Measuring the Success of Seafood Ecolabelling - SEAFOOD Ecolabelling: Principles and Practice - page 243

the need for an international system of governance and accreditation to ap-
ply consistent principles of design and operation to seafood ecolabelling and
certification programmes of all types, consistent with the FAO guidelines, and
with outreach to ensure consumer awareness of the overarching issues.
While there have been a small number of ecological successes documented for
seafood ecolabelling systems, there is very little ecological evidence that supports
the broad ecological effectiveness of seafood sustainability programmes. As in other
sectors, seafood certification, ecolabels and ratings/guides are rapidly developing
into market successes, but this is considered by some to be driven by governments
and non-government organisations (NGOs) (Gulbrandsen 2006), rather than envi-
ronmental success. Without much better data and information about their ecological
impacts it remains to be seen if ecolabels can continue to secure and maintain con-
sumer support. To provide for more informed analyses of the success of seafood
certification and ecolabelling programmes in the future, detailed comparative lon-
gitudinal (time-series) evaluations of the ecological impacts of several different
types of seafood programmes are needed. Beyond the ecological issues, probably
the most outstanding current issue is the need to develop standards and verification
processes that relate to the socio-economic issues of seafood sustainability, so that
seafood ecolabelling may be able to more robustly address all the relevant issues,
including regional and locally relevant standards, and verification processes for
seafood sustainability in parts of Asia, Africa and South America. In this sense, the
ongoing success of seafood ecolabelling can then be linked to a more comprehen-
sive coverage of the seafood sustainability issues, and enhanced relevance to the
global, regional and local needs of the oceans, industries and communities alike.
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