Corporate Social Responsibilty

Blue Galleon Corporate Social Responsibility Report – April 2008

Download the introduction letter from Blue Galleon COO Joshua Scherz (PDF)
Download the complete report (PDF)

This report will define Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives and goals of Blue Galleon, Inc., parent company of BELA-Olhão canned seafood products. The report contents support CSR transparency and stakeholder engagement. Beginning with a brief description of Blue Galleon, the company’s mission and the BELA–Olhão brand, the report will follow with Blue Galleon’s CSR policies and information on its environmental and social performance. Because of the potential breadth of topics, CSR policies will be prioritized by relevance to sustainability and by stakeholder group. Lastly, the report will outline plans and goals for expanding Blue Galleon’s CSR policies for the future.

About Blue Galleon and BELA–Olhão
Sourcing the best quality products from the ocean, Blue Galleon works with the local communities, including the Pacific Northwest (Alaska and Canada) and the Atlantic coast of Portugal, that fish using traditional and sustainable methods. The company’s offices are located in Massachusetts near some of the richest historical harbors in the Northeast.

Intent on providing U.S.-based customers with top-quality seafood products from traditional communities, Blue Galleon began as the exclusive importer and distributor of BELA-Olhão brand canned sardines from Portugal. A classic sardine (Walbaum Species: Sardina Pilchardue), BELA-Olhão sardines and tuna that originated from Olhão Portugal, a thriving traditional fishing community located in the Algarve that has existed for hundreds of years. BELA-Olhão products are fished in these non-industrial, unpolluted waters and have no detectable levels of pesticides and extremely low levels of mercury.

Blue Galleon CSR Overview
Blue Galleon is an organization with a strong heritage in sourcing quality seafood products. Blue Galleon’s CSR program focuses on maintaining a set of standards that benefit stakeholders: its customers, retailers, the seafood industry, communities and ocean environments. The company plans to expand to new markets, including outdoor, which it will debut into August 2008 at the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market trade show in Salt Lake City. As it expands to new markets, Blue Galleon will build CSR to support these new stakeholders, and strive to maintain the same level of stewardship that ensures positive impact on people and the planet.

Operations and Headquarters:
In an effort to reduce its overall carbon footprint, Blue Galleon purchased enough renewable energy credits (RECs) to offset its headquarters in Massachusetts. The company has focused much of its efforts on promoting supply chain, which has benefits from sourcing to the end consumer. The company utilizes sustainable fishing practices and sources fish species that abound, rather than those at risk of depletion. Such practices include family owned sardine dayboats, pole and line caught tuna and Marine Stewardship Certified wild Alaskan salmon.

Communities:
Blue Galleon has engaged with a variety of local communities in such a way that benefits these groups in the best manner possible. These communities include the local fishers in Portugal and native communities of Bristol Bay, Alaska, among others. Although organized Fair Trade guidelines do not currently exist for the fishing industry, Blue Galleon practices mimic those guidelines in its supply chain to effectively deploy these business practices with their partners.

In Spring 2008, Blue Galleon plans to expand its community related CSR policies to include land-based conservation groups and initiatives. These groups include the Conservation Alliance and Leave No Trace. Support for these groups will help the company translate many of its’ current CSR standards to apply and benefit land-based environments and communities in the outdoor industry.

Environment:
CSR policies that help to benefit the environment are present in the company’s policies. With respect to ocean and fish population health, Blue Galleon employs traditional and sustainable fish catching methods and chooses fish species with healthy populations.

Blue Galleon is also a strong supporter of reducing the environmental impact of its products. Offsetting the carbon output of its operations in Massachusetts was a positive step taken in 2007 towards managing overall impact. The company has also maintained an in-house recycling program since its inception in 1995. The packaging of its products is the highest-grade aluminum, a resource that is readily recyclable in many communities, and considered one of the safest and greenest sources for food items.

Supply Chain Management:
Blue Galleon sets the goal of transparency and accountability of all raw materials for the purpose of safety and sustainability. All BELA sardines are passed through DocaPesca, the Portuguese government’s method for accounting for fish stocks and future availability and sustainability. BELA does not pack during the “breeding season – off season” of sardines, ensuring that only large mature fish are packed during the “on season”.

Another example of the company’s commitment is the distribution of the Wildcatch brand salmon products, all of which maintain the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification and are true wild Alaskan – the standard in fish ecosystem sustainability and certification. BELA Tuna is pole and line caught and exclusively skipjack variety. Blue Galleon labels all products for their actual species Sardines (Walbaum Species), Tuna (Skipjack – katswanus Pelamis), and Salmon by name (Sockeye, Coho, Pink, or King ). All the company’s products are OU Kosher certified by the Orthodox Union adding to the safety, cleanliness, and further strict monitoring. The combination of all these various “watchdog” agencies ensures a product that has been carefully monitored and is widely accepted.

Goals For the Future:
Blue Galleon’s CSR program was originally developed from the point of view of managing operations in a sustainable way: from the source and along the supply chain. As a result it was an “ocean centric” approach, which benefits not only ocean environments and local communities, but helps to ensure the viability of the business for the future.

As the company expands, so will the organization’s CSR program. For example, breaking into the Outdoor marketplace in August 2008, will bridge the ocean-centric CSR platform to adopt land-based initiatives.

The following is a list of plans and goals for Blue Galleon to expand and develop its current CSR platform:

• Solidify memberships with Conservation Alliance and Leave No Trace (second quarter, 2008).
• Purchase renewable energy credits to help offset the emissions required to transport BELA–Olhão products from Portugal to the United States.
• Determine more ways to encourage recycling of product packaging and reducing impacts from waste.
• Expand Reporting of monitoring efforts for Health Benefits and possible contaminants.