User:Jwgrand3/Sustainable seafood

Ecolabeling

The Marine Stewardship Council's methods for certifying sustainable fisheries has drawbacks as well as advantages for the sustainable seafood movement.

Many eco-labeling organizations, including MSC, utilize Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) as an overarching guideline for sustainable fisheries. MSY refers to the maximum catch of a particular species of fish that can be caught without depleting a population’s biomass. However, with the rise in more ecosystem based fisheries management, the use of MSY as a gauge for sustainable fishing has been criticized as “an unrealistic and simplified view of ocean ecosystems and population dynamics” (p.122).

Criticism of the Marine Stewardship Council

Another criticism on MSC and other ecolabels is that most overlook “our best option for sustainable use of fisheries resources”: small-scale fisheries. As of 2008, only 1 of the 26 fisheries certified by MSC was a small-scale fishery. These small-scale fisheries are often overlooked by MSC and other eco-label certification organizations because their lack of data makes it difficult to define their sustainability criteria according to certification guidelines.

COVID-19 Impacts on Seafood Supply Chains

The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 shed new light on the concept of sustainability in seafood production and consumption. News coverage on the pandemic’s effects on global seafood supply chains indicate the the global proliferation of seafood markets worldwide, with COVID-19 having “destroyed demand for seafood across a complicated U.S. supply chain”. From the fishery to the supermarket, seafood which normally makes its way systematically through global supply chains were being halted at various stages of catching, processing, shipping, and selling with the greatly decreased demand for seafood. The slowing down of industries throughout the supply chain made continual seafood production unprofitable. Part of this decrease in seafood demand stemed from consumers’ apprehension to consume fresh food, whose origins which are often handled globally by many hands could be cause of concern during a pandemic. This could indicate why consumers began buying more processed rather than fresh fish during the pandemic. However, demand for luxury seafoods like lobster and crab also decreased due to the closure of restaurants during the pandemic. Because American consumers “spend more than twice as much on seafood in restaurants as they do at home”, restaurant closures that occured in response to the pandemic further decimated seafood sales.

When facing environmental and other global crises like with the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, fisheries employ different strategies to remain resilient. Because global supply chains are so complex, some critics argue that these networks of global markets must be considered in order for long term, sustainable solutions to be made. One resiliency tactic that certain fisheries utilize in the face of economic hardship is direct marketing to consumers. This tactic allows fishers to pocket more for their work without their profits diluted by a middleman distributor. Direct marketing mechanisms for fishing not only have economic benefits, but positive social implications as well. By creating and reinforcing social networks between fishers and their communities, direct marketing arrangements allow fishers to better address ecological issues specific to their local areas and therefore reinforce resiliency as well as sustainability of fisheries.