San Diego, CA — FISH Standard for Crew Inc., a voluntary, independent certification program for labour practices on fishing vessels, announces Mike Kraft as its Executive Director. Kraft has been the Vice President of Global Sustainability and Social Responsibility at Bumble Bee Seafoods for over eleven years and brings deep knowledge and experience with social standards to the table.
“As a United States Marine Corps officer for over a decade, who also happens to have an MBA, Mike brings outstanding leadership and business acumen to our organization,” said Fridrik Fridriksson, chair of the FISH Standard’s Board of Directors and Chief Human Resources Officer at Brim. “Importantly, he also brings extensive knowledge of the wild-capture fisheries community and hands-on experience with vessel social audits.”
Over the past decade Kraft has effectively engaged harvesters, retail customers, auditors, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and government agencies on a breadth of sustainability and social responsibility issues. He has led initiatives in the areas of seafood traceability, Fishery Improvement Projects, and MSC certification. Kraft has also been involved in collaborative pre-competitive organizations, including the Seafood Task Force.
“I am truly thrilled to be taking on the Executive Director role at FISH and look forward to using my experience to advance the important, and outstanding, work the FISH Board and Standards Oversight Committee have begun,” said Kraft.
As Executive Director, Kraft will work closely with the FISH Standard’s leadership which includes an eleven-person Board of Directors and eight-person Standards Oversight Committee.
“The expectations for responsible treatment of all workers within seafood supply chains, particularly the fishers, are higher than ever from retailers and food service operators, governments, NGOs and consumers,” said Kraft. “FISH will help harvesters assure stakeholders that the seafood they’re sourcing comes from a responsible partner with respect to crew treatment.”
FISH recently announced its Standard is open for public comment through 8 March 2021. FISH welcomes feedback from any interested parties. The full text of the FISH Standard and comment template can be found here.
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FISH Standard for Crew provides a voluntary, independent and accredited third-party certification program for labour practices on vessels in wild-capture fisheries around the globe.
