The world’s oceans make our earth suitable for living. How we manage this vital resource is essential for the health of our earth and the people living on it. Also, it is an essential resource to counterbalance the effects of climate change.
At PP Group, we believe the wellbeing of our earth - and everything living on it - can only be achieved by the protecting and conserving its ecosystems. We want to maintain the quality of life that the oceans provide us with and reduce the footprint of our business to a minimum. But our ultimate goal is to create a positive impact for our planet.
Doing continuous research, improving our processes and procedures and building awareness among our employees and partners are at the heart of this ambition. In operating our business, we will preserve the capital and only use the interest the oceans are giving to us. It helps us to mitigate some of the ocean’s challenges, but also enables us to provide the world’s growing population with healthy and nutritious seafood products.
We proudly present the updated version of our Corporate Social Responsibility Policy
We strive to be a recognized worldwide supplier of top quality, nutritious and sustainable seafood products. As a fish and seafood company since 1950, we aim to sustainably manage and protect marine and coastal ecosystems from pollution, and conserve the fish stocks needed to maintain a healthy ecosystem.
In order to create positive impact, we work on developing better and more sustainable fishing equipment and introducing new packaging methods to launching circular business models.
We want to ensure that all fisheries in which our vessels operate are certified in accordance with a sustainability standard. As a responsible company, we believe in balancing ecological, social and economic interests, continuously looking for possible improvements while doing this.
The processing factories within the PP Group are connected to industry platforms in order to collaborate with other seafood processors in the field on legal interests. The Dutch companies are all member of one (or more) of the nine fish processing societies that are united in an umbrella organization called ‘Visfederatie’. The German companies can be directly member of the German ‘Bundesverband der Fishindustrie’, the German equivalent of the Dutch Visfederatie. Both the Bundesverband der Fishindustrie as the Visfederatie are member of AIPCE CEP, the European association of fish processors with the office in Brussels. This collaboration platform predominantly focusses on legal issues concerning fish processing.
Heiploeg International B.V. is also member of GLOBALG.A.P, the worldwide network of retailers and retail oriented producers that set voluntarily standards for good agricultural practices. Heiploeg is active in the creation and maintenance of GLOBALG.A.P. aquaculture standard.
PP Group actively participates in various consultative structures through sector organisations:
- As a member organization of Orthongel, our tuna company CFTO is part of Fishery Improvement Projects for the Eastern Atlantic Ocean purse seine tuna fishery and the purse seine tuna fishery in the Western Indian Ocean
- Pelagic Freezer-trawler Association (PFA)
- Dutch Pelagic Ship-owners Association (RVZ)
- Fishing for a Clean Sea covenant
- Green Deal for Clean Sea
- GLOBALG.A.P.
- Nederlandse Haringgroothandelsvereniging (Dutch Herring Wholesale Association)
- Nederlandse Zeevisgroothandelsvereniging (Dutch Sea Fish Wholesale Association)
- Vereniging van Importeurs van Visproducten (Association of Importers of Fish Products)
- Vereniging ter Bevordering Garnalenhandel (VeBeGa) (Association for the Promotion of Shrimp Trade)
- Bundesverband der Fischindustrie (German Federal Association of the Fish Industry)
- Visfederatie (Fish Federation)
The first PP Group fishery to be awarded with the MSC label was the herring fishery in the North Sea, in 2006. Subsequently, several fisheries have been certified with the MSC label. Besides the pelagic, there are also several demersal fisheries where PP-Group is active, MSC certified.
Our company Heiploeg International B.V. holds a MSC certificate for the Surinamese Seabob fishery and for the Guyana Seabob shrimp fishery. Led by Heiploeg, this fishery became the first tropical shrimp fishery in the world to obtain the MSC certificate for sustainable and well-managed fisheries. In addition to our MSC certified fisheries, a significant portion of our tuna fishery is certified under the friend of the sea standard.
PP Group strives to achieve 100% certification from the internationally recognized accreditation bodies for sustainability.
Currently we have MSC certification for the following fisheries:
- North Sea herring
- North Sea plaice
- North Sea sole
- Jack Mackerel (South Pacific)
- Cod (Barents Sea)
- Haddock (Barents Sea)
- Saithe (Barents Sea and North Sea)
- Greenland halibut (West coast Greenland)
- Surinamese Atlantic seabob (Central-western Atlantic Ocean)
- Guyanese seabob shrimp (Central-western Atlantic Ocean)
Currently we have Friend of the Sea standard for the following fisheries:
- Skipjack tuna fishery (Atlantic Ocean)
- Yellowfin tuna fishery (Indian Ocean)
- Yellowfin tuna fishery (Atlantic Ocean)
- Skipjack tuna fishery (Indian Ocean)