Protecting Our Oceans Together

The global seafood sector is vital to food security, nutrition, and income for people around the world. World Wildlife Fund (WWF) highlight ocean goods and services having an annual tangible and proven value of US $2.5 trillion—equivalent to the world’s seventh-largest economy. According to OECD, more than three billion people around the world rely on the ocean for their livelihoods. Fish is also an important ingredient in healthy, nutritious and high-quality pet food. Only a healthy ocean can keep this economic engine running.  

However, many fisheries around the world are under significant threat from overuse. According to the UN Food & Agriculture Organization, one out of every three assessed wild fish populations has been overfished or harvested beyond its limit. Overfishing can lead to species endangerment and extinction, and therefore to biodiversity loss. It also leads to reduced catches and lower profits. In response, some operators turn to fishing illegally, without proper licenses or authorizations or in protected areas – actions called illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.  

Human rights abuses are also well-documented in the commercial fishing industry, with a 2019 report by the Environmental Justice Foundation highlighting issues such as slavery, debt bondage and poor working conditions. According to a report by Stamford University, fishing vessels engaged in IUU fishing often engage in labor abuses including exploitation, forced labor, human trafficking and modern slavery. 

Our approach

At Mars, we’re working to drive positive change for people, pets and our planet. As part of this, we are continually looking for more sustainable ways to source all our raw materials, help reduce our climate impact, help protect vulnerable people and ecosystems and drive responsible practices.  

While the proportion of fish we use accounts for a small share of the global fish market, as a purpose-driven business we believe can make an important contribution to improving environmental and social impacts in fish supply chains. 

We are committed to sourcing fish in line with our Responsible Fish Sourcing Guidelines(Opens a new window).   

Our long-term strategy aims to: 

• REDUCE pressure on fish ecosystems, minimizing competition with the human food chain, helping address food security and ensuring we do not source any endangered species  
• REWARD sourcing fish in line with our Responsible Fish Sourcing Guidelines 
• RESTORE and protect critical habitats through collaboration, partner with communities to restore coral reefs in coastal ecosystems, and support Fishery Improvement Projects (FIPs)   
• RESPECT advancing human rights for people in the fish industry, with a focus on Thailand

In collaboration with WWF and in alignment with evolving best practice, over the last decade we have continued to review, innovate and scale our approach to fish sourcing: 

• Mars plays a key role in engagement with governments and global policymakers to address challenges in the sector through its roles on the Board of Directors of the Seafood Taskforce and the CGF Human Rights Coalition of Action 
• Since 2016 Mars Petcare has been advancing its Thai Fish Human Rights Action Plan which aims to identify, remediate, and mitigate human rights challenges related to fish sourcing in the region 
• WWF and Mars Petcare engage in advocacy with key tuna Regional Fishery Management Organizations (RFMOs) to encourage them to adopt measures that are critical to tuna conservation. This effort has helped drive the adoption of several key measures including a binding requirement for the use of lower-entangling Fish Aggregating Device (FAD) designs to catch tuna.