Ecolabelling of Seafood: The Basic Concepts - SEAFOOD Ecolabelling: Principles and Practice - page 30

Box 1.5 The Taste of Freedom

In South Australia, bluefin tuna farms do a good job taking small fish and growing
them to twice the size for market: a smart use of resources. Now they are starting
a programme to produce fish from breeding stock, which is an excellent way to
ease the pressure on an endangered species.
Another great initiative is the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). This global
organisation identifies sustainable fisheries that work with the species stocks to
make sure these fish will be here for our children and hopefully their children.
As the buying public, we should be aware of these things because the buck
stops with us. There's no use crying over the problem if we take no part in the
remedy.

From “The taste of freedom,” by Neil Perry, Qantas: The Australian Way airline
magazine, February 2007.

Collaborative (www.chefscollaborative.org) brings chefs, scientists and fishermen
together in its Seafood Solutions programme to address the concept of sustainable
seafood, how to make sustainable choices and what questions to ask when buying
seafood. 'Tastings' are used to highlight the differences among wild, farm-raised
and frozen seafood for an industry audience, while corresponding dinners showcase
delicious sustainable seafood products for the general public. The Monterey Bay
Aquarium Seafood Watch programme hosts the annual Cooking for Solutions event
to celebrate sustainable cuisine. This brings together internationally recognised
chefs, local chefs, sustainable seafood suppliers, organic food suppliers, retailers,
the media, conservation organisations and the public (Plate 1.3) to raise awareness
about the impact of our seafood choices on the health of the oceans and the use of
purchasing power to support sustainable sources (see Chapter 17). The effectiveness
of the seafood sustainability messages delivered by the chefs direct to the seafood
consumer cannot be underestimated, and they make an important contribution to
the growing groundswell of consumer support for the certification and ecolabelling
of sustainable seafood products.
In our earlier topic (Phillips et al . 2003) we predicted that the area of certification
and ecolabelling of seafood would be highly dynamic and rapid change could be
expected. This is still true, and we strongly encourage interested readers to visit the
websites of the various certification and ecolabelling initiatives listed in Appendix
1.1 to maintain current awareness of this field. The authoritative chapters we have
assembled in this topic provide considerable coverage of the contemporary issues,
the principles and the practice as a point of entry for the interested consumer, fishery
or aquaculture professional or student into the unique field of seafood certification
and ecolabelling.