Anecdotes and Lessons of a Decade - SEAFOOD Ecolabelling: Principles and Practice - page 428

In certification systems, the need to have independent observers monitor and
report on environmental issues is omnipresent. For example, how could a fishery
without independent at-sea observers be certified as complying with the MSC stan-
dard if the fish in the landed product cannot be uniquely identified to species? Or
how could a fishery be certified as having no significant interactions with important
species of seabirds, or marine mammals that may be at risk from fishery impacts,
without independent at-sea observers? The incentives for fishers to misreport such
matters can be substantial, and independent verification is a critical component of
any credible certification system.
The need for independent and verified observer monitoring of bycatch is espe-
cially crucial for fisheries or aquaculture ventures that may have a legally permitted
interaction or bycatch with rare or endangered species. Observer systems must be
independent, cover robust statistical samples of the fleet, select vessels or opera-
tions at random, be reported publicly, and be linked to the stock assessment and
quota/effort constraints system. Inadequate monitoring systems lead to incorrect
conclusions about the level and significance of bycatch issues.
The design of such monitoring and observer systems is crucial. For example,
voluntary programmes of involvement in monitoring are of highly dubious value.
Vessels that volunteer to take observers on-board will be those that feel they are
already in compliance with rules. Those that do not volunteer are likely to be those
that either do not wish to comply with rules about bycatch or do not want to incur
the cost of compliance by changing their fishing operations (to avoid bycatch)
for the times they are under observation. The observer effect (when observers
are on-board, fishing vessels change their practices to be compliant with rules) is
measurable through various independent systems of verification, including vessel
profiling, where the fishery characteristics of a vessel (trip catch, area of fishing,
level of reported bycatch, etc) are compared between observed and non-observed
trips. Other means of verification include dockside surveys and telephone surveys
of deck or factory staff, who may not have the same level of incentive to misreport
bycatch or to obscure compliance issues. All these cost money and take time to
verify, but certification and compliance systems that either do not have such a
system built into their own processes, or do not require that such systems are
conducted within the fishery venture being assessed, cannot purport to provide
consumers with reliable information about fishery impacts.

21.9 Product recommendations and buying guides

Certification and ecolabelling provides a clear signal to consumers about the value
of their purchasing power and how they may express this to support more eco-
logically sustainable products. Product recommendations and buying guides also
provide consumers with advice about products, but presented in a different form.
If consumers perceive that a benefit can be conferred through their purchasing