QINGDAO, China - The Chinese government, along with some of the world's more prominent seafood interests, began a practical and profit-minded effort to educate the largest seafood industry in the world about the need to be sustainable.

It was the Chinese government's first-ever public endorsement of a sustainability policy for its seafood industry. The discussion was held at the "Sustainable Seafood Forum" in Qingdao on Nov. 2.

"China has to develop a commitment to develop seafood on a sustainable basis. China's customers are demanding it," said Peter Redmayne, president of the Seattle-based US Seafare Group.

It and China's national Bureau of Fisheries organized the forum and the annual China Fisheries and Seafood Expo, held Nov. 3-5.

The David and Lucille Packard Foundation, Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, Seafood Choice Alliance, and other non-governmental agencies financed the event.

As a buyer of more than $500 million worth of Alaska seafood annually, China's ability - or failure - to meet the world's demand for sustainable fisheries products could have dramatic impacts on its raw material suppliers.

Redmayne complimented Chinese and other conservation efforts, but said it wasn't enough.

"In many countries, China included, there are too many fishermen chasing too few fish. For the fish and the fishermen to be healthy and sustainable, effort will have to be reduced by removing boats from the fishery," he said.

Chinese authorities welcomed his straightforward message.

"We will be glad to listen to your advice, and on the basis of your advice, we will go on the normal way," Chen Yide, deputy director of the Fisheries Bureau, said in prepared remarks delivered for him.

In blunt but cordial comments, speakers addressed the sustainability issue from their individual perspectives, but virtually all comments were couched in economic terms.

Jim Cannon, CEO of the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, said Redmayne's remarks demonstrated the expansion of the sustainability ethic. Only a few years earlier, he suggested, "The only people we would have heard those comments from would have been Greenpeace."

The partnership works to eliminate over-harvesting and reduce negative impacts of aquaculture.

Greenpeace, which did not participate in the forum, was acknowledged as a troublesome but effective influence in the sustainability debate, but speakers from the corporate community issued their own ultimatums.

"As far as we're concerned, seafood sustainability is a nonnegotiable in our business," said Steven Wardley, sourcing and sustainability manager of the Findus Group. "Our approach is all about engagement, not avoidance."

Findus works with harvesters and government agencies to improve management of overfished fisheries, require observer coverage and assures the viability of its raw materials.

Another oft-mentioned nonparticipant was the state of Alaska. The state Department of Fish and Game was complimented repeatedly for its sustainable management policies, but Commissioner Denby Lloyd did not accept Redmayne's invitation to address the forum.

Among several definitions of "sustainable" offered during the forum, Findus' is: "Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."

"The tactic of shifting purchases from overharvested to healthy fisheries is not a sustainable policy," Cannon said.

In 1985, every fish sandwich sold at McDonald's restaurants was made with North Atlantic cod until that fishery was depleted, according to Cannon. Over the next decade, it shifted sourcing from Newfoundland cod to Bering Sea pollock to Argentinean hake.

The world's 35 healthy cod fisheries in 1985 were reduced to five by 2002, leaving McDonald's and other whitefish users with supply problems. Because few companies buy on a McDonald's scale, they need to work with competitors to increase their influence on fishery management and eliminate some competitive costs, Cannon said.

"I would put (sourcing) on the same basis as food safety. It's not an area you want to compete on. 'My food won't kill you' is not a good selling point," Cannon said.

Mike Berthet, fish and seafood director for M&J Seafoods, urged a stronger approach. With current seafood sales of $222 million to major British restaurants, M&J refuses to deal in depleted or at-risk species.

"I won't supply you. I don't care how big you are or how much you'll offer me in terms of your account," Berthet said.

He said progressive seafood NGOs have realized their often-confusing messages.

"I would encourage you to engage with the NGOs. They are not the fiercesome battle axes they were in the past," Berthet said.

With 11 supermarket companies on two continents, the Netherlands' Royal Ahold Group's approach to sustainability is "profit, people, planet," said corporate social compliance coordinator Karin Bogaers.

Royal Ahold's Dutch operating company, Albert Heijn, created the "Puur en Eerlijk" ("Pure and Honest") brand for all of its seafood and other certified sustainable products.

"It is very important for us to reduce ecolabel noise to level the playing field through benchmark platforms for sustainable standards," Bogaers said.

Among the seven seafood sustainability NGOs involved in the forum, some like the Marine Stewardship Council, promoted their labels as product certifiers. Others offered suggestions for development of sustainability policies.

"In many fisheries worldwide, improvements in the stock sustainability simply are not possible without private sector leadership," said Dick Jones, America's program director for the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership. The organization works with seafood companies to improve management of unsustainable fisheries.

With new European requirements for comprehensive food custody chains coming online in January, the Web-based product tracking company, Trace Register, offered a practical solution according to Vice President Andy Furner.

Furner said only 10 percent of readily available product information moves with it through the supply chain and most of that is billing and shipping data.

"The key for retailers is when they get challenged or Greenpeace calls up they need the information and they need to be able to do that at the press of a button," Furner said.

Trace Register provides an "information supply chain" that parallels the physical chain "on a shipment by shipment basis, allowing you to ensure the information your customers require is delivered to them from an easily accessible form," Furner said.