Measuring the Success of Seafood Ecolabelling - SEAFOOD Ecolabelling: Principles and Practice - page 215

years to be expressed in ways that can be measured, and this makes it difficult to
link any observed improvements to the causes of change.
In 1997, SeaWeb launched the Give Swordfish a Break campaign, focused on
persuading chefs to avoid purchasing swordfish (see Chapters 7 and 20). 'Con-
servationists say the boycott turned depleted swordfish stocks around and scored
a victory. Industry leaders believe the boycott merely shifted demand, increasing
swordfish imports and unfairly hurting U.S. fishermen' (Duchene 2004).
The difficulty of defining exactly what sustainability is for any specific fishery
or aquaculture venture has led to confusion and challenges about the accuracy
of a number of seafood product endorsements and even the actual objectives of
some incentive programmes. The confusion of concepts, language, expectations
and standards has resulted in a situation where some products may be labelled
as sustainable or acceptable by one programme, but black-listed by another (see
Chapter 1). There are also concerns about the misuse of ratings and guides to
promote specific issues and agendas that may not relate to sustainability. As a
result, there is a plethora of labels, guides and ratings in the marketplace, and an
extensive array of claim and counter-claims about the accuracy and appropriateness
of specific product endorsements and about the actual condition of fisheries (see
below, and, e.g., http://www.oceantrust.org/fishfacts.htm).
Being able to define, measure and clearly report on 'success' is therefore cru-
cial in order for consumers to be able to determine if the product endorsements
are accurate. If, for example, an incentive programme does not consider displaced
fishing effort, product traceability and substitution, and marketplace controls for
illegally caught products, then consumers may decide that such a programme does
not comprehensively deal with fishery sustainability issues. But if consumers are
unaware that such matters are issues in ecologically sustainable seafood produc-
tion, the use of consumer purchasing preference (for certified products that do not
consider such issues) may not provide an appropriate incentive for improved en-
vironmental practices, and consequently, such consumer preference may provide
support for unsustainable practices.
Measuring success is also crucial for those organisations that design and deliver
incentive programmes. Defendable and robust measures of success are important to
ensure the ongoing viability, because the funders and backers of such programmes
will always require hard evidence that their support and funds are being effective.
Evaluating the success of a programme also provides the basis for adaptation and
improvement to respond to emerging environmental and business trends, and to
maintain a current awareness of important issues. Information on success is likely
to be very important in establishing a point of differentiation amongst the various
ecolabelling, rating and guide systems, many of which appear to compete for con-
sumer appeal and attention. Environmental outcomes demonstrably achieved by a
market-based incentive programme in seafood sustainability are likely to be well
regarded by consumers, and this favourable perception can be readily absorbed into
marketing of the seafood certified by that programme.