From Collapse to Conservation

When the explorer John Cabot voyaged to the coast of Newfoundland in 1497 under the banner of English King Henry VII, he reported that the seas were so full of cod that it was possible to scoop them up by simply lowering a weighted basket into the water.

Grand Banks, where the shallow but warm Gulf Stream waters meet the cooler Labrador current, is a fertile fishing ground to the south-east of Newfoundland. To European explorers this underwater plateau would have teemed with swordfish, haddock, capelin and shellfish. A visiting English sailor in the 1600s remarked that fish were “so thick by the shore that we have hardly been able to row a boat through them”.

Some 500 years after Cabot set sail and within just a few decades of overfishing, the collapse in the early 1990s of the Grand Banks cod fishery could have sounded the death knell to a centuries-old way of life.

Up to 35,000 fishers and plant workers from across 400 coastal communities lost their jobs in the cod moratorium. But the disaster brought worldwide attention to overfishing and would help pave the way for the creation of the Marine Stewardship Council and its MSC Fisheries Standard – now the most globally recognised hallmark for sustainable, well-managed fisheries.

Ocean Choice International, founded in 2000 by local brothers Martin and Blaine Sullivan, is headquartered in St. John’s, the capital of Canada’s easternmost province of Newfoundland and Labrador (NL).

At the company’s heart is a deep commitment to conservation. “Many of Ocean Choice’s employees grew up in the fishing industry, including its owners Martin and Blaine, so we all know first-hand the impacts related to unsustainable fishing practices,” says Carey Bonnell, Ocean Choice's Vice President of Sustainability & Engagement.

“Resource conservation and sustainability were core to the business since it was established 20 years ago and continue to this day.

“Every Newfoundlander and Labradorian has been affected directly or indirectly by the ‘92 closure of the cod fishery in Newfoundland and Labrador. We know the impetus behind the creation of the MSC stemmed from this iconic collapse so we are very much connected. This means we are incredibly focused on keeping the long-term view in our mandate. We are always prepared to recommend conservation when necessary on key stocks to avoid past mistakes.

“As a company we are in the seafood business for the long-term and as a renewable resource it can only be done successfully if done sustainably.”

Ocean Choice, which employs 1,700 people, is unique in that it owns quotas and sources seafood from 1,900 independent harvesters. In addition, the company also owns and operates a fleet of offshore vessels, inshore processing facilities and has a global sales network. With offices in North America, Europe, and Asia, it delivers more than 80 million pounds of products annually to over 30 countries.

Approximately 90% of Ocean Choice’s seafood is MSC certified or under a Fisheries Improvement Project. Active certified fisheries include yellowtail flounder, redfish, NL snow crab, northern shrimp, offshore sea scallop and Greenland halibut. These are increasingly appearing on dinner tables around the world for people who are interested in expanding their palates beyond their regular seafood choices.

“From a diversity perspective Ocean Choice markets world-wide and has avoided being over-dependent on any one trend or market.”

This served Ocean Choice well during the COVID-19 lockdowns when the world was being upended in more ways than one. As food service offerings momentarily collapsed, Ocean Choice upped production of some retail packs to satisfy the demand of housebound consumers around the world.

“Because we are embedded in the market with our own sales teams, we were able to stay directly engaged with retailers,” explains Bonnell. “This allowed us to quickly pivot our business to respond to the significant increase in retail demand that we were seeing for species such as snow crab, for example.

“As a result of this increase in retail pack sales, and because they are more labour intensive than bulk packs, we actually had to hire more staff across our processing operations in Newfoundland and Labrador last year.”

Under the shadow of the pandemic, the last 18 months have been a momentous period where new workflows and processes have been adopted. When Ocean Choice’s offices in Asia received an early alert in 2020 of a flu-like illness in China, they flagged with colleagues around the world. It meant that the company could share Covid operational protocols with other businesses in NL and Canada – including industry competitors – which would ultimately help the fishery to reopen.

“We moved to get an active Covid-19 policy in place during the early onset of the pandemic,” declares Bonnell. “This was critical to instil confidence with our employees that we could operate safely, and also with our customers that we could keep our supply chain moving.

“We are happy to say that we had every single employee show-up to work. This is a testament to the people we employ in our processing facilities and on our offshore fishing vessels.”

“But also, as a collective industry, we shared our best practices through regional and national associations such as the Fisheries Council of Canada.”

“For Ocean Choice, this was critical – our industry and the world needed to adjust quickly to the global pandemic and it was imperative that we came together to keep the thousands of people who rely on the fishery for work, while ensuring there were no disruptions to the global food chain.”

OCI's forward-thinking approach was no better represented than the launch in June 2020 of the MV Calvert, its state-of-the-art, green class vessel.

Weighing 3,800 gross tonnes and 74-metres long, the offshore groundfish ship has a world-class processing facility on board. Using the latest in harvesting and processing technologies to reduce its carbon footprint, it is dedicated to sustainability.

The Calvert’s electrical winch system draws on 60kW of power compared to a typical hydraulic version which runs on 180kW. When the vessel is ‘shooting’ out the trawl, the winch motor acts as a ‘green’ generator to produce energy back to the frequency drive system. With three winches shooting away, they can generate up to 1,100 kW of power.

“It is anticipated that this electrical driven winch-based system will result in 172,800 kWh in energy savings per year over traditional hydraulically driven winch systems,” says Bonnell.

Additionally, MSC certified species are kept separate from those that are not and this allows processed products to carry the MSC Chain of Custody label directly from the vessel.

In 2017, Ocean Choice moved to fund a C$500,000 five-year grant for an industrial research chair (IRC) at the Fisheries and Marine Institute at the Memorial University of Newfoundland. Led by Dr. Noel Cadigan, the goal is to further innovate fish-stock and sustainability assessments on Grand Banks, including but not limited to American plaice, yellowtail flounder, Greysole, and redfish.

After four years, the initiative has grown to include a dozen highly qualified personnel including junior chairs, graduates and postdoctoral students producing valuable research and peer-reviewed literature.

“We look at the Chair’s research more on a long-term horizon rather than immediate impacts in operations,” says Bonnell. “This is a legacy-building initiative and will lead to the integration of the next generation of stock assessment scientists.”

“It was clear to us that there were significant gaps and opportunities to improve the assessments of many species in NL waters,” Dr. Cadigan adds. “There was also a critical lack of training of graduate students in stock assessment methods.”

A major focus for Dr. Cadigan has been “improving the assessment of American plaice on the Grand Banks. We have published several papers on this, with the goal of supporting the development of new stock and spatial stock assessment models”.

Dr. Cadigan hopes the legacy of the IRC is “in the near future NL and Canadian fisheries will be known internationally to be among the best managed fisheries in the world”.

If further indication of Ocean Choice’s ambition was needed, then the Northern Cod Acoustic Tracking (NCAT) project is testimony to that. Led by the Atlantic Groundfish Council, of which Ocean Choice is a member, acoustic tags and receivers are used by researchers to monitor the movement of cod on a multi-year basis.

“This project is another great example of linking academia, government at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and industry to advance sustainability efforts through cutting edge research,” says Bonnell.

As one of the largest employers in communities across Newfoundland and Labrador, Ocean Choice understands its role as a steward for livelihoods and traditions across the province. Safety on vessels and in its processing facilities are of paramount importance.

The Calvert, one of five offshore vessels in Ocean Choice’’s fleet, is named in tribute to the fishing village on Newfoundland’s Southern Shore where the Sullivan brothers grew up.

Bonnell explains: “Martin and Blaine come from a large family who grew up in the fishery – their father was a small boat fisher. They sincerely believe in the future of the fishery and the value it brings to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.”

“The MV Calvert is a great example of the commitment to making investments today that will support a thriving, sustainable fishery for future generations.”