Austral Fisheries catches Patagonian toothfish. (Photo: Austral Fisheries)

Austral Fisheries becomes world’s first carbon neutral seafood firm

Austral Fisheries, a company that catches Patagonian toothfish and Skull Island tiger prawn, has become first certified Carbon Neutral seafood business in the world. This implies it has a carbon footprint zero emissions, that is to say, the balance between the amount of carbon released against the equivalent amount sequestered or offset is zero.

This achievement is the result of independent audits of the Western Australian based company’s operations to determine its carbon footprint, and then purchasing carbon offsets to support planting trees to cover all of the company’s emissions from January 1, 2016.

Around 190,000 native trees were required to offset Austral’s estimated 27,422 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions for 2016. The project chosen to achieve this is based in WA’s wheat belt and is being undertaken by Carbon Neutral Pty Ltd.

This is currently the only Gold Standard carbon offset project in Australia. The calculations, quantity of offsets, and emissions reduction program have been certified under the Australian Government Carbon Neutral Program.

Austral’s CEO David Carter said: “We’re excited to be able to launch our new brand – CN Fish – which to us is an inevitable ‘next step’ to ensure sustainable seafood for our customers, and demonstrates our determination to remain at the forefront of sustainability.“

“We identified a need to reduce and offset our carbon emissions to help ensure the health of our oceans, which is fundamental to our business,” the CEO added.

For his part, Chief Executive of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), Rupert Howes said of the achievement: “Climate change is the biggest single sustainability challenge humanity faces. I congratulate Austral Fisheries for their bold and innovative initiative to become the first fishing company in the world to quantify, publish and then offset their total operational carbon emissions. This is a world first for the sector and I very much hope that other seafood businesses will follow Austral’s lead.”

Howes recalled that Austral Fisheries was one of the first fishing businesses to support the MSC and they truly embody what it means to be stewards of the sea. He also said that they are safeguarding seafood supplies with not just their sustainable fishing practices, with their MSC certified fisheries, but taking it a step further to also tackle climate change.

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