President's Message

The world has not yet fully recovered from the shock of the Great East Japan Earthquake, the worst earthquake in the recorded history of Japan, and the destruction brought by the subsequent cataclysmic tsunami that occurred on March 11 this year, followed by a series of accidents at nuclear plants. Fortunately, even in the midst of these dark times, the Reconstruction Design has been settled, while the circle of support spread not only within Japan, but also outside of Japan, and people in the disaster areas have begun to rise to their feet toward the future over the sorrow and severe reality.

The Nissui Group also suffered from heavy damage because we have many business centers in the affected regions. The Onagawa Plant and Onagawa Fish Feed & Oil Plant situated close to the seismic center were devastated, and some of our precious employees and their family members tragically lost their lives. Moreover, our group companies, the Kuji Plant of Hachikan Co., Ltd. and Sendai Port Center of Nissui Logistics Corporation, were destroyed, while the Kashima regional offices in Ibaraki prefecture and the Funabashi regional offices in Chiba prefecture were struck by liquefaction. In the middle of this disaster, a national calamity, NISSUI welcomed the turning point of its 100th anniversary this year.

Since our foundation as an enterprise, NISSUI has valued "using marine resources in a sustainable way under appropriate resource management." This is also a common principle of the "Nissui Global Links", a global network that was constructed with partners all over the world, in many functions including fishery, aquaculture, processing, distribution, marketing, research & development, and quality management.

Last year, COP10 (the Tenth Ordinary Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity) was held in Nagoya. In this meeting, the global target for ecological correctness, "the Aichi Targets," was adopted and it was determined to reserve 10% of the oceans for conservation areas by 2020. This will contribute to the protection of marine resources, which is of vital importance for NISSUI.

Regarding the sustainable utilization of resources (sustainability), we set the basic policy for "Nissui Global Links" above and recently established the Global Links Sustainability Board for the operation, under which we appointed the sustainability officer.
Within Japan, we became a member of the Society for Conservation of Fisheries Resources and Marine Environment (CoFRaME) last year. By supporting the activities of this society, we promote the sustainable utilization of marine resources.

Moreover, we established the Tokyo Innovation Center, which is featured in this report, placing prime importance on the contributions we can provide to society through our business and consideration for the environment toward the next 100 years. In particular, we obtained seedlings from Utsunuki Ryokuchi (green land in Utsunuki town) and transplanted a local strain on the premises in order to emphasize the conservation of biodiversity.

Regarding the alleviation of environmental load, we have continuously been working on the reduction of CO2 emissions, waste and water consumption within the entire group since 2003, verify our activities in the quarterly Environmental Committee meetings, and take required measures as needed.

Moreover, in an effort to establish a recycling-oriented society, the Imari Fish Feed & Oil Plant utilizes the recycled food resources of our subsidiaries and obtained Japan's first "Ecofeed" certification from Japan Scientific Feeds Association as marine feed. Since Kurose Suisan Co., Ltd, our group company, uses this feed for the aquaculture of yellowtail, we succeeded in creating a group-wide mechanism encompassing all the steps from raw materials to products.

We in the Nissui Group intend to continue doing our best to overcome a variety of challenges faced by the global environment.