November 29/Lunenburg, Nova Scotia/Marketwire -- High Liner Foods Inc., a North American processor and marketer of seafood, announced that the company has made a commitment to source all of its seafood from certified sustainable or responsible fisheries and aquaculture farms by the end of 2013.

With this commitment, High Liner Foods will require wild-caught seafood and farmed products to either come from fisheries and aquaculture farms certified as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), the Global Aquaculture Alliance's (GAA) Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) program and the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), respectively, or require those suppliers not certified to be on a clear, defined path toward being sustainable and capable of documenting measurable improvements. High Liner Foods will collaborate with its NGO partner, the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, to achieve these objectives.

"High Liner Foods is committed to our goal of doing business only with suppliers who share our vision of sourcing seafood responsibly, and with a dedication to environmental stewardship to ensure that our natural resources are available for generations to follow," said Henry Demone, president and CEO of High Liner Foods. "This proactive, ongoing effort will include engaging with our suppliers in projects that make the long-term viability of these farms and fisheries possible."

For those fisheries that are not under assessment by MSC, High Liner Foods will ensure that they are "responsible" fisheries. This means those fisheries must use "best in class" methodologies to demonstrate documented improvements in fishing practices as reported by FishSource (www.FishSource.org) or evaluated by an equivalent standard. For those fisheries that have made sufficient improvements to enter into the MSC program, High Liner Foods will require them to enter the full MSC assessment process.

In addition, by the end of 2013, all of the uncertified sources that High Liner Foods works with must have undergone an independent evaluation and enter a third-party assessment program such as MSC, GAA's BAP program or the ASC. Also, all sources undergoing improvements will be required by High Liner Foods to report an improvement work plan and milestones to be achieved.

"As an organization, one of our key strategic goals is to be proactive and bring about positive change for our industry," said Bill DiMento, corporate director of sustainability at High Liner Foods. "We will work closely with our uncertified suppliers to drive meaningful, quantifiable changes, ensuring that they are acting responsibly, and that they are on a path to being certified sustainable."

For more information about the High Liner Foods' commitment to sustainability, visit the company's sustainability information website (http://www.highlinersustainability.com/en/index.htm).

From the December 6, 2010, Prepared Foods E-dition