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Richard Scott2025-10-02 14:25:542025-10-02 16:37:54Expert coalition releases guidance for deforestation-free supply chainsCASE STUDY Waitrose
Maintaining momentum and building capacity for responsible seafood sourcing with a 3Keel secondment
When Waitrose & Partners needed in-house support to maintain progress with its responsible seafood strategy and implementation, Senior Consultant Eve Nelson was seconded part-time as Interim Fisheries and Aquaculture Manager.
Stepping in to bridge a gap and build capacity
In addition to the consultancy we offer, clients sometimes need extra resource and expertise embedded in their own teams. If a specialist colleague is on extended leave or a team has a skills gap, consultants can be seconded to work ‘in house’. A skilled secondment is a great way to bring subject matter expertise and experience to the team for a fixed time, and to build capacity within the permanent team. In this instance, the expertise came from our Commodity Supply Chains team.
Waitrose: committed to responsible sourcing of fish and seafood
Waitrose & Partners has been serving customers for 120 years and is committed to selling products that have been responsibly sourced. 3Keel has worked with the retailer and its parent company, John Lewis Partnership, for many years on a wide range of sustainability, climate and nature projects.
Among its commitments, Waitrose sells only responsibly sourced fish and seafood, and has been working to high standards for over 15 years, with a robust strategy for wild and farmed seafood.
In 2024, the Ethics and Sustainability team needed long-term support with a level of decision-making authority that an external consultant cannot be given. This is when a secondment or back-office function is the ideal solution. Eve Nelson stepped in, working as Interim Fisheries & Aquaculture Manager for nine months while Waitrose’s seafood team expanded.
Eve had been seconded to the team a few years before as Interim Raw Materials Manager, with a focus on soy in feed, palm oil and cocoa. It meant that she knew colleagues and how things worked at Waitrose, and could get up to speed quickly. This time, it was her expertise in the seafood sector and her role leading the Secretariat of the Sustainable Seafood Coalition (SSC) that made her the ideal choice to support the retailer.
“Eve was a great support to the wider team and helped us deliver our responsible sourcing commitments in a timely manner.”
Implementing, tracking and reporting Waitrose’s seafood policy
Eve’s initial priority was to maintain the foundation of Waitrose’s responsible fish and seafood sourcing, based on her expertise. She focused on:
- Managing approvals of new seafood sources
- Tracking data and certification levels
- Running the Waitrose Fish Forum, which brings together suppliers and experts to discuss and implement Waitrose’s policies on aquaculture and fisheries
- Internal and external metrics reporting, which included the Ethics & Sustainability report, Crustacean Compassion benchmark; WWF Basket; and reporting to the Marine Stewardship Council and Aquaculture Stewardship Council
- Updating policies, including the Crustacean Welfare Policy
- Acting as Waitrose’s representative with suppliers and external stakeholders such as NGOs and standards organisations.
Creating a strong foundation for a growing team
By integrating into the Waitrose team as a secondee, Eve was able to maintain momentum with its fisheries and aquaculture work during a period of low capacity. She was also able to assess which processes were working well and which could be improved, based on risks and issues identified during her nine months. This meant that the new, expanded in-house team had a strong foundation on which to continue building Waitrose’s comprehensive approach to responsible seafood sourcing.
We continue to work with Waitrose through the SSC and across other projects spanning many 3Keel teams.
Jake Pickering, Head of Agriculture, Aquaculture and Fisheries at Waitrose & Partners, says: “Eve was a great support to the wider team and helped us deliver our responsible sourcing commitments in a timely manner”.
Get in touch
If you’d like to find out more about our marine and seafood work, please contact Eve Nelson by calling the office on +44 1865 236500 or by using the form below.
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