The Crown Princess holds a meeting with SeaBOS

On Thursday 12 May, The Crown Princess attended SeaBOS's working meeting, which has held on Skeppsholmen in Stockholm.

The Crown Princess with Carl Folke and Henrik Österblom on arrival at Skeppsholmen.

The Crown Princess with Carl Folke and Henrik Österblom on arrival at Skeppsholmen. Photo: Pelle T Nilsson/SPA

The meeting took place on 10–12 May, and was attended by representatives from the world's ten largest fishing and shellfish companies, as well as experts and researchers within the field.

The Crown Princess brought the working meeting to a close with a speech, in which she said:

Ladies and gentlemen: Your leadership is urgently needed. Not just bold commitments, not just goals to set goals, not just strategies and plans. (…) Real leadership is to take the cost, to invest the time, to take the risk – and to be rewarded with new opportunities.

HRH The Crown Princess

SeaBOS

The Seafood Business for Ocean Stewardship (SeaBOS) initiative aims to make the world's fishing more sustainable.

During the working meeting, companies reported back on their sustainability undertakings. Discussions included issues relating to IUU (illegal, unreported and unregulated) fishing, human rights, climate change, endangered species, reducing plastics in the oceans and antibiotic use. Planning also took place for the next Keystone Dialogue, which will be held near Amsterdam.

The Keystone Dialogue

Ten of the world's biggest fishing and shellfish companies have issued a joint statement on a ten-point action plan for sustainable ocean management, SeaBOS. The participating companies have undertaken to improve transparency and traceability within their operations, and to reduce illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in their supply chains.

The Soneva Dialogue, held in the Maldives in November 2016, was the first meeting of the Keystone Dialogue – meetings and dialogue between industry and researchers on the state of our oceans.

During The Crown Princess's visit to Japan in April 2017, a follow-up session on the Soneva Dialogue was held. Japanese fishing companies and experts were invited to a more informal dialogue held at the Swedish Embassy in Tokyo.

Keystone Dialogue 2 was held in Stockholm in 2017, Keystone Dialogue 3 was held in Karuizawa, Japan in 2018, Keystone Dialogue 4 was held in Phuket, Thailand in 2019, and Virtual Keystone Dialogues were held in 2020 and 2021.

Working meetings were held in Bergen, Norway in 2019, and digital working meetings took place in 2020 and 2021.

The UN's Sustainable Development Goals

The Crown Princess's commitment to environmental and climate-related issues led to the UN's then UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appointing her as one of 17 advocates during 2016–2019 for the work involved with the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.

The Crown Princess is now an advocate emerita for the Global Goals, in which she retains a particular focus on sustainability, the sea and fishing.

Find out more about the global goals and Agenda 2030 at the United Nations' website.

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