Eco-Label Conveys Reliable Information on Fish Stock Health to Seafood Consumers

Abstract

Concerns over fishing impacts on marine populations and ecosystems have intensified the need to improve ocean management. One increasingly popular market-based instrument for ecological stewardship is the use of certification and eco-labeling programs to highlight sustainable fisheries with low environmental impacts. The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is the most prominent of these programs. Despite widespread discussions about the rigor of the MSC standards, no comprehensive analysis of the performance of MSC-certified fish stocks has yet been conducted. We compared status and abundance trends of 45 certified stocks with those of 179 uncertified stocks, finding that 74% of certified fisheries were above biomass levels that would produce maximum sustainable yield, compared with only 44% of uncertified fisheries. On average, the biomass of certified stocks increased by 46% over the past 10 years, whereas uncertified fisheries increased by just 9%. As part of the MSC process, fisheries initially go through a confidential pre-assessment process. When certified fisheries are compared with those that decline to pursue full certification after pre-assessment, certified stocks had much lower mean exploitation rates (67% of the rate producing maximum sustainable yield vs. 92% for those declining to pursue certification), allowing for more sustainable harvesting and in many cases biomass rebuilding. From a consumer’s point of view this means that MSC-certified seafood is 3–5 times less likely to be subject to harmful fishing than uncertified seafood. Thus, MSC-certification accurately identifies healthy fish stocks and conveys reliable information on stock status to seafood consumers.

Impacts of Climate Variability on Latin American Small-scale Fisheries

“…Defeo and Castilla (2012) recently categorized the issues highlighted above as "wicked fishery problems" (sensu Jentoft and Chuenpagdee 2009) that undermine SSF governance systems. Some localscale solutions to these governance and governability problems include self-imposed governance with spatial property rights, internal rules, and comanagement (Basurto 2005, Defeo and Castilla 2005, 2012, Gelcich et al 2010. Adaptive comanagement in self-organized communities is able to create ways to develop mechanisms to cope with the influence of climate variability on resource abundance and availability (Kalikoski et al 2010), promoting flexible adaptation responses and strengthening adaptive capacities to different drivers (Grafton 2010, Cinner et al 2012a).…”

“…In this context, the combination of weak governance, globalization of markets, fishing pressure, and climate change has exacerbated resource depletion in Latin American shellfisheries, impinging on resource sustainability and the well-being of SSF communities . Notably, shellfish unit price significantly increased since the early 1980s, particularly as a result of (Defeo and Castilla 2005, 2012, Ortega et al 2012 (1) incentives generated by market globalization and an exponential increase in demand, mostly coming from developed countries where shellfish have been previously overexploited; (2) weak and unstable governance regimes, which lack structures and processes needed to shape collective actions leading to sharing power and making decisions; and (3) uncontrolled and unsustainable harvest levels. Indeed, deficit of supply relative to demand, coupled with low harvesting costs and open access regimes, pushed the price up (see Fig.…”

Pricing of eco-labels with retailer heterogeneity

“…A more serious concern is that fisheries management is not necessarily improved in fisheries certified by the MSC label (Jaquet et al, 2010). MSC-certified products appear to be sustainably managed (Gutièrrez et al, 2012), but this correlation does not establish that the process of becoming certified actually caused the sustainable outcomes. Despite these broader concerns, here we focus on quantifying the retail price premium as a step toward understanding the role of seafood eco-labels in promoting sustainability.…”

Consumer Acceptance of Eco-Labeled Fish: A Mexican Case Study

“…Considering MSC eco-labeling and marketing as a pathway to improve the fish stocks' health by creating economic incentives for producers [15], the question is: does eco-labeling have a future in developing countries' markets? This paper presents evidence of consumer empathy for eco-labeled fish in Mexico, in terms of willingness to demand sustainable fish.…”