McDonald’s. Hilton. IKEA. Each of these corporate titans enjoys an enormous customer base, but what most of their customers might not realize is that these companies are leaders in ocean stewardship: They all sell sustainable seafood.
This is an important precedent — but it is not enough.
When it comes to harvesting and selling seafood, “sustainable” is not just an empty label. It represents accountability throughout the value chain, beginning the moment a fish leaves the water, to ensure that the entire process is conducted in a way that enables fisheries — and the ocean ecosystem — to continue to thrive.
The sustainable seafood movement has grown rapidly. Just 20 years ago, sustainability was a niche concept in the seafood industry. Hardly anyone in the business talked about it. Most companies failed to recognize the long-term business consequences of overfishing, let alone place a high priority on conservation.
At that time, the environmental groups that advocated for sustainable seafood were met with suspicion, if not outright rejection. A 1997 cover of Seafood Business magazine asserted that seafood companies should not “crawl under the covers with greenies.”
Much has changed in the past 20 years.
Consumers all over the world increasingly expect that the seafood they purchase — whether at a grocery store or a five-star restaurant — qualifies as sustainable. The Marine Stewardship Council’s iconic blue product label is now found in nearly 100 nations, illustrating the increasing demand for sustainably sourced products.
People are becoming more engaged in their food choices and their habits are evolving. We expect our food, which we share with our children, to be safe and nutritious. We also increasingly expect the companies whose products we consume not to contribute further to the overfishing, warming waters, and pollution that are putting pressure on the oceans. We express those expectations in how we spend our money.
However, equally important, attitudes among industry leaders are also shifting.
Many are now engaging with marine conservation groups to address how to help exhausted fisheries recover and keep healthy ones thriving. This partly reflects their desire to satisfy their customers, but as much as shifting demand and weakening brand loyalty are bad for businesses, nothing is worse than exhausted supply.
Companies now realize that it is impossible to sell fish if there are not any left and it takes only a few companies to make a difference.
Seafood may be consumed by millions around the world, but it is traded by just a handful of firms. Relatively small changes on the part of a few entities would therefore go a long way toward protecting the future of the entire industry.
This effect is compounded when major players work together to tackle issues in the seafood supply chain. Already, collaborative efforts among industry leaders, such as the Seafood Business for Ocean Stewardship (SeaBOS) initiative, have played a major role in propelling progress on sustainability.
Until recently, international seafood companies might have had one-on-one partnerships with conservation non-governmental organizations, but they were not collaborating with one another. SeaBOS changed that.
A science-based initiative, SeaBOS has engaged the chief executives of 10 of the largest seafood companies, with the goal of stimulating transformative change toward sustainable seafood production that supports a healthy ocean, but the sustainable seafood movement’s work is far from done.
If we are truly to safeguard the future of fish, even more seafood businesses must commit to sustainability. For those that already have, the imperative is to recruit their counterparts around the world — from Japan to China to Chile — to join the effort.
Moreover, at a time when pressure on the oceans is intensifying rapidly, advocacy groups and scientists must work equitably with small fisheries and the communities that depend on them to ensure that they can manage the challenge of implementing sustainable practices, while a larger share of consumers must be even more resolute in demanding a transparent seafood supply chain and supporting sustainability with every purchase.
By choosing the ethically sourced Pacific cod over the discount mystery fish, consumers drive real change.
Technology can support this emerging international commitment to sustainability, including by facilitating data collection and ocean management. Before long, artificial intelligence may be able to tell fishers exactly where they can catch the most fish of the needed size, while minimizing adverse effects on ecosystems.
Perhaps even sooner, consumers would be able to glimpse a fish’s entire journey from the sea to the local grocery store, simply by scanning a QR code with their smartphone.
However, the ultimate hope is for the “sustainable” label to be so commonplace and legitimate that consumers one day are more surprised by its absence than its presence. The default expectation — among seafood companies, fishery managers, conservation groups and consumers — will be that all seafood is harvested sustainably.
We are hopeful that sustainability becomes the norm soon — in a matter of years, not decades.
Teresa Ish is a program officer at the Walton Family Foundation Environment Program. Henrik Osterblom is a professor and science director at the Stockholm Resilience Center at Stockholm University.
Copyright: Project Syndicate
Taiwan is a small, humble place. There is no Eiffel Tower, no pyramids — no singular attraction that draws the world’s attention. If it makes headlines, it is because China wants to invade. Yet, those who find their way here by some twist of fate often fall in love. If you ask them why, some cite numbers showing it is one of the freest and safest countries in the world. Others talk about something harder to name: The quiet order of queues, the shared umbrellas for anyone caught in the rain, the way people stand so elderly riders can sit, the
Taiwan’s fall would be “a disaster for American interests,” US President Donald Trump’s nominee for undersecretary of defense for policy Elbridge Colby said at his Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday last week, as he warned of the “dramatic deterioration of military balance” in the western Pacific. The Republic of China (Taiwan) is indeed facing a unique and acute threat from the Chinese Communist Party’s rising military adventurism, which is why Taiwan has been bolstering its defenses. As US Senator Tom Cotton rightly pointed out in the same hearing, “[although] Taiwan’s defense spending is still inadequate ... [it] has been trending upwards
Small and medium enterprises make up the backbone of Taiwan’s economy, yet large corporations such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) play a crucial role in shaping its industrial structure, economic development and global standing. The company reported a record net profit of NT$374.68 billion (US$11.41 billion) for the fourth quarter last year, a 57 percent year-on-year increase, with revenue reaching NT$868.46 billion, a 39 percent increase. Taiwan’s GDP last year was about NT$24.62 trillion, according to the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, meaning TSMC’s quarterly revenue alone accounted for about 3.5 percent of Taiwan’s GDP last year, with the company’s
In an eloquently written piece published on Sunday, French-Taiwanese education and policy consultant Ninon Godefroy presents an interesting take on the Taiwanese character, as viewed from the eyes of an — at least partial — outsider. She muses that the non-assuming and quiet efficiency of a particularly Taiwanese approach to life and work is behind the global success stories of two very different Taiwanese institutions: Din Tai Fung and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC). Godefroy said that it is this “humble” approach that endears the nation to visitors, over and above any big ticket attractions that other countries may have
RSS