Fishermen’s Finest, Inc. achieves Green Marine certification
Kirkland, Washington, June 3, 2021 – Fishermen’s Finest, Inc. is the first fishing fleet to both join and attain certification under the Green Marine environmental certification program for the maritime industry. The program’s participating members distinguish themselves within the marine sector as they undertake to measure their annual environmental performance with clear goals to reduce their footprint.
“To us, global warming is not just a well-supported theory, but a reality that our ship captains and crews are witnessing every year with the receding Bering Sea ice,” says Helena Park, Fishermen’s Finest CEO. “We believe the Green Marine framework will help us to achieve our environmental goals which include ultimately establishing a net-zero carbon fleet – something we’ve started towards by building a new vessel that reduces fuel consumption by 66% and investing in the first sale of urban forest carbon credits in King County.”
Fishermen’s Finest has carried out all the steps leading to its initial certification after completing a comprehensive self-evaluation based on the criteria for all of the program’s applicable performance indicators and submitting these baseline results for independent third-party verification by one of Green Marine’s accredited verifiers. The certification will be awarded on June 3rd when Green Marine releases its Annual Performance Report showcasing the individual results and progress of all of Green Marine’s certified participants.
“We’re delighted to welcome Fishermen’s Finest as the first fishing fleet into the Green Marine program,” said David Bolduc, Green Marine’s executive director. “Our program covers a wide range of environmental issues and is suitable for all types of ship owners, including companies operating fishing vessels. However, since our program does not extend to the fishing activities of such companies, they are required to be independently certified as meeting a recognized standard for sustainable fishing practices before they can obtain the Green Marine certification. This criterion was met by Fishermen’s Finest, since they are already MSC certified (Marine Stewardship Council).”
Green Marine offers a specific framework for port authorities, terminal operators, ship owners and shipyard managers to productively and measurably reduce their environmental footprint. The program addresses a number of priority environmental issues through its 14 performance indicators – eight of which are designated for ship owners. The indicators assess on a scale of 1 to 5 the practices and technologies having a direct impact on: underwater noise, pollution atmospheric emissions (NOX, SOX and PM), greenhouse gas emissions (CO2), invasive aquatic species, waste management, and oily discharges.
More than 150 Canadian and U.S. enterprises currently participate in the program. The certification process is rigorous and transparent with the results independently verified every two years.
About Fishermen’s Finest
Fishermen’s Finest is a respected independent American fishing company that harvests and processes groundfish in the North Pacific and Bering Sea. The company’s outstanding crew, exceptional fishing vessels, and dedicated employees work together to produce the highest quality fish products available. Operational excellence, uncompromising quality, and a strong commitment to environmental stewardship and sustainable fishery resource management have made Fishermen’s Finest a true leader in its field.
View the PDF version.