Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
the Alliance has evolved its work over time to adapt to the changing seafood
marketplace.
The Alliance implements a suite of activities that, taken together, leverage the
efforts of its industry and conservation members and significantly impact on the
marketplace for sustainable seafood. Those activities fall into the following two
primary categories:
Those designed to maintain the global momentum for change by keeping the
issue of sustainable seafood a prominent and compelling issue in the trade media
and among key industry players.
Those that provide the Alliance's members with a suite of actionable and prag-
matic tools that allow them to chart an incremental path from their current
operations and policies to ones that are more economically and environmentally
sustainable.
The most potent example of an activity that does both is the Seafood Summit,
an annual conference that began in 2001 to bring together seafood industry profes-
sionals, fishing groups, conservation organisations and educational institutions to
discuss issues relevant to the sustainable seafood movement. What started primarily
as an NGO coordination meeting has evolved into a formal conference open to all
sectors of the sustainable seafood community. The fourth annual summit, held at
the John G. Shedd Aquarium in Chicago in 2004, reached beyond North America
for the first time and showcased the MSC, shining a light on the growing global
nature of the movement. Just 4 years later, the 2008 summit in Barcelona, Spain,
drew hundreds of attendees from organisations and businesses across the globe.
On the materials side, the Alliance looks to develop materials for its mem-
bers, such as the first comprehensive guide and directory for seafood buyers who
are looking for sustainable seafood products to meet their procurement demands
(www.seafoodchoices.org/resources/sourcingseafood.php). The
Sourcing Seafood
directory (Plate 7.4) is widely viewed as the first step to bridging the gap between
those offering sustainable seafood recommendations, those demanding sustainable
seafood and those supplying it. While highlighting some species already certified
by the MSC, it also suggests other 'good choices' that are either farmed or may not
yet have made their way through the MSC's formal certification process. The direc-
tory contains information on each of 50 species caught or farmed in an eco-friendly
manner (as assessed by global conservation groups), including a description of
each species and its uses, seasonal availability, place of origin, buying tips, health
advisories and much more. It also provides complete contact listings of over 450
environmentally conscious seafood purveyors. Similar hands-on tools for seafood
buyers will be developed in 2008 for industry professionals in the UK and across
French-speaking Europe.
Sourcing Seafood
has received much praise from seafood professionals and from
members of the conservation community. 'Sourcing Seafood has helped me not only
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