Novotel has joined the Seafood Task Force as its first hospitality member, signalling a shift in how global hotel groups approach sustainable seafood sourcing and supply chain transparency.

The partnership will initially target tuna and farmed shrimp supply chains in Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia, markets that carry heightened environmental and social risk for the seafood industry.

Why sustainable seafood supply chains matter for hotels

The Seafood Task Force (STF) is a global trade association that brings together more than 50 major retailers, seafood brands, foodservice companies and their suppliers to tackle human rights, environmental and traceability risks in tuna and shrimp supply chains.

It aims to deliver seafood that is fully traceable, ethically produced and environmentally responsible “from vessel to plate”.

The seafood sector has faced sustained scrutiny over illegal fishing, forced labour and weak oversight at sea.

International bodies and NGOs have documented cases of trafficking and abuse on fishing vessels, often linked to long periods at sea, opaque ownership structures and “flags of convenience” that limit enforcement.

For hotels, these risks are no longer a distant upstream concern. Governments are tightening rules on human rights due diligence and modern slavery reporting, including legislation in the UK and new due diligence and forced labour regulations in the EU.

Corporate buyers that serve large volumes of seafood in restaurants, banqueting and all-day dining are expected to demonstrate that their procurement policies address these risks.

As a mid-scale global hotel brand with around 600 properties in more than 60 countries, Novotel sits at the intersection of guest expectations, brand risk and operational complexity.

By joining a cross-industry platform focused specifically on tuna and shrimp supply chains, the brand is positioning sustainable seafood sourcing as a core part of its wider environmental, social and governance (ESG) agenda rather than a standalone food and beverage initiative.

Scope of Novotel’s Seafood Task Force collaboration

According to the STF, Novotel’s membership will focus first on improving oversight of tuna and farmed shrimp bought for hotels in Southeast Asia.

These product categories and geographies were prioritised after mapping Novotel’s major seafood volumes against regions with higher sustainability and social risk.

Through the task force, Novotel will work alongside retailers, importers, processors and fishing and farming businesses already active in the same supply chains.

The STF co-ordinates working groups that look at vessel oversight, worker welfare, traceability, auditing methodology and alignment with emerging due diligence rules.

For hotel operators, this kind of pre-competitive collaboration offers access to shared tools and data that would be difficult to build alone, such as vessel risk assessments, worker voice mechanisms or harmonised traceability requirements for suppliers.

Novotel’s commitment sits within a broader three-year “ocean roadmap” developed with WWF France in 2024. Under its Sustainable Seafood Principles, the brand has pledged to:

• remove more than 350 endangered seafood species from menus by 2027
• serve only Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified wild seafood or responsibly sourced local fish where certification is not available
• use Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) or organic-certified farmed seafood for salmon and shrimp

The brand has also launched a fishery improvement project for Indian squid in Kerala, India, partnered with digital platform Seafood Souq to enhance traceability across 19 hotels in the Middle East, and started a procurement project with suppliers in Europe to improve seafood supply chain visibility.

For the STF, bringing a hotel brand into a group previously dominated by retailers, seafood manufacturers and foodservice companies broadens its reach into the hospitality channel.

The organisation describes itself as the only global trade association where some of the world’s largest retailers, seafood brands and their supply chain partners work jointly on oversight and continuous improvement from vessel to plate.

Implications for hotel seafood procurement and ESG reporting

For international hotel groups, sustainable seafood sourcing is becoming tightly linked to risk management, guest trust and regulatory compliance.

Investigations into tuna, shrimp and other seafood supply chains continue to highlight links between products on supermarket shelves or restaurant menus and issues such as forced labour, unsafe working conditions and overfishing.

Joining a multi-stakeholder platform such as the Seafood Task Force gives hotel brands a route to:

• access detailed risk information on tuna and shrimp supply chains in priority regions
• align procurement specifications with recognised standards on traceability, human rights and environmental performance
• demonstrate participation in industry-wide efforts when reporting under modern slavery, human rights due diligence or broader ESG frameworks

Novotel has already rolled out ocean awareness training to teams in all of its hotels and supports WWF projects on seagrass protection, ghost gear removal and marine turtle conservation.

For procurement and sustainability teams, STF membership is likely to translate into more structured requirements for seafood suppliers, more systematic data collection and closer collaboration with local partners in Southeast Asia and other regions over time.

For the wider hotel sector, Novotel’s move will be watched closely. If the collaboration demonstrates measurable progress on traceability, labour standards and environmental impact in high-risk seafood supply chains, other operators may look to similar partnerships when updating their own responsible sourcing strategies.

As scrutiny of seafood supply chains intensifies, sustainable seafood sourcing is moving from a niche sustainability topic to a core operational concern for global hospitality businesses.