Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
are captured in ways that maintain natural functional relationships among
species in the ecosystem, conserve the diversity and productivity of the sur-
rounding ecosystem and do not result in irreversible ecosystem state changes;
and
have a management regime that implements and enforces all local, national and
international laws and utilises a precautionary approach to ensure the long-term
productivity of the resource and integrity of the ecosystem.
The following five sustainability criteria, corresponding to these principles above,
help to evaluate capture fisheries for the purpose of developing a seafood recom-
mendation for consumers and businesses:
(1)
inherent vulnerability to fishing pressure;
(2)
status of wild stocks;
(3)
nature and extent of discarded bycatch;
(4)
effect of fishing practices on habitats and ecosystems; and
(5)
effectiveness of the management regime.
The Seafood Watch programme believes that sustainable aquaculture operations
must:
use less wild-caught fish (in the form of fishmeal and fish oil) than it produces
in the form of edible marine fish protein, and thus provides net protein gains
for society;
not pose a substantial risk of deleterious effects on wild fish stocks through the
escape of farmed fish;
not pose a substantial risk of deleterious effects on wild fish stocks through the
amplification, retransmission or introduction of disease or parasites;
employ methods to treat and reduce the discharge of organic waste and other
potential contaminants so that the resulting discharge does not adversely
affect the surrounding ecosystem; and
implement and enforce all local, national and international laws and customs and
utilise a precautionary approach (which favours conservation of the envi-
ronment in the face of irreversible environmental risks) for daily operations
and industry expansion.
The five sustainability criteria corresponding to these principles to evaluate aqua-
culture operations for the purpose of developing a seafood recommendation for
consumers and businesses are as follows:
(1)
use of marine resources;
(2)
risk of escapes to wild stocks;
(3)
risk of disease and parasite transfer to wild stocks;
(4)
risk of pollution and habitat effects; and
(5)
effectiveness of the management regime.
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