Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Eye, Hellman's and Liptons brands, among many others) - contracts with
independent certifiers to judge the health of a fishery and its ecosystem, its
management system, and compliance with relevant laws (see Chapter 4).
MSC-ecolabelled seafood products are available from suppliers and retail-
ers in 26 countries around the world. For example, there are currently
ten such companies each in the US and UK (including Whole Foods
Market, Sainsbury's, Marks & Spencer and Wal-Mart), and three in Australia
(Seaways, John West and Talley's). In addition to such fisheries certification
programmes, there are also so-called 'soft' certifications, in which products
are not specifically labelled with a certifier's logo, but the assumption of
a certain 'eco-friendly' standard is implicit in the manufacturers' products.
One example of this is New Hampshire-based EcoFish Inc., a US seafood-
distribution company that carries only seafood meeting strict sustainability
criteria established by an advisory panel from the conservation community
(www.ecofish.com).
Taken together, these five categories of activities - diverse in their strategies,
tactics and outcomes - work in a complementary manner to shift behaviour
and influence the marketplace in favour of conservation.
7.3
Seafood Choices Alliance: An international association
for sustainable seafood
The great thing about Seafood Choices is that it's a unifying body that does a
tremendous amount of worthy efforts in the marine conservation field, especially on
the education side. They had a great idea to pull all these efforts under one roof to
try to unify everything into one cohesive message, which I feel is very important
(Henry Lovejoy, President of EcoFish Inc., 9 February 2002).
7.3.1
Philosophy and approach
As noted above, the Seafood Choices Alliance is a non-profit association that unites
a growing number of voices from the seafood industry and conservation community.
It remains the only international association that is solely focused on keeping the
issue of sustainable seafood topical, and represents all those who believe that the
global seafood supply must be managed for sustainability. The Alliance's approach
is grounded in the core beliefs that the seafood industry can be a leading voice for
environmental sustainability and that there is a strong, growing marketplace for
sustainable seafood. Taking a challenging, but pragmatic approach, the Alliance
identifies individuals within companies, and parties across the supply chain, and
connects them with results-minded conservation partners to expand the marketplace
for sustainable seafood.
There are several distinguishing characteristics of the Alliance that set it apart
from other organisations seeking to promote and deliver conservation outcomes.
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