Mainstreaming Sustainable Consumption of Seafood Through Enhanced Mandatory Food Labeling

Abstract

To contribute to the debate about sustainable seafood consumption, this article considers the role of mandatory food labeling. The article first flags the rise of a policy paradigm of shared responsibility and policy imperatives at various levels calling for increased integration of the citizen/consumer into public regimes, including in fisheries governance. It then explores the options available to citizen/consumers to engage in the fisheries regime in different stages of the value chain and evaluates their readiness to respond to the expectations. Mandatory food labeling of seafood is introduced as an under-unexplored governance tool, alongside the key enabling technological and policy trends. The rise of transparency and traceability, both as norms and a set of technological capabilities, is highlighted as an opportunity for implementation of mandatory seafood labeling. While recognizing equity challenges and various supplementary actions needed to ensure an effective behavioral and attitudinal shift toward more engaged governance (better education and enforcement and an enabling social setting), the article suggests to further explore mandatory labeling within the governance toolbox. It should be particularly relevant in the context of developed markets with global trade and political influence, and as means of fostering ocean literacy and transparent, participative and deliberative kind of governance.

Social Media and Sustainable Behavior: A Decision Making Framework Using Interpretive Structural Modeling(ism)

“…The process of providing consumers with information on the products is voluntary labelling. It is a widely used tool for influencing consumer choices for sustainable products (Penca, 2020). Consumers' perception has been influenced by-products favourably with social and environmental claims.…”

Sustainable small-scale fisheries markets in the Mediterranean: weaknesses and opportunities

“…The lack of differentiation of SSF products is a reason for the consumer's insufficient ability to recognise its quality and explains the consumer's inability to find and acknowledge an SSF product. In most places, including in those with more sophisticated legal frameworks, the requirements for traceability in supply chains and the labelling of products are too inadequate to allow the consumers to appreciate some of the key qualities of products (Penca 2020). Yet mixing SSF products in the supply chain is often the only choice of the small-scale fishers, and this happens when fishers do not have a nearby or constant market to sell to.…”

“…coffee, cocoa, tea, cotton), the trend of increased awareness began to extend to seafood (McClenachan et al 2016). Yet, the seafood sector had and continues to have very limited tools available to consumers to assess criteria related to the complexity of sustainability in fisheries (Jacquet and Pauly 2007;Richter et al 2017;Penca 2020). Awareness-raising campaigns are often too nonspecific.…”

“…The contribution of fisheries markets to sustainability (e.g. seafood campaigns, ecolabelling) has largely avoided taking specific account of SSF (Penca 2020), and the strengthening of the SSF sector was instead delegated to the policy domain. However, growing literature is exploring markets by SSF as venues of a sustainability transition, alongside regulation of access to fishery resources (Stoll et al 2015;Bolton et al 2016;Witter and Stoll 2017;Penca 2019;Duggan et al 2020).…”

Labels on seafood products in different European countries and their compliance to EU legislation

“…Traceability and labelling of seafood are key elements to protect the interests and health of consumers and to ensure the sustainability of stock exploitation [4,5]. Moreover, it has been recently proposed that consumers may play an important role in the conservation of marine resources as they can be considered another relevant stakeholder in the governance of marine species sustainability through their choices and purchasing preferences [6]. Consumer's desire for sustainable seafood can play a major role in driving the change toward traceability and sustainability [7,8].…”