Really sustainable? Inherent risks of eco-labeling in fisheries

Hadjimichael, Maria; Hegland, Troels Jacob

doi:10.1016/j.fishres.2015.09.012

Cited by 37 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Each choice set consisted of two products that were described by their performance on five sustainability issues (Table 1), and an opt-out, that is the option to choose neither of the two products described. The fifth issue approach to overfishing concerns environmental sustainability and is similar to the MSC label, a known reference point and the world's leading eco-label for capture fisheries (Ward and Philips 2008) despite critique on subjectivity of its scoring process for certification (Jacquet et al 2010;Christian et al 2013) and the exclusion of, for example, small-scale fishers it can create (Hadjimichael and Hegland 2016). Worker safety concerns worker benefits, product quality concerns personal benefits, fish welfare concerns animal benefits, and local employment concerns community benefits.…”

Section: Choice Taskmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Worker safety concerns worker benefits, product quality concerns personal benefits, fish welfare concerns animal benefits, and local employment concerns community benefits. The fifth issue approach to overfishing concerns environmental sustainability and is similar to the MSC label, a known reference point and the world's leading eco-label for capture fisheries (Ward and Philips 2008) despite critique on subjectivity of its scoring process for certification (Jacquet et al 2010;Christian et al 2013) and the exclusion of, for example, small-scale fishers it can create (Hadjimichael and Hegland 2016).…”

Section: Choice Taskmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Consumer interest in social sustainability issues of whitefish from capture fisheries in the north‐east Atlantic

et al. 2016

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Capture fisheries in the north‐east Atlantic account for approximately 10% of all fish consumed from capture fisheries globally. The literature shows that consumers show considerable interest in social sustainability of products in general and of fish specifically. This interest, however, has not yet been investigated for fish from the north‐east Atlantic. The first objective of this study, therefore, was to investigate whether consumers are interested in social sustainability issues of whitefish from the north‐east Atlantic by determining preferences for four social sustainability issues with distinct benefits in relation to a known reference point (i.e. approach to overfishing). The second objective of this study was to determine to what degree case‐specific and general psychographic consumer characteristics explain preferences for these issues. Choice modelling results from an online survey among 457 Dutch consumers show that consumers have the strongest preference for the environmental sustainability issue approach to overfishing. In addition, results on the social sustainability issues showed that consumers prefer fish welfare over product quality, worker safety and local employment, indicating that in this case, consumers place animal benefits over personal, worker and community benefits. The case‐specific psychographic characteristic concern contributed most to explaining preferences for the environmental sustainability issue, whereas the general psychographic characteristic personal relevance contributed most to explaining preferences for the social sustainability issues. This result is likely explained by the principal focus on MSC certification in markets for fish products, which caused consumers to form opinions (e.g. concern) on overfishing, but not on social sustainability.

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Section: Choice Taskmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Choice Taskmentioning

confidence: 99%

Consumer interest in social sustainability issues of whitefish from capture fisheries in the north‐east Atlantic

et al. 2016

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“…However, it has been estimated that 31.4% of fish stocks are being fished at a biologically unsustainable level [2,5]. Recently, the depletion of fish stocks due to overfishing and the failure of fishery management programs has become a major concern of government agencies, environmental non-governmental (ENGO) corporate partnerships, and retailers [6][7][8]. Several advocacy groups have promoted awareness campaigns aimed to encourage sustainable fisheries and the responsible consumption of fish and seafood.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards the Introduction of Sustainable Fishery Products: The Bid of a Major Italian Retailer

et al. 2017

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Abstract:Intense fishing pressure has been depleting marine resources worldwide. At a time when almost a third of world stocks are overexploited, the demand for fish and seafood is growing both due to the increasing world population and to rising per capita consumption. Over the past few decades, the demand for fish products has in turn grown considerably in Italy, although concern about sustainable fisheries here is not perceived as keenly as in Northern European countries, where certified fish and seafood products coming from sustainable fisheries are widely available. In this study, 248 fish and seafood products sold by a major Italian retailer were evaluated in terms of geographic origin, gear used, species conservation status, and stock status to gain information in view of the introduction of sustainable fishery products in Italy's outlets. A literature review illustrated that most species came from some of the most intensely exploited fishing grounds in the world, where they are usually caught by trawls. The results highlighted the importance of supplying seafood products coming from sustainable sources and fisheries through the adoption of eco-labels and certification schemes. Finally, the present study stresses the urgency to promote more responsible fish and seafood consumption in Italy.

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“…Worker safety concerns worker benefits, product quality concerns personal benefits, fish welfare concerns animal benefits and local employment concerns community benefits. The fifth issue approach to overfishing concerns environmental sustainability and is similar to the MSC label, a known reference point and the world's leading eco-label for capture fisheries (Ward and Philips, 2008) despite critique on subjectivity of its scoring process for certification (Christian et al, 2013, Jacquet et al, 2010 and the exclusion of, for example, small-scale fishers it can create (Hadjimichael and Hegland, 2016).…”

Section: Choice Taskmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Given that sustainability consists of three dimensions, certification organizations could consider including other aspects of sustainability as well. Such an extension of current certification schemes, however, likely increases the complexity and costs of certification, and, therefore, increases the risk of excluding small-scale fishing companies (Hadjimichael and Hegland, 2016). Such exclusion could, in part, be alleviated by providing financial support to small-scale fishing companies to enable them to apply for certification as well.…”

Section: Recommendationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding social sustainability of capture fisheries

Boer¹,

Berentsen²,

Bokkers³

et al.

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Fishing companies are faced with decreasing profitability and increasing competition. These companies can try to gain a competitive advantage by differentiating their products, e.g. by marketing new product attributes that consumers are interested in such as attributes relating to sustainability. Although consumers could be considerably interested in social sustainability of fish, this sustainability dimension has received little research interest so far. The main objective of this thesis is to understand social sustainability of capture fisheries. Social sustainability can be understood by applying the framework for social sustainability assessment, which consists of stakeholder consultation and issue selection, indicator development and quantification, and interpretation of the results, to the case considered. The case considered in this thesis was capture fisheries in the northeast Atlantic. Stakeholder consultation resulted in the identification of 27 social sustainability issues relevant for capture fisheries in the northeast Atlantic. Overall, social sustainability issues concerning working conditions, employees' job fulfilment and fish welfare were seen as more important than other social sustainability issues. Indicators were defined for the most important social sustainability issues of capture fisheries in the northeast Atlantic. To interpret values for each indicator, rubrics were developed that articulated levels of performance. Application of these indicators and their accompanying rubrics to a Norwegian trawler demonstrated that the indicators and rubrics provide insight into social sustainability at the level of the vessel, which can be used to identify potential room for improvement. To determine whether social sustainability issues can be used for product differentiation, consumer interest in social sustainability issues of whitefish from the northeast Atlantic was studied. Results from a choice modelling survey demonstrated that consumers prefer the issue fish welfare over the issues product quality, worker safety and local employment. Given the lack of overview of the knowledge on fish welfare, the most important social sustainability issue for consumers, the literature on this topic was reviewed to determine how the capture process in capture fisheries affects fish welfare, using the indicators external injuries and mortality. This review showed that scale, skin and fin injuries occur more frequently in trawls, purse seines, gillnets, traps and seines than in hooks, whereas hooking injuries occur in hooks only. Pressure injuries can occur in all gear types when deployed at greater depth. Trawls, purse seines and seines result in higher mortality than gillnets, hooks and traps. Mortality appears to increase with decreasing fish length, and differs across fish species. A greater capture depth and a longer fishing duration were associated with more external injuries and higher mortality, whereas a large change in water temperature, a longer duration of air exposure and a high density in ...

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Really sustainable? Inherent risks of eco-labeling in fisheries

Cited by 37 publications

References 18 publications

Consumer interest in social sustainability issues of whitefish from capture fisheries in the north‐east Atlantic

Consumer interest in social sustainability issues of whitefish from capture fisheries in the north‐east Atlantic

Towards the Introduction of Sustainable Fishery Products: The Bid of a Major Italian Retailer

Understanding social sustainability of capture fisheries

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