New England Aquarium: Supporting Environmentally Responsible Seafood Choices - SEAFOOD Ecolabelling: Principles and Practice - page 327

Table 16.1 The decision points (DPs) associated with the wild fisheries and aquaculture
decision-ranking tools.

Wild fisheries DPs Aquaculture DPs

1. Stock status 1. Farm outputs (effluents)

2. Fishery management 2. Farm inputs (therapeutants, feed, chemicals)

3. Endangered species bycatch 3. Impacts to other species

4. Habitat impacts 4. Fish health (disease and welfare)

5. Target and non-target bycatch 5. Production and energy considerations

wild-capture and aquaculture operations), the scope of the hierarchy widens to con-
sider ecosystem impacts and broader environmental considerations (Table 16.1).
When the data are collected for each of the areas of consideration or decision
points (DPs), they are evaluated and assigned to one of three possible outcomes.
This aids in the graphical presentation of the results (Figures 16.2 and 16.3), as
well as provides a method to reconcile both quantitative and qualitative data.
In order to evaluate each DP, the information collected for each fishery unit or
farm is used to answer a series of questions that determine how each DP is ranked
(Figure 16.1). There are three possible outcomes for each DP: best available (BA),
satisfactory (S), and minimal (M). A BA decision indicates that the fishery or farm
utilises the most environmentally responsible, proactive measures; an S decision
indicates moderate impacts or the use of adequate, reactive measures; while an M
decision indicates that the fishery needs dramatic improvement with respect to the
DP. There would be a BA outcome for a wild-catch fish DP if, for example, there
is an abundant stock that is not overfished and where overfishing is not occurring.

Figure 16.2 The wild fisheries decision-ranking tool. Each fishery unit is assessed within each decision
point (DP) as utilising best available (BA), suitable (S), or minimal (M) practices. Each DP has a minimal
acceptable standard (MAS), below which a fishery unit is relegated to a do not buy (DNB) status. The
three lines indicate the hypothetical ranking of three different stocks of the same species. The final
assessment outcome for a specific fishery unit is its position on the scale at the bottom of the hierarchy,
ranging from lowest (MAS) to highest (BA).