Secure sustainable seafood from developing countries
Require improvements as conditions for market access
Abstract
Demand for sustainably certified wild-caught fish and crustaceans is increasingly shaping global seafood markets. Retailers such as Walmart in the United States, Sainsbury's in the United Kingdom, and Carrefour in France, and processors such as Canadianbased High Liner Foods, have promised to source all fresh, frozen, farmed, and wild seafood from sustainable sources by 2015 (1, 2). Credible arbiters of certifications, such as the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), require detailed environmental and traceability standards. Although these standards have been met in many commercial fisheries throughout the developed world (3), developing country fisheries (DCFs) represent only 7% of ~220 total MSC-certified fisheries (4, 5). With the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization reporting that developing countries account for ~50% of seafood entering international trade, this presents a fundamental challenge for marketers of sustainable seafood (see the photo).
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References and Notes
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Published In
Science
Volume 348 | Issue 6234
1 May 2015
1 May 2015
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Copyright © 2015, American Association for the Advancement of Science.
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Published in print: 1 May 2015
Acknowledgments
This research is an output of a workshop hosted by the University of California Davis Coastal and Marine Science Institute (J.N.S.) and funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation in June of 2014 (grant no. 9072). We thank K. Lee, W. Reid, R. Cudney, J. Claussen, S. Hogan, H. Ludemann, M. Weber, and M. Levine for comments.
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