Market-driven conservation: Social issues in certification

schemes for capture fisheries

Chandrika SharmaInternational Collective in Support of

Fishworkers (ICSF)

• Fish and fish products most traded food commodity.

• About half of global fish production for food consumption traded

• Developing countries contribute 50 per cent (quantity) and 46 per cent (value) of the world exports of fish and fishery products

Fish Trade

• Growing concern about status of fish stocks spurred ecolabelling initiatives

• Aim to use market incentives to – promote consumer demand for fish caught

in environmentally sustainable ways– reward producers practising responsible

fisheries

Ecolabelling

• Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)

• Friends of the Sea (FOS)

• Naturland

• Dolphin-safe (EII)

• KRAV (Swedish ecolabel for wild-caught seafood, life-cycle assessment)

Ecolabelling Schemes

• Fairfish (animal welfare, sustainability and fair trade)

• Carrefour (French supermarket chain: own label “peche responsable”)

• Industry schemes: Canada, UK, Iceland (proposed)...

• Fishermen-led labels (Breton fishers, blue crab, Thailand, catch shares, USA…)

Ecolabelling Schemes

• First party labeling (self-declaration regarding adherence to own standards)

• Second party labeling (established by industry associations for their members products, internal audit procedures or audit by external certifying companies)

• Third party labeling (independent certification, high credibility)

Ecolabelling Schemes

• Proliferation of ecolabels, concerns of developing countries regarding trade barriers

• Led to 2005 FAO “Guidelines for the Ecolabelling of Fish and Fishery Products from Marine Capture Fisheries”.

• Set out principles, minimum requirements and criteria--provide a benchmark against which schemes can be compared.

FAO Guidelines

• Specify that ecolabelling schemes should be voluntary, transparent, non-discriminatory, and should recognize the special conditions applying to developing countries.

• Recommend independent, third party certification

• Three substantive minimum requirements: the fisheries management system, the status of the target stocks, and ecosystem considerations

FAO Guidelines

• Claims to be the main seafood certification scheme—more than 10mn MT of wild catch assessed (including non-food fish)

• Certified products from all continents including Morocco. Maldives, Sri Lanka, Senegal, Brazil, Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam (tuna, shrimp, squid, sardines, cuttlefish, clam)

• Claims to be the only scheme that follows the FAO Guidelines

Friends of the Sea

• Has developed “Standards for Sustainable Capture Fishery”

• Explicitly aligned with the three dimensions of sustainability (social, ecological, and economic). Addresses issues of livelihoods, fair working conditions

• Recent initiative: Lake Victoria Nile Perch

Naturland Germany

• Focus only on environmental sustainability

• 42 fisheries certified during the first ten years of MSC certification

• About 4 mn MT of seafood certified—over 7% of total global capture production for direct human consumption

• Real volume of MSC-labeled products is likely to be less than 1% of global fish (Globefish study)

Marine Stewardship Council

• Concentrated markets—5 markets (UK, USA, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland) account for 3/4 of MSC sales

• Popular in certain kinds of markets (aware population, supermarket shares high, demand for processed products high...)

• Concentrated species—about 50% of MSC products are hake type fish, 42% is Alaska salmon

• Information from Globefish study

Marine Stewardship Council

• Few examples of MSC certified fisheries (South African hake, Mexican Baja California spiny lobster)

• Certification is difficult (data deficiencies, weak fisheries management, costs prohibitive, multi-species fisheries)

• No immediate economic imperative/ perceived threat

MSC and developing countries

• Developing World Fisheries Programme to address data-deficient fisheries/ SSF

• Assessment guidelines include the use of TEK and traditional management systems, and risk assessment component for data-deficient fisheries

• Certified Ben Tre Vietnamese clam fisheries, India oil sardine fishery in Kerala being assessed

• Will MSC be able to certify large catch fisheries, operating within a multi-species regime, in developing countries?

MSC and developing countries

• No clear evidence of price premiums accruing to producers, though markets are are likely to be more secured/ assured/ new markets

• Producers assume the bulk of the costs of certification

• Information from Globefish study

Certification: Benefit to Producers?

• Certification often of fishery that is already sustainable (countries of the North are better able to meet the standards)

• Globefish study found that retailers (Walmart, Marks and Spencers, Sainsbury, Tesco, Metro, Carrefour, Lidl, ICA Sweden) committed to ecolabelling (mainly MSC), see it as a marketing tool, good publicity, CSR

Other issues

• Bangkok statement (2008): “Reject ecolabelling schemes, while recognizing area-specific labeling that identifies socially and ecologically sustainable fisheries”

• Reject narrow focus on environmental sustainability only—most fisheries certified are industrial fisheries, often under quota management, that marginalize SSF  

Can SSF benefit?

Short-term

• Build on comparative advantages (rich culture, traditional knowledge systems, sustainable small-scale gear, unique processing techniques, use of sails/ wind power), support their certification, promote niche markets (incl. domestic mkts)

• Work in partnership with communities/ fishworker organizations

What can be done?

Short-term• Support self-certification initiatives by small-

scale fishers and fish processors (eg. improve management/ enforcement, technology/ inputs)

• Explore schemes that balance various dimensions of sustainability (environmental, social and economic)

• Explore Geographic indications (GIs) (e.g., nuoc mam anchovy fish sauce from Phu Quoc, Viet Nam)

What can be done?

Long-term

• Need to proactively improve fisheries management, balancing biological, social and economic objectives

• Management methods should draw on traditional knowledge, co-management approaches, keeping in mid multi-species nature of fisheries and diverse local cultures

What can be done?

Thank you