No single aspect is more important, or more central, to the sustainability program of Clover Leaf Seafoods than working to ensure the sustainable management of fisheries from which we source.

Clover Leaf Seafoods is a founding member of the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF).
ISSF is a partnership of scientists, the tuna industry, environmental champions, and charitable foundations that research, share, and advocate for best practices in sustainable fishing, and whose participating companies make commitments to conform to ISSF conservation measures.

IISSF’s objective is to continuously improve the sustainability of global tuna fisheries and the ecosystems that support them to result in those fisheries meeting and maintaining the MSC certification standard.

We aim to supply tuna from sustainable, well–managed fisheries, and from areas that have action plans to return the fishery to a thriving state. In addition, Clover Leaf follows ISSF’s best practices and independent science-based research to validate our approach.

A critical component in demonstrating transparency and compliance with ISSF conservation measures is the third-party audit of participating companies. These audits are conducted by the Marine Resource Assessment Group (MRAG) – Americas and evaluate company performance in meeting ISSF measures in a number of critical areas.

Clover Leaf Seafood’s audit results were once again outstanding with no non-conformances noted. We believe this is representative of our concerted efforts to ensure all Clover Leaf tuna products comply with ISSF requirements. We are proud of our results and we will continue to drive to maintain the highest standard.

Click here to view our 2024 Audit Report.

Clover Leaf’s overarching goal for environmentally sustainable seafood is for all of its products to be externally recognized as environmentally sustainable¹ or in a formal program moving towards certification². Click on the Sustainability Certification Goals table to the right to view our specific goals for each species. Clover Leaf has full chain traceability for all products to support its commitment.

We also seek third-party recognition and certification of the fisheries from which we source, and work to continuously improve fisheries through Fishery Improvement Projects (FIPs) and direct partnerships. We rely on recognized certification schemes that have been recognized by the Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative (GSSI). Governed by a Steering Board representing the full seafood value chain, companies, NGOs, governments, and international organizations – including the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) – GSSI evaluates certification systems and develops benchmarking tools to improve sustainable seafood assessments and claims. GSSI recognized certification schemes include the Marine Stewardship Council (MCS), Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP), Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) standards, and others.

All Clover Leaf wild salmon products are already sourced from the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified fisheries. Our Skipjack and Yellowfin Tuna has been sourced from MSC-certified fisheries since 2022. Our oysters and mussels have been sourced from ASC-certified farms since 2022.

All of Clover Leaf’s tuna products on the shelf today are dolphin friendly and the labels on our products proudly show the “dolphin friendly” symbol.

Dolphin Safe and Dolphin Friendly are used interchangeably, and mean that:

• Drift nets are not used.
• There are no purse seine sets made on dolphins through an entire fishing trip.
• No dolphins were killed or seriously injured in the sets or other gear deployments in which the tuna were caught.

Our Commitment

We will mitigate and reduce bycatch through a combination of sourcing objectives, utilization of best practices and innovation.

Our Progress

We are supporting the extensive work on Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) done by the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation – covering both FADs that reduce bycatch as well as biodegradable FADs (bamboo and cloth construction) that reduce the impact of beaching and debris.

Looking Ahead

We are in dialogue with NGOs, collaborative groups, and scientific organizations to expand these programs.

Best Practices

We use a number of best practices in longline and purse seine fishing, including;

• Circle hooks: Difficult for non-target species to swallow and less harmful to released fish
• Deep sets: Reduces accidental capture of surface level animals
• Skipper training: Specialized in proper handling practices
• Monofilament leads: Reduces capture of sharks
• Bird scaring: Reduces interactions and harm to sea birds
• Shark finning prohibited: A policy since 2012
• Fin fish for bait: Reduces interactions with sea turtles and sone sharks
• Non-entangling Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs): Reduces marine animal entanglement

Responsible treatment of fishers at sea is a complex and industry-wide challenge and is one that we are working to achieve.

Clover Leaf addresses the health and safety of workers throughout our supply chain through a combination of tools. Our direct land-based suppliers are subject to third-party social audits that are in line with leading social audit standards, and we are working with our parent company as they continue to implement their social responsibility program onboard supplying tuna vessels. In addition, our parent company created a worker voice program that gives crew members the opportunity to provide feedback anonymously and independently to a third-party NGO about their working environment and receive support to resolve complaints, as needed and has been implemented for a portion of Clover Leaf’s supplying tuna vessels.

We will continue to promote safety in our facilities by requiring adherence to established and thorough safety protocols.

Click here to view our Supplier Code of Conduct

Click here to view our Bill-S21 Corporate Report