Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch Programme - SEAFOOD Ecolabelling: Principles and Practice - page 344

Bay Aquarium's mission to 'inspire conservation of the oceans' uses a strategy
of raising awareness, increasing knowledge, developing conservation values, shar-
ing ideas for conservation-related behaviours and empowering our motivated visi-
tors with the tools they need to follow through with such behaviours (such as the
Seafood Watch pocket guides) (Plate 17.3). This approach is consistent with a vari-
ety of models used in many marketing and promotional campaigns (Wolfe & Lilley
2004).
Our success in moving visitors along this paradigm is evidenced by our annual
distribution of 600 000 pocket guides through Monterey Bay Aquarium exhibits and
on-site programmes. According to our monthly exit surveys, more than one-third of
aquarium visitors take a Seafood Watch pocket guide (S.S. Yalowitz, unpublished
observations). In this respect, it is important to note that distribution of the pocket
guides is passive - the guide is either stationed at relevant exhibits or offered to
guests to take if they choose.
The high volume of pocket guide distribution at Monterey Bay Aquarium and at
our partner sites may also be due to the public's perception of zoos and aquariums
as trusted sources of information (SCA 2003). And among the zoo and aquarium
community, Monterey Bay Aquarium has established itself as a leader - the 2004
Zagat Survey for the US Family Travel Guide rated the Monterey Bay Aquarium
as the best aquarium and the third top-rated overall family attraction in the country.
Zoos, aquariums and museums have unique access to conservation-minded con-
sumers and approximately 30% of the US population visits such institutions (Belden
Russonello & Stewart and American Viewpoint 1999). It was therefore obvious that
by partnering with these institutions, we were ideally positioned to reach an au-
dience that is both significant in size and in its potential willingness to affect the
marketplace in favour of environmentally responsible seafood. The Seafood Watch
programme evolved further to enlist zoos and aquariums across the US to help
generate awareness about the impact of our seafood choices and distribute region-
ally appropriate Seafood Watch pocket guides. Collectively, we considered that our
activities would stimulate an increased demand for sustainable seafood across the
nation.
As visitors to Monterey Bay Aquarium and our partner institutions were exposed
to Seafood Watch, ancillary audiences emerged. Businesses, including restaurants
and seafood markets, were increasingly interested in purchasing products from
sustainable fisheries and fish farming operations in response to both consumer
demand and increased knowledge of the issues (which may also have resulted
from increased media exposure and the efforts of the collective sustainable seafood
movement). Major food service corporations also demonstrated interest in creating
sustainable seafood purchasing policies, conducting educational training for their
staff, leveraging their purchasing power among their seafood procurement brokers
and stimulating conversations with seafood suppliers to affect change in produc-
tion practices (see, e.g. www.cgnad.com/sustainability). As consumers began to
respond, Seafood Watch and the broader movement needed to adapt to the shifting
environment.