Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 10
Measuring the Success of
Seafood Ecolabelling
Trevor J. Ward
10.1
Introduction
This chapter considers the issues involved in determining the success of a seafood
certification or ecolabelling initiative. This includes what is meant by the envi-
ronmental and ecological aspects of 'sustainability' in the seafood capture and
production context, what is meant by success, and factors that affect the overall ef-
fectiveness of a seafood certification or ecolabelling initiative. The emphasis here
is on the ecological aspects of sustainability and the success of certification and
ecolabelling in securing ecological improvements in fisheries and aquaculture.
There is only a limited history of seafood certification or ecolabelling market-
based incentive programmes, as discussed in Chapter 1, and there are very limited
data that could be used as examples to assess the success of the existing programmes.
However, there are some important patterns emerging from the earliest seafood
initiatives about what constitutes success and what it means for consumers.
Measuring and reporting on success is important for two key reasons. First, it
indicates the extent to which certification and ecolabelling initiatives create im-
proved practices in the production of seafood from the fishing and aquaculture
sectors. Second, reporting on the extent of environmental improvement is a key
ingredient in reinforcing the value of certification and ecolabelling in the market -
consumers who do not believe that a specific ecolabel represents a driving force
for improved management will not be convinced to continue to purchase those
ecolabelled products. Seafood resellers will then be reluctant to stock and promote
certified or ecolabelled products, and so the market-based incentive will shrink.
Reporting on specific environmental successes is also a key part of differentiating
amongst the various seafood certification and ecolabel initiatives. This will be be-
come an increasingly important part of business strategies as such seafood initiatives
increase in number and global spread and compete for market share (Gulbrandsen
2006).
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