Regeneration & Resilience

How to Shift the Seafood Industry from Extractive to Regenerative

New ocean science-based targets for seafood help companies support marine biodiversity while strengthening long-term supply chain resilience, and a new report quantifies the economic and climate-changing potential of regenerative aquaculture.

Published 3 weeks ago | About a 6 minute read

Image: HieuNghiaMini

SBTN launches first ocean science-based targets for seafood

Image credit: Muhammed Zeki Aygur

The Science Based Targets Network (SBTN) has launched the first-ever ocean science-based targets, aimed at the seafood industry. This milestone completes SBTN’s initial suite of science-based targets for nature — providing companies and cities with a clear framework for environmental action across freshwater, land and now oceans.

SBTN builds on the momentum of the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), which focuses exclusively on corporate climate action. SBTN takes a broader approach, guiding a wider range of organizations (including cities and governments) to set science-based targets across issues including water, biodiversity, land and circular economy practices — focusing on overall environmental impact, not just emissions.

In 2023, 17 companies piloted SBTN’s first iteration of science-based targets for nature, focused on freshwater and land; later that year, SBTN launched the Cities’ Science-Based Targets for Nature program — aimed at addressing the impact of cities on both climate and other natural systems. Now, the ocean science-based targets set a new benchmark for corporate sustainability action across the seafood value chain — helping companies integrate the latest marine science into their business strategies.

The need for ocean-specific science-based targets

The ocean is the planet’s largest carbon sink — producing most of the world’s oxygen and absorbing vast amounts of carbon dioxide — making it a vital buffer against climate change. Yet, overfishing and habitat destruction in the name of seafood production have led to increasing acidification and degradation of vital marine ecosystems. Without urgent action, the stability of marine life and global seafood supply chains is at risk — and further weakening the ocean’s ability to mitigate climate change.

A growing wave of innovative seafood alternatives aim to give fish stocks a chance to recover, and the seafood industry has made progress in sustainability through certifications and responsible sourcing commitments. But as environmental pressures intensify and regulations evolve, companies must go further. And while frameworks such as the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) incorporate ocean health metrics into broader environmental standards, they address ocean health only tangentially, lack specific guidance tailored to sectoral challenges or lack granularity in addressing specific ocean pressures.

“With the first ocean science-based targets for seafood, companies now have a globally recognized framework to scale action across land, freshwater and ocean,” says SBTN Executive Director Erin Billman. “These targets help companies move beyond incremental change — strengthening marine ecosystems, supply chain resilience and long-term viability.”

A standardized, credible approach for business & ocean health

The targets provide a standardized, independently validated framework that aligns with voluntary and regulatory reporting requirements. Companies setting these targets can go beyond traditional sustainability commitments to tackle habitat loss, overfishing and marine biodiversity decline while strengthening long-term supply chain resilience.

Developed by World Wildlife Fund and Conservation International — with support from a Steering Committee including the Aquaculture Stewardship Council, FishWise, the Marine Stewardship Council, The Nature Conservancy, Sustainable Fisheries Partnership and UNEP FI — these targets can increase the pace and scale of corporate action.

Addressing key drivers of ocean degradation

The three specific targets for seafood companies each correspond to a key driver of ocean degradation:

The Avoid and Reduce Overexploitation target covers wild fisheries, helping companies avoid reliance on commodities derived from overexploited stocks and engage with seascapes and jurisdictions to improve stock health and reduce overfishing.
The Protect Marine Habitats target covers wild fisheries and aquaculture sites, helping companies avoid and reduce impacts on structural habitats in marine and transitional environments.
The Reduce Risks to ETP Species target addresses impacts to endangered, threatened and protected (ETP) marine wildlife from wild capture fishing and aquaculture.

“The targets provide crucial support for seafood companies looking to future-proof their business, recognizing our dependence on healthy marine ecosystems to thrive now and in the future,” says Thorbjørn Harkamp, Vice Managing Director at Musholm A/S — the first aquaculture company to adopt the SBTN framework and one of four seafood companies (along with Bolton Foods, Mars Petcare and Orkla) to act as pilot companies for the ocean science-based targets.

Calling all seafood companies

SBTN invites all seafood industry players to:

Begin using the methods: Read the executive summary and detailed technical guidance, or access tools prepared by the SBTN Ocean Hub to support your journey.
Register interest to be among the first movers setting seafood science-based targets.

Report quantifies regenerative aquaculture's economic, climate-changing potential

Image credit: ali_production

Speaking of future-proofing seafood, UK-based sustainability consultancy Tunley Environmental has formed a strategic partnership with regenerative aquaculture company Algapelago — the UK’s largest licensed kelp cultivator. The collaboration aims to revolutionize sustainable ocean farming, focusing on the immense potential of kelp and mussel farming to combat climate change and support marine biodiversity.

At the heart of the collaboration is Algapelago’s Blue Forest project — which integrates the cultivation of sugar kelp and blue mussels to enhance nutrient cycling, improve water quality and support biodiversity. The project has evaluated the natural capital value of regenerative aquaculture, and has released a report offering valuable insight into its potential for fostering sustainable marine ecosystems and advancing the blue economy.

The report — authored by Tunley’s marine biodiversity specialist Dr Nora von Xylander — provides insights into the potential of regenerative ocean farming to yield significant economic benefits while addressing key environmental challenges including nutrient mitigation, carbon capture and marine ecosystem restoration.

The research offers proof of concept for the advanced modular cultivation system set to deploy at Algapelago’s licensed site off the coast of North Devon, and highlights the ecological and economic benefits of large-scale integrated cultivation. The system is designed to scale up to 116 hectares — producing substantial biomass while effectively extracting nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon from the marine environment.

The study finds that Algapelago’s system will extract between 17.6-21.2 tonnes of nitrogen, 1.0-1.3 tonnes of phosphate, and 195.9-257.5 tonnes of carbon annually — proving a valuable tool for improving water quality and combating nutrient pollution in marine environments.

“The release of this report showcases the nature-positive potential of the whole Blue Forest project,” says Luke Ansell, head of operations for Algapelago. “Major industries have been calling for effective and scalable nutrient mitigation solutions, so we’re delighted to have a robust baseline to measure the success of the Blue Forest. We sincerely thank Tunley Environmental for their support as we build new momentum behind regenerative aquaculture as a key tool for combatting the causes and impacts of climate change at sea.”