As a pet care business, we’re committed to driving positive change for people, pets, and our planet. To achieve this, we are rethinking where and how we buy our raw materials. While we source only a very small amount of fish ingredients for some of our pet food recipes, we are committed to our Sustainable in a Generation plan and part of that is helping to drive sustainable fishing.

To address this, Mars Petcare partnered with the World Wildlife Fund over a decade ago to review, innovate and scale for to more sustainable fish sourcing. In 2010, Mars Petcare set a goal to source 100% of our fish supply from only sustainable sources, according to our guidelines. Progress towards the goal is highlighted in a new joint report from WWF and Mars Petcare. So far, 81% of the fish we use is sustainably sourced, and we're extending our partnership with WWF until 2025 to turn continue this journey.

In the years to come, we will also continue working with certifying organizations, standard setters and fish experts at the Marine Stewardship Council, Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch and Aquaculture Stewardship Council on sustainable fish buying practices and collaborating with businesses and governments to drive change across the industry to help protect vulnerable ecosystems and drive responsible practices.

We also aim to reduce competition with the human food supply chain by using less whole fish in our products, no endangered fish species, and working to advance respect for human rights within the supply chain.

“We are delighted to continue our decade-long partnership with Mars Petcare, as they continue to be an industry leader working to ensure more sustainable seafood sourcing across their global operations," says Caroline Tippett, Senior Director of Seafood Markets at World Wildlife Fund. 

“Mars Petcare sources fish because we make healthy, nutritious and high-quality pet food, and seafood ingredients play a small but important role in our recipes. This effort is a key part of our broader engagement with our strategic pet food ingredient suppliers around the world as they boost their sustainability performance and as we take action together to improve environmental and social impacts in supply chains," commented Andy Parton, Global Vice President of Procurement at Mars Petcare. 

“As a family-owned, purpose-driven company we’re focused on doing business in ways that meet the nutritional needs of pets and that also build a better, more sustainable world," he added.

As we continue to work towards a fully sustainable fish supply, we will regularly evaluate where we source our fish, the types of fish used, as well as the practices across our supply chain, so we can help to ensure that our products can be both nutritious for pets and better for the world’s oceans.

Read more about our progress to a fully sustainable fish supply.