Market-Based Mechanisms – Improving Fisheries Management? - SEAFOOD Ecolabelling: Principles and Practice - page 198

(2001), Heyes and Maxwell (2003), Gale and Haward (2004), Hall (2004), Skinner
et al . (2004), Tully (2004), Gulbrandsen (2005, 2006), Ponte (2006), and Jacquet
and Pauly (2007). In this debate, the developing countries have raised considerable
opposition to seafood ecolabelling. Gardiner and Viswanathan (2004) provide a
detailed analysis and identify five areas of concern:
legitimacy and credibility;
mismatch between certification requirements and the realities of tropical fish-
eries;
potential distortions to existing practices and livelihoods;
equity and feasibility; and
perceived barriers to trade.
Most of these issues are underpinned by matters related to cost and the technical
capacity to manage/control the fisheries in developing countries. The criteria and
assessment systems used to evaluate fisheries for the purposes of ecolabelling are
usually evidence based. This means that, in the absence of even rudimentary catch
reporting systems, there is little chance of developing country fisheries meeting
even the lower standards of the more generous ecolabelling systems. Whereas the
ecolabelling systems have become a target for criticism, the fundamental issue
of inadequate fisheries management remains the basic problem in many of the
developing countries.
As ecolabelling (and other forms of advice to consumers) grows in popularity
so too have concerns about the legitimacy of the assessment systems that underpin
them. In the case of wild-harvest assessments, Leadbitter and Ward (2007) reviewed
the attributes of a range of systems that have been designed to provide advice
about the status of fisheries. Their analysis found a great deal of variability in
the scope and robustness of the assessment systems and they proposed a series of
criteria for guiding the further development of such systems. The robustness of
the assessment systems is crucial, given that assessments can have a major impact
in the marketplace, and there is a risk of economic and social harm to industries
if they are wrongly accused of poor practices or falsely awarded certificates of
sustainability.

9.7 Sourcing policies - retailers and the food trade

Various retailers of seafood have sought to either highlight sustainably caught fish
or remove those deemed to be unacceptable for environmental reasons from their
sales portfolios (see Box 9.1). These moves have been driven by an increasing com-
mitment to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by individuals and businesses
in the private sector. By refusing to sell seafood products deemed to be environ-
mentally unsound, these entities believe that they can put pressure on the seafood
industry and fishery managers to upgrade fisheries management.