Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch Programme - SEAFOOD Ecolabelling: Principles and Practice - page 340

Chapter 17
Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood
Watch R Programme

Jennifer Dianto Kemmerly

17.1 Introduction

Monterey Bay Aquarium's mission is to inspire conservation of the ocean. In doing
so, the aquarium's Seafood Watch programme is geared to empower consumers and
businesses with the information they need to select seafood from environmentally
responsible sources. The programme evolved from a group of concerned consumers
willing to change their purchasing behaviours in support of ocean-friendly seafood.
Today, Seafood Watch is a mature programme working with key audiences proven
to create major marketplace change in favour of sustainable seafood. This grew out
of two significant evaluations in 2004 and 2005 and subsequent planning efforts
designed to ensure that our strategy was integrated with the activities of other
US conservation organisations which are a part of the broader sustainable seafood
movement. Based on our organisational strengths and the needs of the movement,
we are working to better serve the audiences that are critical to creating a demand
for, and supply of, sustainable seafood.

History of the Monterey Bay Aquarium ® and the
Seafood Watch programme

17.2

Monterey Bay, which lies off California's central coast, is one of the world's most
diverse marine regions. The upwelling of cold currents brings nutrient-rich waters
to the bay supporting habitats ranging from dense kelp forests to submarine canyons
thousands of metres in depth (Deans 1997). This spectacular area is federally pro-
tected as part of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary that stretches along
California's central coast and includes 5300 square miles of ocean (NOAA MBNMS
2005). In addition, portions of the bay are included in a network of marine-protected
areas mandated by the state of California. People from around the world are drawn
to Monterey Bay's jagged coast, its array of marine life and intriguing ecosystems.
For more that 20 years, Monterey Bay Aquarium has made this intriguing undersea