“It is time to grab the bull by the horns, not sit still and hope the problems or the negative media attention will go away by themselves. Because they won’t,” says Global Head of Seafood at DNB.
Anne Hvistendahl, the Global Head of Seafood at seafood lending giant DNB, has called the current state of sustainability efforts in the salmon industry “almost unacceptable,” urging immediate action to address significant gaps, particularly in animal welfare and ethical considerations.
The comments were made at a round table discussion by at the North Atlantic Seafood Forum in Bergen on Wednesday.
Addressing an audience loaded with industry executives in the strongest terms, Hvistendahl said, “When you see the development over the past few years, it is almost unacceptable. You need to do something about this.”
In an email exchange followup with SalmonBusiness, Hvistendahl outlined DNB’s efforts to drive this change through financial incentives for companies that meet specific goals.
“We are proactive… and have arranged a number of sustainability-linked transactions. Where fish health in some form (mortality, certification, feed conversion) are reflected in KPIs,” she said.
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Incentives
Essentially, DNB is offering financial incentives to steer its clients towards more environmentally responsible operations.
“We are raising these issues in our conversations with clients,” she told SalmonBusiness. “If you comply, margins are reduced somewhat. But even more important is that it helps you have internal focus and also helps in telling the good story externally.”
With DNB facilitating more than $10 billion in sustainability facilities, Hvistendahl’s pronouncements carry massive weight.
Negative media attention won’t go away by itself
In a LinkedIn post on Friday, the DNB exec wrote that she believes the salmon industry is part of the solution to the problem of how to produce more food on a planet already severely stressed by environmental issues, and paid tribute to the work done on emissions and in topping global ESG rankings of animal protein producers (Coller FAIRR).
“But everyone can improve, and we all have some blind spots,” she warned.
“The industry has received a lot of negative media attention related to fish health lately. It is very important that the industry addresses these problems forcefully. It is an ethical issue. But also, one which can shape the future of the industry very negatively if the public and the voters don’t like what they see.”
Salmon producers need to demonstrate that they really cares about these issues, according to Hvistendahl, and to improve their communications, rather than just reacting to each now crisis.
“It is time to grab the bull by the horns, not sit still and hope the problems or the negative media attention will go away by themselves. Because they won’t,” she concluded.
