Hyatt Launches Sustainable Seafood Initiative

Hyatt Hotels has launched a global initiative to increase procurement of responsibly sourced seafood at its hotels, starting with an initial goal of responsibly sourcing more than 50 percent of their inventory by 2018.

As a part of this effort, Hyatt will also work toward purchasing more than 15 percent of its seafood supply from fisheries or farms that have been certified by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) or Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC).

The company says this is the first phase of a long-term seafood sustainability strategy in partnership with World Wildlife Fund. The partnership also focuses on eliminating the procurement of highly vulnerable seafood species.

Hyatt has identified the following initiatives to improve its hotels’ seafood sourcing practices and standards:

• Hyatt will focus on the procurement of responsibly sourced farmed and wild-caught seafood at Hyatt hotels globally, with an initial emphasis on key species such as salmon, shrimp, grouper, Chilean sea bass and tuna. This will include a preference for seafood sourced from MSC- and ASC-certified fisheries and farms and those involved in fishery or aquaculture improvement projects. Hyatt will also identify other sustainable sources of seafood in collaboration with WWF.
• A complete ban on the consumption and procurement of shark fin at all Hyatt restaurants and food and beverage outlets globally. This builds on Hyatt’s commitment in 2012 to remove shark fin from all restaurant menus. Any banquets and event bookings made before May 15 that include shark fin will be honored.
• Hyatt will seek to reduce and systematically eliminate sourcing of other highly vulnerable seafood species identified by WWF.
• Hyatt colleagues involved in food and beverage offerings at the company’s owned and managed full service hotels will participate in a comprehensive sustainable seafood training program developed in collaboration with WWF.
• Hyatt will measure global performance and progress of these efforts with the support of WWF analysis and recommendations.