| 1. |
- Blandon, Abigayil, et al.
(författare)
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Seafood certification schemes in Japan : Examples of challenges and opportunities from three Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) applicants
- 2021
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Ingår i: Marine Policy. - : Elsevier BV. - 0308-597X .- 1872-9460. ; 123
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- While there has been a global proliferation of marine certification schemes aiming to incentivize sustainable fishing in the last decade, the uptake has been comparatively slow in Japan. Suggested reasons include difficulties assessing Japanese fisheries co-management institutions, and reduced profitability from complex seafood distribution networks and mismatched consumer preferences. However, a few Japanese fisheries have been awarded the international Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification. This paper investigates the motivations and experiences of three such MSC applicants: the Kyoto Danish Seine Fisheries Federation offshore fishery, Ishihara Marine Products skipjack and albacore pole and line fishery, and Maruto Suisan rope grown Pacific oyster fishery. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with key informants from each case study and coded into motivations, problems and impacts. It was found that although there were economic motivations to apply for the certification, this mainly involved increasing domestic distribution channels rather than gaining or retaining access to premium-paying foreign markets. The co-management system that governs the Kyoto fisheries hampered the re-certification process of the fishery due to the difficulty of influencing the higher levels of management within the system. It also became clear that the type of applicant was important to consider: the two more recent MSC clients - both seafood processors - are better placed in the value chain to utilize the certification and its logo, and therefore more likely to financially sustain the certification. The study provides an important insight into the applicant experience of certification schemes in countries with lower consumer demand for them, such as Japan.
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| 2. |
- Blandon, Abigayil
(författare)
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Sustainable Seafood: Exploring diverse conceptualisations and approaches
- 2024
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Seafood has potential to contribute to the shift to sustainable global diets. However, seafood production is faced with multiple dimensions of sustainability problems. Certain types of production methods contribute to environmental degradation, while illegal and unregulated fishing is highly linked to incidences of human rights abuses and forced labour. The current market-based seafood sustainability movement has limited power and reach, and we require more variety in the tools we use to solve sustainability problems in the seafood industry. This Licentiate thesis presents two studies that help to broaden “what” is considered within “sustainable seafood” and “how” actors are currently working towards it. The thesis thus contributes to increasing the plurality of viewpoints, values and considerations in the current discussion around seafood sustainability.We first investigate what stakeholders within the seafood industry mean when they talk about “sustainable seafood”, using a Q method analysis. We discover that the conceptualisations of sustainable seafood are highly context-dependent and embedded based on which country the participants work in. We discover a range of priorities within the seafood industry, from social, ecological and economic sustainability, to framing seafood as a commodity, human right, common good or as a living thing rather than food. Participants have the most similar opinions around the ideas of social sustainability and seafood as a common good, but there are some fundamental disagreements along the lines of social versus ecological sustainability. We then conduct a literature review to uncover the ongoing efforts towards sustainable seafood outside of the typical certification scheme and rating systems. We find three broad categories of approaches that overlap with different theories of change towards transformations: 1) pre-competitive collaborations (“systemic” approaches), 2) landscape-based approaches (both “systemic” and “enabling” approaches) and 3) relational approaches (“enabling” approaches). We hypothesise some inherent incompatibilities due to the original literatures from which the approaches appear, but also advocate for plural approaches that fit the context. We finish with a proposal of matching stakeholders’ priorities around sustainability and framing of seafood, to the associated transformative approach to ensure buy-in.
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| 3. |
- Blasiak, Robert, et al.
(författare)
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Promoting diversity and inclusiveness in seafood certification and ecolabelling : Prospects for Asia
- 2017
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Ingår i: Marine Policy. - : Elsevier BV. - 0308-597X .- 1872-9460. ; 85, s. 42-47
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Building on the inputs by a range of experts who participated in the February 2017 international symposium on Designing the Future for Fisheries Certification Schemes at the University of Tokyo, this manuscript traces the origins of fisheries certification schemes, relevant developments, and remaining challenges from an Asian perspective. Over the past 20 years, seafood certification has emerged as a powerful tool for meeting growing demands for sustainable fisheries and aquaculture products. Despite broad consensus among countries regarding what constitute responsible fishing practices, the fisheries certification landscape remains uneven. A plethora of certification schemes has generated confusion among consumers and retailers, and capital-intensive certification schemes may be out-of-reach or impractical for some small-scale fisheries, particularly within the developing world. A recent initiative by the Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative (GSSI) is aiming to address the diversity within the certification landscape by creating a tool to benchmark certification schemes that are in line with the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and other relevant agreed FAO guidelines on fisheries, ecolabelling and aquaculture. Countries in Asia are among the world's top consumers and exporters of seafood, yet have faced some particular challenges with regard to seafood certification, underscoring the need for certification schemes that account for regional and local conditions and management practices, particularly with regard to small-scale fisheries.
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| 4. |
- Ishihara, Hiroe, et al.
(författare)
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Promoting Sustainable Seafood Market in Japan : Perspectives From MSC and ASC Applicants
- 2022
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 2571-581X. ; 6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Japanese seafood market has witnessed a slow but steadfast increase in the amount of certified seafood circulated on the market despite the fact that there are few incentives to apply for certification schemes such as the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC). This is because it is difficult for the producers to reap benefits from the price premium as the retailers are unwilling to charge the consumers with a higher price for the certified seafood; at the same time, there are no sourcing codes set by the retailers to ban the access of uncertified seafood. By conducting semi-structured interviews with the applicants of MSC and ASC, this study reveals the motivation of the applicants such as the desire of producers to differentiate their seafood products from similar products on the market and to establish stable distribution channels with large retailers. We argue that this type of motivation poses a unique challenge in promoting sustainable seafood in Japan, that is the certified product needs to remain a small proportion of circulated seafood products.
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