New England Aquarium: Supporting Environmentally Responsible Seafood Choices - SEAFOOD Ecolabelling: Principles and Practice - page 324

2000, the Aquarium staff were focused solely on wild-catch seafood species. But
since 2003, the Aquarium has devoted more resources to address issues concern-
ing farmed seafood species, and the environmental aspects of farmed seafood will
continue to increase in buying recommendations in coming years.
The Aquarium's ability to influence seafood supply chains has increased recently
through an expanded relationship with seafood suppliers. Increased interactions
with suppliers have occurred as a direct result of our work with Ahold USA, but
also indirectly through the programme's increased exposure (through attendance
at international meetings and tradeshows) and reputation (through word-of-mouth
exchanges within the industry and conservation community). Seafood processors
and suppliers play a critical role in ensuring the long-term viability of seafood
resources.
In addition to increasingly strong relationships with various seafood suppliers
from many sectors (from wild to farmed and local to global), the Aquarium has
also developed new relationships with potential retail partners that are interested
in addressing seafood sustainability concerns. These dialogues have facilitated the
Aquarium's involvement in advisory and oversight committees, contracted scien-
tific research and wide-ranging discussions regarding potential strategic partner-
ships.
In general, the seafood industry's interest in seafood sustainability has followed
efforts by the conservation community over the past decade to change purchasing
practices of individual consumers, chefs and, in a few cases, companies to address
the concerns about declining marine resources (Johnston et al . 2000, Brownstein
et al . 2003). While the seafood supply chain is complicated by multiple players
and a global distribution network, directed collaborative action among conser-
vation organisations and dedicated efforts by corporations are critical to create a
viable, environmentally responsible supply of seafood that can be sustained into the
future.

16.3 Encouraging increased fishery performance

The Aquarium's approach towards improving the environmental responsibility of
seafood supply chains is based in a philosophy that encourages industry partners to
both implement and advocate for positive changes in fishery management and farm-
ing practices. To evaluate the relative environmental performance of each seafood
product, Aquarium staff have developed decision-ranking tools to compare individ-
ual stocks of the same species and individual aquaculture operations. These tools
enable Aquarium staff to clearly and consistently recommend fisheries and farms
that attain the highest relative rankings, and to identify the areas where specific
fisheries and farms diverge in environmental performance. In this way, operations
that rank lower are encouraged to alter or adjust their practices to increase their
ranking and ultimately become more favourable sources (Figure 16.1).