting for both companies, is also a positive step for the restaurant, hotel and catering sectors, which anticipate a boom in business as the World Cup 2010 approaches,” says Mary Lunde, Lusitania’s general manager. “Seafood is a highly popular choice on any menu and has fast become one of the most traded commodities in the world. Many seafood species are harvested at unsustainable rates, causing unacceptable damage to the oceans ecosystem, with potential for serious long-term effects. There is now a cry globally for compliance of the law and an urgent need to move consumer demand away from over-exploited species, to more sustainable fish.”
This is why Lusitania is committed to building partnerships with many key suppliers which share the company’s concerns for sustainability in the fishing industry. Fish on Lines coveted local and international accreditations mean that all fish and seafood is legally caught and traded.
Fish on Line is a local fish and seafood supplier with Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) approval, which is the world’s leading certification and ecolabelling programme for sustainable seafood. All MSC-labelled seafood comes from, and can be traced back to, a sustainable fishery.
Fish on Line is also a Southern African Sustainable Seafood Initiative (SASSI) participant. This initiative, which was launched in November 2004, informs and educates all players in the seafood trade – including wholesalers, restaurateurs and seafood lovers about marine conservation issues.
This is what Roelof Brink, director, Fish on Line, has to say regarding sustainability in the fishing sector: ”Seafood from our oceans is a finite resource and care has to be taken if we want to ensure long term sustainability. Companies cannot pay lip service to this process as it changes the modus operandi of an organisation completely. Fish on Line has removed certain products from our offering and has introduced new items. We have also employed additional staff and resources to guarantee the traceability of our seafood. In short, sustainability takes total commitment and an enormous investment of resources. Lusitania and Fish on Line are setting a new trend in South Africa by influencing the choices people make when buying seafood. Transformation in the seafood market to a sustainable basis will safeguard the oceans for future generations.”