To meet Coles’ Responsibly Sourced Seafood Program requirements, Coles Own Brand wild-caught seafood products are required to be:
-
Marine Stewardship Council
(MSC) certified; or
- Independently assessed as meeting the Coles Wild Seafood Assessment Framework (Assessment Framework).
Wild-caught seafood products that carry the MSC logo are:
- sourced from fisheries that are assessed and certified by independent, third parties against the
MSC Fisheries Standard; and
- assessed against the
MSC Chain of Custody Standard
to ensure that these products are from MSC certified fisheries and are traceable and separated from non-certified products.
More about the MSC can be found on its
FAQ page.
Coles is MSC’s Best Sustainable Seafood Supermarket Award winner 2022
Coles has held the MSC Best Sustainable Seafood Supermarket Award in Australia since 2017. The award acknowledges Coles’ wide range of MSC-labelled products as well as its commitment to communicating the message behind the MSC blue fish tick to its team members and the wider public.
Coles’ Assessment Framework was developed in collaboration with MRAG Asia Pacific (MRAG AP), an independent fisheries and aquatic resource consulting company. The program builds on the results of supply risk assessments for Coles Own Brand and deli seafood products carried out by WWF-Australia during 2011-2015.
The criteria for the assessment are based on the latest version of the MSC Fisheries Standard (Version 2.01) and will be updated in line with the future versions of the Fishery Standard.
In partnership with fisheries management authorities, all assessments are reviewed on an annual basis to reflect the most up-to-date knowledge. This annual review helps Coles to improve fisheries management and sustainability over time.
The Assessment Framework is structured around three core principles,
Principle 1: Sustainable target fish stocks: A fishery must be conducted in a manner that does not lead to over-fishing or depletion of the exploited populations and, for those populations that are depleted, the fishery must be conducted in a manner that demonstrably leads to their recovery.
Principle 2: Environmental impact of fishing: Fishing operations should allow for the maintenance of the structure, productivity, function and diversity of the ecosystem (including habitat and associated dependent and ecologically related species) on which the fishery depends.
Principle 3: Effective management: The fishery is subject to an effective management system that respects local, national and international laws and standards and incorporates institutional and operational frameworks that require use of the resource to be responsible and sustainable.
Wild-caught seafood products assessed against the Coles Assessment Framework are eligible to carry the Coles' Responsibly Sourced Seafood logo.

For more information, please contact
responsiblesourcing@coles.com.au
Responsibly sourced tuna
Tuna is among the world’s most popular fish and therefore among the most commercially valuable. With the high demand for tuna, many stocks are exploited to full capacity or overfished1. Coles Own Brand canned Skipjack and Yellowfin tuna are responsibly sourced which means the following conditions are met:
- Fish stocks: The fish stock where Coles Own Brand Skipjack and Yellowfin tuna are caught have been independently assessed as part of our Coles Responsibly Sourced Seafood Program.
- Reduced by-catch: Coles Own Brand Skipjack and Yellowfin tuna are caught without the use of fish aggregating devices (FADs), which are essentially rafts that attract fish. This results in less by-catch.
- Traceability: Coles Own Brand Skipjack and Yellowfin canned tuna can be traced back to the approved fishing boat that caught the tuna as well as the boat that transported it to the cannery.
- Independent observers: Boats that catch Coles Own Brand Skipjack and Yellowfin tuna have independent observers on board to ensure robust data is available to help manage the fishery and monitor compliance with conservation measures specified by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC). The requirement to have independent observers (temporarily suspended due to COVID-19) was reinstated on 1 January 2023.
Industry engagement
We acknowledge the potential impacts seafood production can have on the environment, and work collaboratively with our suppliers, NGOs, certification bodies and subject matter experts to look for opportunities to further improve our Coles Responsibly Sourced Seafood Program based on latest science and information.
Human Rights
We acknowledge that protecting human rights in supply chains is a global issue and we understand the important role we have in safeguarding human rights within our complex supply chains. Detailed information regarding our Ethical Sourcing Program is available
here.
1
https://www.worldwildlife.org/industries/tuna
<Accessed 8 March 2023>