Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
response that may be counterproductive in the medium term. The pattern in other
sectors indicates that there will be a rapid growth in competing products that may
claim to have environmental friendliness (to capitalise on the widespread occur-
rence of certified product), a growth in new forms of certification and ecolabelling
and a growth in reseller-producer bilateral relationships (to maximise profit and
returns). Some of this will be positive, but there are aspects of competition, such
as the use of weak sustainability standards, that will be likely to be counterproduc-
tive to both certification programmes and ocean ecosystems. Existing producers
and certification programmes will be under intense pressure to rapidly increase
the supply of certified seafood to match the demand and avoid the possible ad-
verse impacts, without weakening standards. Amongst other issues, this implies
that there will need to be a rapid change in fishery management practices to en-
courage many more fisheries to meet sustainability standards that would permit
them to be certified - a barrier that many fisheries managers will find hard to
surmount.
The rise of ecolabelling and the language of sustainable fisheries have also had
a big impact on fish producers and their industry associations in recent times.
It is now normal to regularly find a major article on sustainability, certification or
ecolabelling in the Western Australian professional fishing industry magazine (such
as 'Coming to grips with eco-labels'; Olsen 2007, Stromasta 2007), whereas only
a few years ago such articles would be rare. This reflects the strong interest from
fishers and producers in the issues surrounding certification and marketing of their
seafood.
1.7.3
Seafood ecolabelling in Asia
The concept of sustainability in developed countries is somewhat different from
that in the developing world (Gardiner & Viswanathan 2004), where there is a much
greater emphasis on food security and on local employment and wealth generation.
The Asian countries are reported to consume more than two-thirds of the world's
seafood, yet only few Asian consumers are considered likely to be influenced by
certification or ecolabels on seafood (Jacquet & Pauly 2007). However, a recent
review of the potential for seafood ecolabelling in Asia (Wennberg & Bjerner 2006)
concluded that there were good motives for Asian countries to adopt ecolabelling
and certification systems for seafood, in both local and export markets, and called
for a series of preparatory initiatives to be undertaken. While there are recognised
difficulties in assessment and certification of fish stocks in Asia, Wennberg and
Bjerner (2006) identified two important advantages that Asia holds over many
other countries:
despite the worldwide depletion of many major fish stocks, and some locally,
Asia still 'holds numerous stocks of aquatic organisms that are strong'; and
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