Pacifical MSC Certified Tuna Now Available at IKEA

OOSTERHOUT, Netherlands, October 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Following a 2015 global corporate commitment to source seafood from MSC and ASC certified fisheries, IKEA Spain has now made MSC certified Pacifical tuna available for all their customers becoming the first IKEA market to offer 100 percent wild tuna, certified as sustainably caught in the pristine ecosystem of the PNA waters and fully traceable from sea to plate. The decision of IKEA Spain illustrates the company's solid global leadership towards tuna sustainability as well as their support to 8 Pacific economies largely dependent on tuna.

"IKEA's commitment towards seafood sustainability delivers an influential message; Regardless of the nature of our business, we are all accountable as market participants to guarantee tuna species are available for generations to come. We congratulate IKEA Spain for its leading and bold step in marine conservation and look forward to continue working closely together to supply other regions with Pacifical MSC certified tuna" - Henk Brus, Managing Director. Pacifical.

While being best known for its furniture business, the IKEA Food business represents over five percent of the IKEA Group total revenue and has been recently valued at over EUR 1.7 billion The MSC certified tuna on IKEA's Spain menu is caught in the world's largest ocean, The Western Central Pacific, by setting nets only on free schools of adult fish, ensuring that bycatch of unwanted species and juvenile tuna is largely eliminated.

In addition to the sustainability factor, the IKEA MSC certified Pacifical tuna is being cooked and cleaned in a local PNA / Pacific-based processing facility, generating work and income to over 1,000 local families, whose livelihoods largely depend on tuna.

"IKEA aims to work closely with our suppliers to achieve people and planet positive impacts over the long term through our strategy in People & Planet Positive. IKEA recognized the opportunity to help transform a significant share of the seafood market by supporting demand for certified fish and working to increase MSC and ASC fisheries, farms and supply chains around the world, now in partnership with Pacifical too" - Kevin Johnson IKEA Food Manager Spain. 

Independent MSC trained onboard observers monitor and record all Pacifical MSC Certified Tuna fishing operations according to the strictest MSC chain of custody (COC) standards. The PNA COC provides assurance that the tuna was caught in a sustainable way. Around 50 percent of the world supply of skipjack is caught in the PNA waters, which includes a substantial supply of sustainably caught free-school MSC tuna, making Pacific island nations the single most important source of raw material for the global tuna industry.

"Demand of sustainable seafood is growing among Southern Europe consumers. Moreover, in Spain the value of MSC certified seafood has grown over 110% in value in the last year. The partnership of IKEA and Pacifical to provide certified MSC tuna at IKEA restaurants, is a great opportunity to raise awareness on the sustainable choices in the market and to bring support to the fisheries more committed to sustainable practices" Laura Rodriguez, MSC Program Director in Spain and Portugal.

About IKEA Ibérica 

The IKEA vision is to create a better everyday life for the many. Our business idea supports this vision by offering a wide range of functional and well-designed products at affordable prices for the many people. The IKEA Group currently operates 315 stores and 22 delivery points in 28 countries. IKEA was founded in 1943 in Sweden. At the end of last year, the IKEA Group had 135,000 employees and received 783 million visitors in the stores and 2,100 million visitors to the website http://www.IKEA.com.

In Spain, IKEA group currently operates 16 stores in Spain located in Alcorcón, San Sebastián de los Reyes, Ensanche de Vallecas (Madrid), Badalona, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat ans Sabadell (Barcelona), Castilleja de la Cuesta (Sevilla), Málaga, Jerez (Cádiz), Barakaldo (Bizkaia), Pola de Siero (Asturias), Murcia, Zaragoza, A Coruña, Arroyo de la Encomienda (Valladolid) and Alfafar (Valencia). It also has the Delivery Point of Navarra and two distribution centers in Valls (Tarragona) that supply products to the company stores in Southwest Europe and constitute the logistics base for the expansion of IKEA in the Iberian Peninsula.

About Pacifical 

Pacifical is the global marketing company jointly set up by 8 Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) in 2011 to promote the PNA region and actively trade their MSC certified sustainably caught free school skipjack and yellowfin tuna to consumers around the world. Pacifical MSC certified skipjack and yellowfin tuna from PNA waters is available in 12 different countries around the world and all products carry the Pacifical logo as clear representation of the end market's commitment with the PNA region and recognition to those nations managing the tuna stocks in their waters on a daily basis. [http://www.pacifical.com] 

About the PNA 

The Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) control the world's largest sustainable tuna purse seine fishery. PNA Members, located within the Western Central Pacific Ocean, are Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu. In 2011, the PNA skipjack tuna caught without using FADs was certified by the Marine Stewardship Council as sustainable, creating the world's largest sustainable tuna purse seine fishery. PNA yellowfin tuna caught without using FADs was added to the certificate in February 2016. The PNA countries together have 25% of the world tuna stocks in their waters and together manage the largest sustainable tuna purse seine fishery in the world. In 2016 the PNA have been named the winner of the Seafood Champion Award for Vision 2016 at the global Seafood Summit. [http://www.pnatuna.com] 

About Marine Stewardship Council
The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is recognized as the world's leading certification program for sustainable, wild-caught seafood. In collaboration with fisheries scientists and marine experts, the MSC has developed two global, science-based standards. The MSC Fishery Standard evaluates the sustainability of fisheries and the MSC Chain of Custody Standard ensures that any seafood carrying the blue MSC ecolabel is traceable to a certified fishery. 

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Cynthia Asaf
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SOURCE Pacifical