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Describing the diversity of community supported fishery programs in North America
... These alternative supply chains take many forms such as off the dock sales, farmer's market sales, a la carte ordering, online and on demand ordering, and seafood buying clubs. Different business models are often used in combination with one another as well (Bolton 2015;Bolton et al. 2016;Witter and Stoll 2017). Regardless of what form they take, those participating in alternative supply chains are primarily focused on shortening and restructuring supply chains to keep consumers and fishers as connected as possible (Campbell et al. 2014;Witter 2020). ...
... The benefits of alternative supply chains have already been widely documented in the literature. They include environmental, sociocultural, and economic benefits both for harvesters and consumers (McClenachan et al. 2014;Bolton 2015;Stoll et al. 2015;Bolton et al. 2016;Witter and Stoll 2017;Cumming et al. 2020;Witter 2020). ...
... In addition to reducing costs, alternative supply chains can improve the economic viability of small-scale fisheries by selling fish at a price premium over wholesale prices, and insulating fishers from price volatility (Brinson et al. 2011;Bush and Oosterveer 2019). When alternative supply chains involved prearranged orders, subscriptions, or buying clubs, fishers can also enjoy more stable revenue (Bolton 2015;Bolton et al. 2016;Witter and Stoll 2017;. ...
Seafood is an important source of protein and micronutrients, but fishery stocks are increasingly under pressure from both legitimate and illegitimate fishing practices. Sustainable management of our oceans is a global responsibility, aligning with United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 14, Life Below Water. In a post-COVID-19 world, there is an opportunity to build back better, where locally sourced food via transparent supply chains are ever-more important. This article summarises emerging research of two innovative case studies in detecting and validating seafood provenance; and using alternative supply chains to minimise the opportunity for seafood fraud in a post-COVID-19 world.
... Alternative seafood networks (ASNs) are seafood distribution models that aim to shorten or restructure seafood supply chains in order to promote a variety of economic, environmental, and social values (Bolton et al., 2016;Brinson et al., 2011;Campbell et al., 2014;McClenachan et al., 2014;A. L. Witter, 2020). ...
... Though there is existing literature on ASNs, it primarily focusses on one specific type of ASN: community supported fisheries (CSFs). While existing research has acknowledged that alternative seafood arrangements can take on a diverse range of structures and distribution methods (Bolton, 2016) few have explored this diversity in depth. The evolution of "alternatives" in the seafood space beyond the widely studied community supported fishery model, is documented further in Chapter 2. ...
... Existing literature on alternative seafood businesses has called for further research into a variety of topics. These include: how ASN operators conceptualize terms like "local" and "alternative"; to what extent these values influence their beliefs about what alternative food movements accomplish (Campbell et al., 2014); and finally, how flexibility and plurality within alternative food movements influences the space (Bolton et al., 2016). Understanding value diversity in ASNs will address these knowledge gaps and also contribute to literature on alternative food movements more generally, which are often criticized for not having a singular definition. ...
The globalization of the seafood industry has prompted the creation of alternative business models that seek to resist the industrialization of the industry, while promoting a specific set of core social and environmental values that ostensibly deviate from the global mainstream. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, actors in this "alternative" space emerged as a visible feature of the global seafood distribution system. By restructuring and shortening seafood supply chains, alternative seafood networks (ASNs) are reasserting the importance of a specific set of values in food systems for both environmental and socio-cultural reasons. This thesis explores the diversity of businesses within the alternative seafood space and how this diversity has emerged and changed over time. It also draws comparisons from food systems literature to understand the implications of too much diversity within the alternative seafood space. Finally, this thesis also explores the challenges ASN operators face and opportunities to address them. This work is an opportunity to explore the current and future role of ASNs in the broader seafood economy. iii
... Originating in Maine in 2007 [35], CSFs decrease the distance (physical and/or social) from 'boat to bowl,' much like Community Supported Agriculture programs reduce the distance from 'farm to fork' [12]. CSF missions vary [36] but typically involve providing fresh, local seafood and corresponding education to consumers and generating alternative markets and fair prices for suppliers. CSFs often seek to make seafood environmentally friendly by minimizing overexploitation, habitat impairment, and carbon emissions from international trade [12,13,37]. ...
... As with any case study, there are important contextual issues which help define the example at hand. CSFs are primarily located in the United States and Canada [13,36], so our research naturally occurred in a North American context, and our data were specific to the mid-coastal United States. Although our goal to evaluate how COVID-19 affected the Fishadelphia network could only be addressed at this spatial scale, our methods and findings are applicable to CSFs in other parts of North America and fisheries throughout the world [30]. ...
... occurrence of localregional-global interactions) are often similar [33]. As CSFs grow in number, structural uniqueness, and stakeholder diversity [12,36], we show how metacoupling-based network analysis is a useful, systematic approach for understanding these emerging food supply chains and promoting robust CSF management amid ordinary logistical and financial challenges [37] and extraordinary circumstances created by public health emergencies and other crises. Network analysis also has broader relevance for addressing metacouplings in terrestrial agriculture, fisheries and wildlife management, disease ecology, international trade, and other fields [16,43,44,65,66]. ...
Fisheries are coupled human-natural systems locally, regionally, and globally. However, human-nature interactions within and between adjacent and distant systems (metacouplings) are rarely studied in fisheries despite their prevalence and policy relevance. We filled this knowledge gap by using network models to identify how the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has rewired couplings and reshaped resilience of Fishadelphia, a community-supported fishery program (CSF) in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, USA. As abstractions illustrating interactions among supply-chain actors, networks are helpful for characterizing flows and assessing resilience to disturbances such as those induced by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Since Fall 2018, 18 seafood (finfish and shellfish) species totaling 6,273 lbs have flowed from harvesters (n = 4), to processors (n = 2), to a distributor, to retailers (n = 2), and finally to customers (n = 183). The pandemic reduced the number of seafood harvesters and processors (-50%), seafood flow quantity (-25%), species diversity in the marketplace (-67%), and species per supplier (-50%) before stopping flows in mid-March 2020, when Fishadelphia closed for three months. Models of network optimality indicated that the pandemic fragmented metacouplings that previously allowed multiple seafood suppliers to provide diverse products to customers. However, demand-side resilience increased through dispersed, socially distanced, efficient seafood delivery that expanded the customer base and generally increased customer satisfaction. This resilience dichotomy—wherein the post-closure network was less resilient than the pre-closure network in supply-side species diversity, but more resilient in demand-side social distancing, delivery efficiency, and customer satisfaction—has implications for rewiring networks to sustain CSFs and other local food systems amid ecological and social disturbances.
... Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) and Community-Supported Fishery (CSF) provide such identity and sense of belonging for farmers and fishers, who cannot be merely reduced to rent-seekers (Galt, 2015), and also to eaters whose motivations go far beyond the need for organic local food by including political, social and ethical values (Brinson et al., 2011;Stoll et al. 2015;Bolton et al., 2016;Salladarré et al., 2018). By creating a direct relationship between producers and eaters through regular, pre-arranged deliveries of products, these institutions produce multiple market and non-market benefits (Brinson et al., 2011;Bolton et al., 2016). ...
... Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) and Community-Supported Fishery (CSF) provide such identity and sense of belonging for farmers and fishers, who cannot be merely reduced to rent-seekers (Galt, 2015), and also to eaters whose motivations go far beyond the need for organic local food by including political, social and ethical values (Brinson et al., 2011;Stoll et al. 2015;Bolton et al., 2016;Salladarré et al., 2018). By creating a direct relationship between producers and eaters through regular, pre-arranged deliveries of products, these institutions produce multiple market and non-market benefits (Brinson et al., 2011;Bolton et al., 2016). For instance, fishers receive higher payment for fish, are guaranteed a stable income, and can activate political support through direct interaction with consumers and the induced increase of social capital (Stoll et al., 2015). ...
... Consumers join to have access to distinctive products. Actually, most CSF/CSA serve local organic food with a higher level of quality, making this specific channel of distribution more attractive for consumers who want to eat local and healthy products (Brinson et al., 2011;Bolton et al., 2016). As those expectations are more focused on convenience, economic utility, there is low evidence that they can produce and develop a common identity. ...
Community-supported agriculture/fisheries (CSA/CSF) create both market and nonmarket values, including environmental and social benefits. When shared by a community of users, these values generate identity and sense of belonging for the members who are prone to accept conditions they would not bear in conventional markets (e.g., higher prices, inconvenient delivery time and location, lack of choice, and supply risk). We argue that longevity of CSA/CSF depends on their capacity to create such a sense of belonging. For this reason and because of some CSF peculiarities compared to CSA, analyzing the sense of belonging to a CSF becomes an interesting challenge to understand the nature and extent of the community and its underlying social characteristics and motives. A qualitative-quantitative mixed methodology was used. Data come from an original online survey of 556 French seafood consumers belonging to the Yeu Island CSF, and from individual, semi-directive interviews. An ordered probit model with endogenous treatment effects for commitment experience was developed, and the evidence of results was related with a content analysis from qualitative materials. The sense of belonging to CSF is positively influenced by the relational dimension and negatively by the demand for high-quality goods, but not by the credence attributes (support of fishers and the local economy, origin of products, environmental outcomes…). Moreover, commitment as volunteer member tends to have a positive influence on belongingness. Interviews with members highlight the social and cultural entanglement of their relationship. They show notably the importance of the sociability built around fish – leading to an increase of knowledge around species, ways of cooking, and to the strengthening of a food identity – on the sense of belonging. The long-term sustainability of CSF may highly depend on these relational dimensions, acting as cohesive factors in the community.
... In the face of dwindling resources and increasing competition, one possible adaptation for commercial linefishers is to engage in their own version of collective sourcing, marketing and selling. Consumer trends favouring sustainable, traceable and quality food products (Hinrichs 2000;Campbell et al. 2014;Bolton et al. 2016;Witter and Stoll 2017); the experiences of smallscale fishers' cooperatives in Europe (Verhaegen and Van Huylenbroeck 2001;Pascual-Fernández et al. 2019) and North and South America (Kitts and Edwards 2003;Devaux et al. 2009;Foley and McCay 2014); and similar efforts amongst small-scale agricultural producers in Africa (Barham and Chitemi 2009;Kaganzi et al. 2009) suggest that collectivisation and cooperation between small-scale producers can improve profit-taking through the branding, marketing and retailing of their own products (Stoll et al. 2015). Furthermore, cooperative selling may also improve product quality, pricing (Simmons and Birchall 2008) and access to markets (Chloupkova et al. 2003;Kitts and Edwards 2003;Ünal et al. 2009), whilst reducing producers' costs (Verhaegen and Van Huylenbroeck 2001;Hellin et al. 2009;Markelova et al. 2009). ...
... Concomitantly, recognition of small-scale fishers' collectives has spread, with the majority of European Union member states, for example, opting to include 'producers' organisations' in legislation (Martin 2008) with a view towards supporting the marketing and sale of their products. The spread of such collectivisation and its application in different contexts has resulted in a range of structures and implementations such that there is no single model of CSF (Bolton et al. 2016;Witter and Stoll 2017). Witter and Stoll (2017) suggest rather that it is more pertinent to talk of 'alternative seafood marketing programmes' that assume various forms but also embrace several key characteristics including a shortened supply chain that looks to connect consumers more closely with production and/ or producers; the promotion of various social, economic and environmental objectives; a focus on local production; traceability; and sustainability (Witter and Stoll 2017). ...
... By offering local species, the approach may also serve to decrease pressure on overexploited species whilst adding value to others that are traditionally underrepresented in the market (McClenachan et al. 2014). Further to this, many alternative marketing collectives emphasise face-to-face interactions between fishers and consumers, resulting in greater community support of the fishers as well as stronger community identity (Brinson et al. 2011;Campbell et al. 2014;Stoll et al. 2015;Bolton et al. 2016). ...
Faced with competition from large-scale fisheries and other pressures, many small-scale fisheries are looking to ‘alternative’ seafood marketing options to enhance livelihoods. Based on the findings of participant observation and action research, we discuss opportunities and challenges associated with an attempt to create a novel brand and alternative seafood marketing scheme with small-scale handline fishers in the southern Cape region of South Africa. The work focussed on collective action to create a seafood branding scheme distinguishing fish caught using traditional small-scale, low-impact linefishing methods from commercially trawled fish. After a failed start to the scheme on the quayside owing to pressure from fish-buying middlemen representing inshore trawling companies, the linefishers adapted their approach, supplying a more upmarket seafood store away from the harbour opened by one of their number. Initially, the linefishers and store owner wanted to differentiate their catch from trawled fish by only offering linefish in the store. However, consumer demand for, and attitudes towards, certain seafood products and species ultimately compelled the store to incorporate seafood products sourced from the trawling companies via the middlemen, in its offering. The research findings indicate that collective action is of potential value to linefishers. However, in the southern Cape, inshore trawling companies and their affiliated middlemen continue to exert influence over how commercial linefishers can market and sell their catch via a relationship of interdependence. This relationship will have to be carefully negotiated if future collective linefish branding and sales in the region are to succeed.
... Community-supported agriculture (CSA) and community-supported fishery (CSF) provide such identity and sense of belonging for farmers and fishers, who cannot be merely reduced to rent seekers (Galt 2015), and also to eaters whose motivations go far beyond the need for organic local food by including political, social, and ethical values (Brinson et al. 2011;Stoll et al. 2015;Bolton et al. 2016;Salladarré et al. 2018). By creating a direct relationship between producers and eaters through regular, prearranged deliveries of products, these institutions produce multiple market and nonmarket benefits (Brinson et al. 2011;Bolton et al. 2016). ...
... Community-supported agriculture (CSA) and community-supported fishery (CSF) provide such identity and sense of belonging for farmers and fishers, who cannot be merely reduced to rent seekers (Galt 2015), and also to eaters whose motivations go far beyond the need for organic local food by including political, social, and ethical values (Brinson et al. 2011;Stoll et al. 2015;Bolton et al. 2016;Salladarré et al. 2018). By creating a direct relationship between producers and eaters through regular, prearranged deliveries of products, these institutions produce multiple market and nonmarket benefits (Brinson et al. 2011;Bolton et al. 2016). For instance, fishers receive higher payment for fish, are guaranteed a stable income, and can activate political support through direct interaction with consumers and the induced increase of social capital (Stoll et al. 2015). ...
... Consumers join to have access to distinctive products. Actually, most CSF/CSA serve local organic food with a higher level of quality, making this specific channel of distribution more attractive for consumers who want to eat local and healthy products (Brinson et al. 2011;Bolton et al. 2016). As those expectations are more focused on convenience, economic utility, there is low evidence that they can produce and develop a common identity. ...
Community-supported agriculture/fisheries (CSA/CSF) create both market and non-market values, including environmental and social benefits. When shared by a community of users, these values generate identity and sense of belonging for the members who are prone to accept conditions they would not bear in conventional markets (e.g.,
higher prices, inconvenient delivery time and location, lack of choice, and supply risk). We argue that longevity of CSA/CSF depends on their capacity to create such a sense of belonging. For this reason and because of some CSF peculiarities compared to CSA, analyzing the sense of belonging to a CSF becomes an interesting challenge to
understand the nature and extent of the community and its underlying social characteristics and motives. A qualitative-quantitative mixed methodology was used. Data come from an original online survey of 556 French seafood consumers belonging to the Yeu Island CSF, and from individual, semi-directive interviews. An ordered probit model with endogenous treatment effects for commitment experience was developed, and the evidence of results was related with a content analysis from qualitative materials. The sense of belonging to CSF is positively influenced by the relational dimension and negatively by the demand for high-quality goods, but not by the credence attributes (support of fishers and the local economy, origin of products, environmental outcomes … ). Moreover, commitment as volunteer member tends to have a positive influence on belongingness. Interviews with members highlight the social and cultural entanglement of their relationship. They show notably the importance of the sociability built around fish – leading to an increase of knowledge around species, ways of cooking, and to the strengthening of a food identity – on the sense of belonging. The long-term sustainability of CSF may highly depend on these relational
dimensions, acting as cohesive factors in the community.
... The first CSF started in Port Clyde, ME, in 2007, with now nearly 40 in operation across the USA and Canada, and more opening every year (Godwin et al. 2017). CSFs were initially inspired by the success and structure of CSAs (Snyder and St. Martin 2015), and have developed over time to include a variety of seafood distribution arrangements with shortened supply chains and a focus on product traceability: some involve advance payment from customers for regular deliveries of seafood, while others arrange direct sales from harvesters to customers (Bolton et al. 2016;Godwin et al. 2017;Witter and Stoll 2017). These alternative seafood distribution systems, like their agricultural counterparts, fall under the broad category of "value chains": supply chains (networks which move products from production to consumption) that aim not just to maximize profit but also to provide benefits to all stakeholders (Dey et al. 2015). ...
... Research suggests that both suppliers and consumers participate in alternative food chains at least in part for selfinterested reasons. The self-interested reasons cited for supplier participation are primarily economic: they see CSAs/CSFs as a way to get access to a new market and command a better price for their products by circumventing conventional supply chains (Bolton et al. 2016;Hinrichs 2015;Morgan et al. 2018;Ostrom 2007;Stoll et al. 2015;Witter and Stoll 2017;Worden 2004). Their self-interest is not expressed solely in monetary terms; however, they see supplying these alternative markets as a way of sustaining their independent livelihoods and improving their quality of life (Samoggia et al. 2019;Snyder and St. Martin 2015;Witter and Stoll 2017). ...
... Their self-interest is not expressed solely in monetary terms; however, they see supplying these alternative markets as a way of sustaining their independent livelihoods and improving their quality of life (Samoggia et al. 2019;Snyder and St. Martin 2015;Witter and Stoll 2017). For seafood harvesters in particular, another self-interested motivation identified in the literature is what in this paper we term pride: the opportunity to promote the quality of their own products and practices, as well as those of their industry, and to be recognized for their work (Bolton et al. 2016;Witter and Stoll 2017). Farmers are likely also motivated by the opportunity for greater recognition, but this factor does not emerge as distinctly from the CSA literature as it does in the CSF literature. ...
Local and regional food initiatives—new ways of connecting food suppliers with nearby consumers—have proliferated in recent decades in the USA and beyond. One manifestation of this local food movement is the emergence of community-supported fishery (CSF) programs: alternative seafood distribution arrangements with shortened, traceable supply chains. Such alternative food value chains are seen as having the potential to benefit multiple stakeholders, including suppliers, customers, and intermediaries; however, the nature of those benefits—and the degree to which they foster connection among stakeholders—needs to be better understood. In particular, regional, intermediated value chains are less well understood than those that involve direct sales from harvester to consumer. This case study examines an intermediated, regional CSF (Fishadelphia) intentionally designed to connect culturally dissimilar stakeholders: New Jersey seafood suppliers and diverse consumers in Philadelphia. The project is coordinated by high school students from the Philadelphia neighborhoods served by the project. The paper examines the perspectives of three participant groups—suppliers, students, and customers—and compares motivations for taking part, values derived from doing so, and awareness of/interest in other stakeholders. Input was solicited from all active members of each participant group. Data were collected at multiple points during Fishadelphia’s first year of operations using a combination of surveys and individual/group interviews. We found that views of other stakeholders in this value chain varied widely within and across groups; these views showed some evidence of being affected by direct face-to-face contact. Our findings suggest that interplay among three types of values—self-interested, altruistic, and relational—may be important in motivating stakeholders to initiate and sustain participation in alternative value chains. This analysis furthers understanding of varied benefits that alternative food value chains can yield for different stakeholders, and illuminates opportunities for, and limitations to, the development of connection among value chain stakeholders.
... The shorter chain in CSFs makes it easier to identify and follow the origin and processing history and distribution of a product throughout the entire supply chain (Bolton et al., 2016). By providing quality fresh seafood to consumers, greater information and a positive impact for the local economy, CSFs like CSAs tend to reduce the lack of transparency observed in conventional seafood supply chains (Oberholtzer and Grow, 2003;Brown and Miller, 2008). ...
... Explaining why consumers are increasingly attracted by CSFs is challenging for many reasons. As shown by other studies, this way of consuming fresh produce is supposed to increase the environmental value of goods (Brinson et al., 2011;McClenachan et al., 2014;Bolton et al., 2016) and has often been created in opposition to conventional markets (Dubuisson-Quellier and Lamine, 2004). First of all, this market institution is meant to propose local food of higher environmental quality at reasonable prices to consumers who are willing to support the local producers in return by a long-term contractual commitment of pre-arranged price and delivery. ...
... reinsurance or awareness about the product itself. Whether our results can be extended to other community-supported food networks could also be challenged in regard to the heterogeneity of CSFs, either among consumers, harvesters or species, as analyzed by Bolton et al. (2016) in the North American context. As CSFs are only emerging in France (three cases only, direct sales being more frequent although less structured), the Yeu Island CSF case remains quite unique by the strong commitment of local actors, and therefore does not really allow for general results about consumers' motives for joining CSFs. ...
In a Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) or Community-Supported Fishery (CSF), buyers commit to pay a periodic fixed amount to ensure a guaranteed revenue for producers. In return, they benefit from scheduled deliveries but with unknown content. The shorter channels for seafood products are valued by consumers because they often include more sustainable fishing practices and avoid food miles. However, consumers may join these systems for many other reasons linked to lower prices or higher quality of fish, the support to the local economy, and social or political reasons. Who is, if ever existing, the “typical” CSF buyer, and what makes CSFs appealing to fish consumers? With an original survey of 556 French seafood consumers belonging to the Yeu Island CSF, this research aims at disentangling the various motives for joining and purchasing fish exclusively from CSFs. Among a large range of motivations, the analysis reveals the existence of three factors: credence attributes (environment and local support), relational aspects (meet people), and economic incentives. We show through a simultaneous equation model that exclusive CSF consumers are positively influenced by the relational dimension but negatively by credence attributes.
... However, given its current absence, we argue that the other direct sales initiatives (fish stands and fish restaurants) adopted in fishing cooperatives in Istanbul are still promising for improving SSF incomes. These share certain common features with their SSF counterparts in Europe and North America pertaining to their aims of shortening supply chains, a focus on local food production and local catches that can be traced back to small-scale fishers, and their efforts to communicate their problems and challenges to urban consumers (Bolton et al., 2016). Moreover, Istanbul Birlik Board members often emphasize other market and non-market values in line with some of the CSF initiatives in the world. ...
... Moreover, Istanbul Birlik Board members often emphasize other market and non-market values in line with some of the CSF initiatives in the world. They underline, for instance, the importance of sustainable fishing, community development and continuation of traditional fishing culture, solidarity among fishers and between fishers and consumers, a fair price for fish caught, transparency, employment, profit sharing, improved logistics such as cold storage, education for fisher members, and employment possibilities for younger generations and women (Bolton et al., 2016;Witter and Stoll, 2017). Additionally, both the comments of fishers in our workshop on CSF and a recent event organized by Istanbul Birlik in Sarıyer, Istanbul, on the 21st of November, 2022-in order to celebrate the World Fisheries Day as well as the Year for Small-Scale and Artisanal Fisheries-, once again showed their interest in having a closer connection and communication with scientists, students, journalists, municipalities, consumer groups/cooperatives and civil society. ...
Purpose: This article aims to understand diverse forms of direct sales practices of small-scale fishers in Istanbul, Turkey. The research focuses on small-scale fishing cooperatives in Istanbul and examines their livelihood strategies from the perspective of Community Supported Fisheries models. Design/Methodology/Approach: We have used qualitative research methods and conducted 34 in-depth interviews with representatives from 19 small-scale fishing cooperatives in Istanbul as well as from NGOs, researchers and Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. Findings: We found that small-scale fishers and their cooperatives are suffering from economic, ecological, and political pressure of industrial fisheries and industrialized food system, and they use diverse forms of livelihood strategies in order to confront these challenges. In Istanbul, we scrutinized these diverse models and examined their benefits, challenges, and limitations as well as discussed their links to different Community Supported Fisheries practices from around the world. Originality/value: The study thus contributes to literatures on agricultural and fisheries economics, political economy, and small-scale fishing governance with a specific focus on community supported models used in agriculture and fisheries.
... Whatmore et al., 2003;Goodman et al., 2012), which emerged in response to problems in terrestrial food systems, ASNs aim to address perceived economic, social, and environmental issues associated with the global seafood system-including but not limited to concerns about overfishing, industrialization, privatization, and the disappearance of smallscale and community-based fishing operations (Brinson et al., 2011;Campbell et al., 2014;McClenachan et al., 2014;Stoll et al., 2015). The literature also refers to ASNs as direct marketing arrangements (Stoll et al., 2015), community supported fisheries (Bolton et al., 2016), and relational seafood supply chains . While further research is needed to define the parameters of ASN, we use the term ASN broadly to describe individual and collective efforts by fishers and fishing families shocks impact all levels of the food system, from producers to consumers, and can lead to "deadlock" in the system. ...
... Daily website analytics for eight ASNs in the United States (n = 6) and Canada (n = 2) was collected for the time period of January 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020. Businesses were selected purposefully to ensure geographic coverage across the United States and Canada (East and West Coasts) and to account for different types of ASN described by Bolton et al. (2016): ...
Export-oriented seafood trade faltered during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. In contrast, alternative seafood networks (ASNs) that distribute seafood through local and direct marketing channels were identified as a "bright spot." In this paper, we draw on multiple lines of quantitative and qualitative evidence to show that ASNs experienced a temporary pandemic "bump" in both the United States and Canada in the wake of supply chain disruptions and government mandated social protections. We use a systemic resilience framework to analyze the factors that enabled ASNs to be resilient during the pandemic as well as challenges. The contrast between ASNs and the broader seafood system during COVID-19 raises important questions about the role that local and regional food systems may play during crises and highlights the need for functional diversity in supply chains.
... The primary data have been triangulated with the information compiled from the online initiatives' websites, as well as by tracking the initiatives' social media (Twitter and Facebook), news articles, and secondary complementary sources, which helped to correctly frame the scope of the marketing initiative (e.g., legislation). According to this information and taking as reference the descriptions provided by Bolton [24] in the case of the USA and Canada and FARNET (The European Fisheries Areas Network) in the case of Europe [20], the initiatives have been classified as SCC (Short Supply Circuit)/CSF (community supported fisheries) or direct sale. The literature on alternative seafood marketing arrangements originally arose in the US and Canada in the early 2000 s, where the initiatives were primarily based on the Community Supported Agriculture model [25]. ...
... The literature on alternative seafood marketing arrangements originally arose in the US and Canada in the early 2000 s, where the initiatives were primarily based on the Community Supported Agriculture model [25]. The main goals of these initiatives were to react to producers' and consumers' concerns about the environmental impacts, social, economic, as well as cultural consequences on rural communities that globalization and industrialization could produce [24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31]. These initiatives, originally linked to social movements, provided an arena for producer and consumer activism, with the aim of re-embedding food markets in the social fabric of communities and to tackle the environmental impacts that large agrifood value chains produce [32]. ...
... The primary data have been triangulated with the information compiled from the online initiatives' websites, as well as by tracking the initiatives' social media (Twitter and Facebook), news articles, and secondary complementary sources, which helped to correctly frame the scope of the marketing initiative (e.g., legislation). According to this information and taking as reference the descriptions provided by Bolton [24] in the case of the USA and Canada and FARNET (The European Fisheries Areas Network) in the case of Europe [20], the initiatives have been classified as SCC (Short Supply Circuit)/CSF (community supported fisheries) or direct sale. The literature on alternative seafood marketing arrangements originally arose in the US and Canada in the early 2000 s, where the initiatives were primarily based on the Community Supported Agriculture model [25]. ...
... The literature on alternative seafood marketing arrangements originally arose in the US and Canada in the early 2000 s, where the initiatives were primarily based on the Community Supported Agriculture model [25]. The main goals of these initiatives were to react to producers' and consumers' concerns about the environmental impacts, social, economic, as well as cultural consequences on rural communities that globalization and industrialization could produce [24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31]. These initiatives, originally linked to social movements, provided an arena for producer and consumer activism, with the aim of re-embedding food markets in the social fabric of communities and to tackle the environmental impacts that large agrifood value chains produce [32]. ...
... In this context, the voluntary participation of the parties remains essential, primarily due to economic reasons. Frequently, the producers are encouraged by the possibility of wider promotion of their products, better recognition on the market, social appreciation or educational activities in the area of economic, social, and environmental importance of agriculture and fisheries [12]. Consumers' motivations are predominantly driven by the willingness to purchase healthy, organic, high-quality food. ...
... Consumers' motivations are predominantly driven by the willingness to purchase healthy, organic, high-quality food. They result, to a lesser extent, from altruistic motives in relation to the local producers or the need to support sustainable food production practices [8,[12][13][14][15]. ...
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is an alternative form of distributing agricultural products, including fish, consistent with the model of food supply chain shortening. It extends beyond the traditional model of profit maximization and aims at strengthening local interactions with food consumers. The purpose of this article is to assess the feasibility of implementing the CSA model in the Polish carp market, representing the dominant aquaculture product. The research focused on the potential identified on the supply and demand sides of the carp market. The source material was collected through a pilot two-track empirical study conducted in 2019 in the Barycz Valley, where the largest complex of carp breeding ponds is located in Poland, and in Europe. We propose that the following CSA model of direct sales can become a source of specific benefits in the economic, social, and environmental dimensions for the key stakeholders of the supply chain, (i.e., carp producers and consumers). The research results show that in the case of carp production in Poland, CSA may turn out a desirable support for the sale of fish in the future; however, the existing conditions are not yet fully favourable for its development.
... CSF in itself does not represent a homogenous economic model, specific structure or kind of organization. It does however stand for a common food sovereignty and producer philosophy engaging the consumer in the sustainability, traceability and genealogy of fish (Bolton et al., 2016). ...
... But there are also a number of challenges and constraints. Bolton et al. (2016) demonstrate a number of these in the North American context. Most prominent are increased workload due to marketing and branding activities and meeting consumer demands with an unpredictable supply of products. ...
... 'Co-op' hosted collective accounting and asset management functions for small-scale fisher cooperatives, and 'Marketplace' captured small-scale fisher socio-cultural 'stories' on a traceability platform where fishers availed their catch for the Restaurant Supported Fishery (RSF). This 'storied' fish was modelled on the rapidly expanding arena of small-scale fisher direct marketing that facilitates shorter value chains between fishers and schools, hospitals, restaurants and homes [46][47][48][49][50][51][52]. At the time of writing, the most active modules were the Abalobi 'Fisher' and 'Marketplace' modules, with 'Monitor', 'Manager' and 'Co-op' in development. ...
... "Our relationship with the government, there are no relationship-the only relationship is with the caretaker and the caretaker take care of all of us." (FG1, skipper group, 03/10/2017) Adversely included small-scale fisher value chain actors have overcome exploitation through the rise of local food movements that shorten small-scale fisher value chains by sourcing directly from fishers, bypassing the middleman and encouraging fisher post-harvest processing [48,49,115,116]. Despite the importance of effective governance to small-scale fisher value chains [13,[117][118][119][120], small-scale fishers further bemoaned the lack of effective co-management structures through which they could exercise influence on policy. ...
Though Internet and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have been employed in small-scale fisheries (SSFs) globally, they are seldom systematically explored for the ways in which they facilitate equality, democracy and sustainability. Our study explored how ICTs in South African small-scale fisheries are leveraged towards value chain upgrading, collective action and institutional sustainability—key issues that influence small-scale fishery contributions to marine resource sustainability. We held a participatory workshop as part of ongoing research in the town of Lambert’s Bay, South Africa, in collaboration with small-scale fishers and the Abalobi ICT project. We mapped fisher value chain challenges and explored the role of ICT-driven transformation pathways, adopting Wright’s ‘Real Utopian’ framework as the lens through which to explore equality, democracy and institutional sustainability. We found Abalobi’s ICT platform had the potential to facilitate deeper meanings of democracy that incorporate socio-economic reform, collective action and institutional sustainability in South Africa’s small-scale fisheries. Where fishers are not engaged beyond passive generators of data, this had the potential to undermine the goals of increasing power parity between small-scale fisheries and other stakeholders.
... CSF in itself does not represent a homogenous economic model, specific structure or kind of organization. It does however stand for a common food sovereignty and producer philosophy engaging the consumer in the sustainability, traceability and genealogy of fish (Bolton et al., 2016). ...
... But there are also a number of challenges and constraints. Bolton et al. (2016) demonstrate a number of these in the North American context. Most prominent are increased workload due to marketing and branding activities and meeting consumer demands with an unpredictable supply of products. ...
The report is funded by the Nordic Councils of Ministers.
In the report, we explore the potentials of a differentiated approach to the development of Nordic fisheries. By this we mean an approach that cater to different development logics, and which sets new development goals especially for the small and coastal fishing fleets. The new development goals should be seen as an addition to the already existing development strategies, where focus is on efficiency, volume and standardization. Instead, this report explores approaches focusing on cross-sectorial innovation, product qualities and specialization.
What will be the main principles of this development? What are the necessary pre-conditions for such a development? What can the policy side do? And what can the business side do? These are the guiding questions for this report. We seek to answer these questions through looking at experiences in the land-based food sector and through case studies of three coastal areas in Finland, Sweden and Denmark. Methodologically, we have sought to go in-depth with our case areas. Instead of gathering numerous inspirational best practices, we explore the obstacles and (sparse) connections between business activities and local policy drivers. Through the case studies, we explore the actual experiences with the differentiated development approach.
... CSF in itself does not represent a homogenous economic model, specific structure or kind of organization. It does however stand for a common food sovereignty and producer philosophy engaging the consumer in the sustainability, traceability and genealogy of fish (Bolton et al., 2016). ...
... But there are also a number of challenges and constraints. Bolton et al. (2016) demonstrate a number of these in the North American context. Most prominent are increased workload due to marketing and branding activities and meeting consumer demands with an unpredictable supply of products. ...
This is a TemaNord report, funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers. In the report, we explore the potentials of a differentiated approach to the development of Nordic fisheries. By this we mean an approach that cater to different development logics, and which sets new development goals especially for the small and coastal fishing fleets. The new development goals should be seen as an addition to the already existing development strategies, where focus is on efficiency, volume and standardization. Instead, this report explores approaches focusing on cross-sectorial innovation, product qualities and specialization.
What will be the main principles of this development? What are the necessary pre-conditions for such a development? What can the policy side do? And what can the business side do? These are the guiding questions for this report. We seek to answer these questions through looking at experiences in the land-based food sector and through case studies of three coastal areas in Finland, Sweden and Denmark. Methodologically, we have sought to go in-depth with our case areas. Instead of gathering numerous inspirational best practices, we explore the obstacles and (sparse) connections between business activities and local policy drivers. Through the case studies, we explore the actual experiences with the differentiated development approach.
... Despite the multi-faceted motivations behind enhancing local seafood markets, research to-date into seafood distribution systems is not widespread [21]. Except for a study in New England by O'Hara and McClenachan [19], most research on local seafood marketing has focused on direct marketing business models like community supported fisheries (CSFs) [11,[2][3][4]. Consumer purchases through these channels predominately occur for at-home consumption [27]. ...
... The omitted binary variable in the regression represents the North Pacific and Pacific FMC regions. 2 ...
Local seafood marketing is intended to improve livelihoods in coastal communities and the sustainability of fisheries practices. While local seafood procurement aligns with the objectives of “farm to school” (F2S) programming in the United States (U.S.), local seafood purchases by schools are infrequent. Understanding the impediments to local seafood procurement can inform strategies to support such practices. This research employs Farm to School Census data to identify attributes that influence school purchases of local seafood at both the school-level and regional-level in the U.S. At the school-level, outreach strategies and promotional efforts employed by schools are important in influencing local seafood sourcing decisions, while the percentage of students on free/reduced-price lunch and school size are not. These findings suggest that technical assistance to practitioners is impactful in supporting the development of local seafood markets. Schools that are close to commercial fishing ports are also more likely to procure seafood locally. At the regional-level, North Pacific and New England schools had a greater propensity to procure local seafood than elsewhere. In the North Pacific this could be occurring because the commercial fishery is economically prominent. In New England this phenomenon may be occurring to develop new markets for alternative seafood species, since historically-important groundfish stocks are depleted. Local agricultural marketing is also relatively important in New England. Thus, there could be spillover benefits to local fishers from technical assistance resources developed to support the local marketing of agricultural products.
... Small-scale fisheries face market competition from large-scale fishery products, foreign imports, and aquaculture products, and many small-scale fishing operations are pursuing new ways to market and sell their catch . Over the last decade, a diversity of experiences to promote and differentiate small-scale fisheries products have been developed (Bolton et al. 2016;Godwin et al. 2017). The scientific literature on marketing strategies to promote small-scale fisheries products is scarce. ...
... The most studied CSF initiative is 'Walking Fish', an initiative from Beaufort, in North Carolina (USA), implemented in 2009 (Bolton et al. 2016;Brinson et al. 2011 ;Campbell et al. 2014;Stoll andJohnson 2015). Examples of other CSFs in the literature include 'Off the Hook' (Canada), 'Port Clyde Fresh Catch' (USA), 'Community Fish' (USA) (Brinson et al. 2011 ) (Table 8.1). ...
Several factors affect the ability of small-scale fishers to secure their livelihoods. Particularly relevant is their capacity to sell their fish, receive remunerative prices, and add value to their catches. In general, catches from small-scale fisheries have a superior quality and freshness, but this does not always lead to better prices or higher demand. Too often, local fishing catches are not sufficiently differentiated in the market from those coming from imports, larger scale fisheries, aquaculture, or even from furtive fishing. This chapter focuses on strategies adopted by small-scale fishers to add value and improve the market penetration of their catches. These strategies must embrace a wide range of actors and issues. There is also a need to know whether the fishing resources available can cope with demand, or in what ways consumers’ preferences could be refocused on other marine species to make more efficient use of potential resources. This requires the contribution of a variety of scientists, ranging from the fields of natural sciences to economics and marketing, with social sciences also playing an important role. Consequently, transdisciplinary research in this area is needed in order to optimize the income of fishing families and make it easier for consumers to access locally caught fish. This chapter will also provide a practical example to illustrate transdisciplinary research to improve small-scale fisheries capacity for innovation in marketing being developed in Tenerife (Spain). These strategies involve collaborations between scientists, local government, and the industry to produce an innovative small-scale fisheries branding initiative.
... Consumption experiences include, for instance, consuming the seaside atmosphere (i.e., the act of being there) [37,38]. The consumption of fish creates opportunities to establish direct protocols with customers, local restaurants, establishments, and large entities (e.g., community supported fisheries (CSFs) [39]). ...
Fishing is a socioeconomic activity with highly visible impacts on the water–land interface of cities. Tourism, the number and type of visitors, and attractions depend on the image and experience of coastal places. How has fishing evolved over time? How has planning attempted to influence and adapt the land use and built-up structures, leading to the activity’s development and commercialization? It utilizes three pairwise cases to analyze the land use transformations associated with fishing activities in cities and some of their most important structures, with impacts on tourism activities such as fish markets, waterfront and pier restaurants, festival marketplaces, and recreational facilities. The three pairwise cases are in three different regions of the world (i.e., North America, Southern Europe, and the Pacific Rim). New Bedford, Massachusetts (USA) and Figueira da Foz (Portugal) are utilized to analyze the land use transformations associated with fishing activities in cities. Fish markets in Tokyo (Japan) and Sydney (Australia) are analyzed to study built-up structures where fish are commercialized. Finally, the last pairwise waterfronts consisting of San Francisco (California, USA) and Fremantle (Western Australia) are examined to understand their fish consumption. The research design and methods comprised in loco visits to the six case studies; discussions with stakeholders; visual documentation and analysis; and a distillation of implications for public policy. The findings demonstrate that more attention needs to be paid to land use changes, the co-existence of working harbor operations with recreational uses, the accessibility to those areas, the “publicness” of the areas in terms of public spaces and other coastal amenities, and the impacts of mixed-use developments on adjacent residential areas. Many waterfronts have suffered radical changes and ought to be made more accessible, authentic, and livable not through the effects of nature or markets alone but with planning and urban design interventions.
... The alternative food movement has expanded dramatically in the last few decades, in part as a response to corporate consolidation of food systems (Feenstra, 1997;Grauerholz & Owens, 2015). One manifestation of this growth is the proliferation of alternative food networks (AFNs): systems outside conventional supply networks for distributing food from producer to consumer, such as farmers' markets, and community-supported agriculture (CSA) and fishery (CSF) programs (Bolton et al., 2016;Cone & Kakaliouras, 1995). The goals of AFNs vary widely by program, and include generating broad social benefits as well as accruing specific benefits for producers and consumers. ...
Alternative food networks, such as farmers’ markets and community-supported agricultural and fishery programs, often struggle to reach beyond a consumer base that is predominantly white and affluent. This case study explores seven inclusion strategies deployed by a community-supported fishery program (Fishadelphia, in Philadelphia, PA, USA) including discounting prices, accepting payment in multiple forms and schedules, offering a range of product types, communicating and recruiting through a variety of media (especially in person), and choosing local institutions and people of color (POC) as pickup location hosts. Our analysis indicated that all of these strategies were associated with increased participation of customers of color and/or customers without a college degree. For Asian customers, accepting cash, offering whole fish, recruiting in-person, and POC-hosted pickup locations were key factors. For Black customers, discounted price, accepting cash, offering fillets, and communicating through means other than email were most important. Discounted price and communicating through means other than email were most important for customers without a college degree. Payment method, payment schedule and communication method were highly correlated with other strategies; we suggest that these strategies work in synergy to make the program attractive and feasible to these customers. We consider how Fishadelphia’s inclusion efforts have benefitted from both tactical approaches (i.e., programmatic features) and a structural approaches (i.e., the people and places represented within the project), and suggest that elements of both tactical and structural inclusion can be applied in other contexts. This work is crucial for increasing food access, and underscores the importance of relationships in recruiting diverse customers.
... 19 In practice, there are diverse examples of the CSF model. Studies focusing on the CSF networks in North America have flourished since 2007 identifying their similarities and differences in terms of philosophy, structure, operations, and outcomes (Bolton et al. 2016). While their shared focus is direct marketing of seafood from fisher to consumer with a shortened supply chain and locally sourced seafood, they often differ in terms of organizational and ideological structures. ...
Oceans and seas have been vital food sources for both coastal and terrestrial communities for thousands of years. Traditionally, the main actors were small-scale fishers adopting more ecologically-benign fishing practices either for their own subsistence or small-scale commercial use and livelihood. Members of small-scale fishing communities frequently combine other socioeconomic activities such as small-scale agriculture and animal husbandry with their fishing activity as well. Thus, they usually have broader and different understandings and narratives regarding their relations and interdependency with the fish and the seas compared with industrial capture fisheries targeting the most profitable commercial fish species using more destructive gears and high technological capacities. In this chapter, we aim to shed light on their past and present—as well as highlight their existence as a rather neglected and marginalized social group, their political agency and their global movement for food sovereignty in order to uncover their social, political and ecological roles for the future of oceans, coastal communities, and the society in general. Our research methodology relies on participant observation and action methods based on 3 years of continuous work with small-scale fishing cooperatives in Turkey, Spain and Europe, as well as following and collaborating with the WFFP (World Forum of Fisher People) members both in Europe and globally. We conducted more than 80 interviews with key actors from fisheries sector including policy makers, NGOs, members of fishing cooperatives, and fisheries and marine scientists that inform this investigation. We claim that even though small-scale fishing communities are usually neglected actors of the ‘present’ in most mainstream marine policies, narratives and agendas such as the Blue Economy, their ‘presence’ in ocean governance is of utmost importance and their future existence needs to be ensured for an ecologically, socially and economically just ocean governance.
... 19 In practice, there are diverse examples of the CSF model. Studies focusing on the CSF networks in North America have flourished since 2007 identifying their similarities and differences in terms of philosophy, structure, operations, and outcomes (Bolton et al. 2016). While their shared focus is direct marketing of seafood from fisher to consumer with a shortened supply chain and locally sourced seafood, they often differ in terms of organizational and ideological structures. ...
The study of traditional marine stakeholders, such as small-scale fishers in the Mediterranean, represents a site of a changing seascape. This is characterized by impeding factors of the past but also a possibility for improved future trajectories. Small-scale fisheries (SSF) have played a crucial socio-economic role in the Mediterranean for decades, and they continue to comprise over 80% of the fishing fleets and provide direct and indirect economic contributions to coastal communities. Their contribution to blue economy has so far been described as low, but this is largely due to a narrow conception both of benefits to be drawn from the development of maritime sectors (which have focused strongly on economic growth) and types of innovation that are capable of supporting the transition to sustainability (which have overlooked social innovation). This chapter outlines the multi-scale contributions of the small-scale fisheries and presents innovative approaches of the sector towards the markets, both of which support the inclusion of SSF in the blue economy sector. The chapter focuses on key instances of recently developed initiatives by the SSF across the Mediterranean with impacts on the supply chain and the marketing of their products. We argue that these market interventions contribute to the ultimate governance objectives, and challenge the conception of SSF as a non-innovative sector. We propose that a richer engagement with the blue economy paradigm supports the perception of the SSF as a prospective sector, to match the promotion of aquaculture among others.
... 19 In practice, there are diverse examples of the CSF model. Studies focusing on the CSF networks in North America have flourished since 2007 identifying their similarities and differences in terms of philosophy, structure, operations, and outcomes (Bolton et al. 2016). While their shared focus is direct marketing of seafood from fisher to consumer with a shortened supply chain and locally sourced seafood, they often differ in terms of organizational and ideological structures. ...
... 19 In practice, there are diverse examples of the CSF model. Studies focusing on the CSF networks in North America have flourished since 2007 identifying their similarities and differences in terms of philosophy, structure, operations, and outcomes (Bolton et al. 2016). While their shared focus is direct marketing of seafood from fisher to consumer with a shortened supply chain and locally sourced seafood, they often differ in terms of organizational and ideological structures. ...
Despite the progress in the international and regional governance efforts at the level of climate change, ocean acidification (OA) remains a global problem with profoundly negative environmental, social, and economical consequences. This requires extensive mitigation and adaptation effective strategies that are hindered by current shortcomings of governance. This multidisciplinary chapter investigates the risks of ocean acidification (OA) for aquaculture and fisheries in the Mediterranean Sea and its sub-basins and the role of regional adaptive governance to tackle the problem. The identified risks are based on the biological sensitivities of the most important aquaculture species and biogenic habitats and their exposure to the current and future predicted (2100) RCP 8.5 conditions. To link OA exposure and biological sensitivity, we produced spatially resolved and depth-related pH and aragonite saturation state exposure maps and overlaid these with the existing aquaculture industry in the coastal waters of the Mediterranean basin to demonstrate potential risk for the aquaculture in the future. We also identified fisheries’ vulnerability through the indirect effects of OA on highly sensitive biogenic habitats that serve as nursery and spawning areas, showing that some of the biogenic habitats are already affected locally under existing OA conditions and will be more severely impacted across the entire Mediterranean basin under 2100 scenarios. This provided a regional vulnerability assessment of OA hotspots, risks and gaps that created the baseline for discussing the importance of adaptive governance and recommendations for future OA mitigation/adaptation strategies. By understanding the risks under future OA scenarios and reinforcing the adaptability of the governance system at the science-policy interface, best informed, “situated” management response capability can be optimised to sustain ecosystem services.
... 19 In practice, there are diverse examples of the CSF model. Studies focusing on the CSF networks in North America have flourished since 2007 identifying their similarities and differences in terms of philosophy, structure, operations, and outcomes (Bolton et al. 2016). While their shared focus is direct marketing of seafood from fisher to consumer with a shortened supply chain and locally sourced seafood, they often differ in terms of organizational and ideological structures. ...
This Open Access book on Ocean Governance examines sustainability challenges facing our oceans today. The book is organized into three sections: knowledge systems, policy foundations and thematic analyses. The knowledge produced in the book was catalyzed by the scientific outcomes within the European-funded Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) network “Ocean Governance for Sustainability – Challenges, Options and the Role of Science”. This network brings together scientists, policy-makers and civil society representatives from 28 nation states to cooperate on ocean governance research. This book offers a compilation of new research material including focused case studies, broad policy syntheses and reflective chapters on the history and current status of knowledge production systems on ocean governance. New research material is presented, although some chapters draw on secondary sources. The book starts with synthetic review chapters from the editors, outlining past and present knowledge systems, addressing how and why ocean governance for sustainability is where it currently stands with critical reflections on existing narratives, path dependencies and colonialist histories. This is followed by chapters addressing, synthesizing and analyzing different legal and policy frameworks for ocean governance both regionally and internationally. At the core of the book are the thematic analyses, which provide focused case studies with detailed contextual information in support of different ocean governance challenges and sustainability pathways around the world. The book concludes with a chapter explicitly targeting students, researchers and policy-makers with key take-away messages compiled by the editors.
... Community-supported agriculture (CSA) is the most common CSBM in the local food sector with customers buying shares of crops from local farmers prior to planting and harvesting, thereby betting on bountiful harvests, providing farmers with upfront capital, and mitigating the financial risks of potential crop failure [30]. CSBMs also extend beyond crops to include, for example, fisheries [32] and specific to the current study: bakeries [33]. Beyond contributing to the sustainability of local firms, CSBMs serve as "market-mediated communal connections" [26] (p. ...
Local food entrepreneurs are confronted with unique challenges when it comes to sustaining their firms and scaling their pro-community impact within geographically confined marketspaces. Yet, the strategies for overcoming these challenges remain under-studied within the community development and local food literatures. The current study addresses this scholarly gap through a qualitative case study of a southern Arizona artisan baker who follows a community-supported
business model that strategically engages customers as value co-creators and stewards of a sustainable and scalable local consumption space. The study is conceptually framed by a set of principles that span community entrepreneurship, cultural entrepreneurship, and value co-creation. Data include semi-structured interviews with the baker and a sample of customers (n = 31), 20+ h of direct
observations, and 3419 posts made within the bakery’s social media environment. The findings inform the theoretical development of a novel local food value co-creation model.
... Today, oceans are often seen and portrayed as a frontierfor science, for development, for conservation, and for governance [23]. They also represent a canvas for human inspiration and ingenuity about alternative forms of development [24,25]. Contemporary interest in the oceans by governments, scientists, the private sector, NGOs, and philanthropic foundations has risen drastically over the last decade [26]. ...
In the ‘new Gilded Age’ of mega-wealth and big philanthropy, academics are not paying enough attention to private foundations. Mirroring upward trends in philanthropy broadly, marine conservation philanthropy has more than doubled in recent years, reaching virtually every globally salient marine conservation issue in all corners of the planet. This paper argues that marine conservation philanthropy warrants a dedicated research agenda because private foundations are prominent, unique, and under-studied actors seeking to shape the future of a “frontier” space. We present a co-produced social science research agenda on marine conservation philanthropy that reflects the priorities of 106 marine conservation donors, practitioners, and stakeholders who participated in a research co-design process in 2018. These “research co-designers” raised 137 unique research questions, which we grouped into five thematic research priorities: outcomes, governance roles, exits, internal foundation governance, and funding landscape. We identify issues of legitimacy, justice, and applied best practice as cross-cutting research priorities that came up throughout the five themes. Participants from the NGO, foundation, and government sectors identified questions within all five themes and three cross-cutting issues, underscoring shared interest in this work from diverse groups. The research we call for herein can inform the practice of conservation philanthropy at a time when foundations are increasingly reckoning with their role as institutions of power in society. This paper is broadly relevant for social and natural scientists, practitioners, donors, and policy-makers interested in better understanding private philanthropy in any environmental context globally.
... seafood campaigns, ecolabelling) has largely avoided taking specific account of SSF (Penca 2020), and the strengthening of the SSF sector was instead delegated to the policy domain. However, growing literature is exploring markets by SSF as venues of a sustainability transition, alongside regulation of access to fishery resources (Stoll et al. 2015;Bolton et al. 2016;Witter and Stoll 2017;Penca 2019;Duggan et al. 2020). This article contributes to this literature by presenting the dual nature of markets for SSF-as both an obstacle and an emerging opportunity for their empowerment and adjustment. ...
Improved access to markets by small-scale fisheries (SSF), as called by Sustainable Development Goal 14b and other global and Mediterranean policy documents, is impeded by the existing organisation of value chains and market structures, which are typically antagonistic to the nature of SSF. This article analyses the markets in the Mediterranean to map the drivers and feedback loops that keep fisheries in an unsustainable trajectory and reviews the key innovations in support of a socially, economically and environmentally sustainable small-scale fishing sector. We show how the current market is dominated by lack of product traceability and underappreciation of the inherent value of SSF products (e.g. local production, freshness, season dependence, quantitatively and culinary varied nature). In addition, due to a lack of organisation and the capacity to act, small-scale fishers are poised to have little to no influence over the price. In what we conceptualise as a response to the negative effects of existing market structures, we identify and classify initiatives that add value to SSF products, but not exclusively. These are the shortening of the value chain, innovation in the distribution channel, diversification in the type of product offered, promotion and education regarding SSF products, label and brand development and the empowerment of SSF communities through improved leadership, ownership, cooperation and coordination. We provide examples of these activities and propose the key types of intervention at various levels of governance to accelerate and capitalise on them in order to accomplish policy goals and achieve a better status of both the oceans and the fishers.
... To understand consumer behavior, daily website traffic for 8 ASNs in the United States and Canada was collected for the time period of January 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020. Businesses were selected purposefully to ensure geographic coverage across the United States and Canada and to account for the different types and scales of direct producer-to-consumer seafood models (see: Bolton et al. 9 for a typology of ASNs). Because they are a non-random sample, results are intended to show a qualitative trend. ...
Export-oriented seafood trade faltered during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. In contrast, alternative seafood networks (ASNs) that distribute seafood through local and direct marketing challenges were identified as a “bright spot”. In this paper, we draw on multiple lines of quantitative and qualitative evidence to show that ASNs experienced a temporary pandemic “bump” in both the United States and Canada in the wake of supply chain disruptions and government mandated social protections. We use a systemic resilience framework to analyze the factors that enabled ASNs to be resilient during the pandemic as well as challenges. The contrast between ASNs and the broader seafood system during COVID-19 raises important questions about the role that local and regional food systems may play during crises and highlights the need for functional diversity in supply chains.
... As a result of changing market dynamics, many small-scale fishers are now pursuing new ways to market and sell their catches (Stoll et al. 2015). Over the last decade, a diversity of experiences to promote and differentiate small-scale fisheries products have been developed in Europe and elsewhere, as reported by several authors (Bolton et al. 2016;Godwin et al. 2017;Pascual-Fernandez et al. 2019). Several chapters in this volume mention initiatives to differentiate small-scale fisheries products in the market (e.g. ...
Small-scale fisheries in Europe have historically rarely received the attention they deserve. Fishery scholars and policy makers worldwide have until recently paid scant attention to the diversity of the fisheries sector, or to the existence of small-scale fleets and their fishing communities. For far too long, small-scale fishing activity has been obscured by a focus on medium or large-scale fleets, idealised as being more modern, technologically advanced and more profitable. However, resource crises in some fisheries and increasing concerns about unsustainable practices and subsidies have put small-scale fisheries in Europe, and beyond, centre stage once again. This chapter introduces 25 country studies about small-scale fisheries in Europe, written by authors from different academic fields as well as by practitioners. Here, we provide insights into the backgrounds of small-scale fisheries in Europe, linking them to prevailing policy approaches, such as the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). We argue that small-scale fisheries in Europe are diverse, complex and dynamic, and show various levels of resilience. The evidence collected in this book will help people to understand the range of challenges small-scale fisheries face and how these might be overcome.
... As a result of changing market dynamics, many small-scale fishers are now pursuing new ways to market and sell their catches (Stoll et al. 2015). Over the last decade, a diversity of experiences to promote and differentiate small-scale fisheries products have been developed in Europe and elsewhere, as reported by several authors (Bolton et al. 2016;Godwin et al. 2017;Pascual-Fernandez et al. 2019). Several chapters in this volume mention initiatives to differentiate small-scale fisheries products in the market (e.g. ...
Small-scale fisheries play a major role in Europe, employing large numbers of people, shaping the socio-economic life of coastal communities, and providing fresh, high-quality seafood to local, regional, national and international markets. This chapter synthesises findings from the 25 country chapters in this volume, bringing together key lessons regarding the nature of European small-scale fisheries and their national contexts. It focuses on the socio-economic characteristics, governance arrangements, markets, interactions with other coastal activities, and the challenges encountered by small-scale fisheries. Finally, it reflects on the future of small-scale fisheries in Europe and concludes that, although this sector has faced hard times, there are now significant policy trends in its favour.
... Communities may pursue novel collective adaptation strategies such as Community Supported Fishing (CSF) and other initiatives designed to enhance connections between fishers, consumers, and a concern for environmental well-being (Campbell, Boucquey, Stoll, Coppola, & Smith, 2014;Snyder & St Martin, 2015). While CSFs vary considerably (Bolton, Dubik, Stoll, & Basurto, 2016), most CSFs help to diversify fisheries and reduce dependencies on single species. The new proximate markets they create are also likely to be more flexible and responsive to environmental change (Stoll, Dubik, & Campbell, 2015). ...
Rapid climate changes are currently driving substantial reorganizations of marine ecosystems around the world. A key question is how these changes will alter the provision of ecosystem services from the ocean, particularly from fisheries. To answer this question, we need to understand not only the ecological dynamics of marine systems, but also human adaptation and feedbacks between humans and the rest of the natural world. In this review, we outline what we have learned from research primarily in continental shelf ecosystems and fishing communities of North America. Key findings are that marine animals are highly sensitive to warming and are responding quickly to changes in water temperature, and that such changes are often happening faster than similar processes on land. Changes in species distributions and productivity are having substantial impacts on fisheries, including through changing catch compositions and longer distances traveled for fishing trips. Conflicts over access to fisheries have also emerged as species distributions are no longer aligned with regulations or catch allocations. These changes in the coupled natural-human system have reduced the value of ecosystem services from some fisheries and risk doing so even more in the future. Going forward, substantial opportunities for more effective fisheries management and operations, marine conservation, and marine spatial planning are likely possible through greater consideration of climate information over time-scales from years to decades.
... As a result of changing market dynamics, many small-scale fishers are now pursuing new ways to market and sell their catches (Stoll et al. 2015). Over the last decade, a diversity of experiences to promote and differentiate small-scale fisheries products have been developed in Europe and elsewhere, as reported by several authors (Bolton et al. 2016;Godwin et al. 2017;Pascual-Fernandez et al. 2019). Several chapters in this volume mention initiatives to differentiate small-scale fisheries products in the market (e.g. ...
Small-scale fisheries constitute an important segment of the Spanish fishing fleet. Within the European context, the Spanish small-scale fleet is the third largest behind only Greece and Italy. The historical, cultural, economic, and social significance of this fishing sector in Spain is high, as is the range of gears and strategies used. This chapter aims to provide an overview of the condition of small-scale fisheries in Spain. It focuses on factors which have influenced the development of the sector over time. It thus pays attention to the role of local fisher organisations (cofradías), the interactions that occur with other fisheries but also with tourism, and the effects of the European Common Fisheries Policy. This chapter argues that small-scale fisheries in the country differ from one region to another, but all face serious challenges both at sea and
in the markets. These are to be addressed by relevant actors at different scale levels.
... Examples of RSSC can be found worldwide (e.g., Pascual-Fernández, Pita, Josupeit, Said, & Rodrigues, 2019, Salladarré, Guillotreau, Debucquet, & Lazuech, 2018 and data from North America show that they are becoming increasingly prevalent in this region (Figure 2). These arrangements take on a diverse range of corporate structures and marketing practices (including operations like community supported fisheries, fishermen's markets, dish-to-plate programs), but a unifying dimension is that they aim to explicitly strengthen the feedback loop between small-scale harvesters and consumers (Bolton, Dubik, Stoll, & Basurto, 2016). We posit here that the relationships that come from RSSC and their associated feedback loops, create the conditions necessary to catalyze action towards sustainability in three central ways. ...
Seafood certifications are a prominent tool being used to encourage sustainability in marine fisheries worldwide. However, questions about their efficacy remain the subject of ongoing debate. A main criticism is that they are not well suited for small‐scale fisheries or those in developing nations. This represents a dilemma because a significant share of global fishing activity occurs in these sectors. To overcome this shortcoming and others, a range of “fixes” have been implemented, including reduced payment structures, development of fisheries improvement projects, and head‐start programs that prepare fisheries for certification. These adaptations have not fully solved incompatibilities, instead creating new challenges that have necessitated additional fixes. We argue that this dynamic is emblematic of a common tendency in natural resource management where particular tools and strategies are emphasized over the conservation outcomes they seek to achieve. This can lead to the creation of “hammers” in management and conservation. We use seafood certifications as an illustrative case to highlight the importance of diverse approaches to sustainability that do not require certification. Focusing on alternative models that address sustainability problems at the local level and increase fishers’ adaptive capacity, social capital, and agency through “relational” supply chains may be a useful starting point.
Direct local marketing of seafood has been widespread in Japan since the 1990s. In recent years, these activities have been undertaken by fishermen and fishermen’s cooperatives or retailers in order to revitalize regional fishery economies. These innovations in distribution systems may affect fishery management and activities in some regions. Thus, the author aimed to analyze how the direct seafood marketing system affects fishery management and activities. A case study was conducted at retail Store A in Michinoeki (roadside station) Misaki in the town of Misaki, Fuke district, Osaka prefecture, and changes in the management conditions of fishery bodies in Misaki were analyzed.
Direct shipping to Michinoeki Misaki began in April 2017. Some fishery management bodies of four fishermen’s cooperatives currently ship there. The conditions for dealing in Store A are: 1) only fishery management bodies can ship there, to the displeasure of fishermen; 2) the market price is decided by Store A; 3) the fish are consigned by Store A; and 4) fishermen cannot ship live fish to Store A.
The income of fishery management bodies responsible for direct shipping has increased since direct shipping to Store A began because the destination is fixed. However, delivery and treatment of the fish (e.g., ikezime, the draining of blood from a live fish to preserve its freshness) have been added. As a result, the amount of work has also increased. Furthermore, the management bodies ship high-quality fish, i.e., large or heavy fish that would be expected to receive high market prices in cooperative markets, and others that cannot be shipped to cooperative markets are shipped to Store A. One fisherman said, “I was able to ship some fish that could not ever be shipped previously.”
As noted above, management conditions and activities have changed since direct marketing started, and a new strategy has been employed by which fish quality can be controlled depending on the destination.
Seafood Tech, a New Horizon for Food Innovation
Better use of marine resources is often presented as a promising way to meet the challenge of tomorrow's food. The avenues explored to produce seafood, i.e., more efficient fishing and the development of modernised aquaculture, have shown that marine-based food can only be produced alongside the application of rigorous and ecosystem-based management of bioresources. The challenge is also to optimise the use, by minimising the very significant waste of seafood. Innovations are multiple and spread over all value chains, affecting production (fishing and aquaculture), processing and marketing activities.
Abstrak. Kabupaten Lingga merupakan salah satu wilayah di Provinsi Kepualuan Riau yang memiliki potensi sumberdaya perikanan begitu besar, masyarakat umumnya bermata pencaharian sebagai nelayan dan memanfaatkan hasil tangkapan sebagai sumber kehidupan. Pemanfaatan hasil tangkapan tidak hanya dalam bentuk bahan baku mentah, tetapi dalam bentuk pengolahan yaitu ikan asap, dikalangan masyarakat Kabupaten Lingga lebih dikenal dengan istilah ikan salai. Ikan yang biasa digunakan ialah ikan tembang atau ikan tamban (Sardinella fimbriata). Ikan salai menjadi makanan khas yang wajib dibawa oleh wisatawan ataupun pengunjung lokal ketika bertandang ke Kabupaten Lingga maupun hanya sekadar dijadikan sebagai panganan sehari-hari. Tujuan penelitian ini ialah Menilai viabilitas usaha pengolahan ikan tamban salai, Rata-rata usaha ikan tamban salai masih dalam skala kecil dengan metode pengasapan sederhana. Penelitian terkait viabilitas finansial usaha pengolahan perikanan masih sangat sedikit dilakukan, terutama pada usaha Ikan Tamban Salai di Kabupaten Lingga. Rata-rata total pengeluaran pangan pemilik usaha tamban salai sebesar Rp21.450.947 per tahun, non pangan sebesar Rp13.729.263 per tahun, rata-rata total konsumsi sebesar Rp36.561.222 per tahun, sedangkan rata-rata pengeluaran untuk biaya usaha sebesar Rp146.020.193 per tahun. Dalam penelitian ini diperoleh rata-rata pendapatan usaha ikan tamban salai sebesar Rp269.464.018 pertahun Jika dibandingkan antara total pengeluaran dan pendapatan maka dari 19 usaha ikan tamban salai di Kabupaten Lingga dapat dikatakan viabel Abstract. Lingga Regency is one of the areas in the Riau Archipelago Province which has a very large fishery resource potential, the community generally makes a living as fishermen and utilizes the catch as a source of life. Utilization of the catch is not only in the form of raw raw materials, but in the form of processing, namely smoked fish, among the people of Lingga Regency better known as ikan salai. The fish commonly used are tembang fish or tamban fish (Sardinella fimbriata). Ikan Salai is a typical food that must be brought by tourists or local visitors when visiting Lingga Regency or just as a daily snack. The purpose of this study was to assess the viability of the smoked fish processing business, The average smoked fish business is still on a small scale with a simple smoking method. There are very few studies related to the financial viability of fishery processing businesses, especially the smoked fish business in Lingga Regency. The average total expenditure on food for tamban salai business owners is Rp21.450.947 per year, non-food is Rp13.729.263 per year, the average total consumption is Rp36.561.222 per year, while the average expenditure for operating expenses is Rp. 146,020,193. per year. In this study, the average income of tamban salai fish business was Rp. 269,464,018 per year. When compared between total expenditure and income, from 19 tamban salai fish businesses in Lingga Regency, 19 businesses were viable.
Fisheries management is a complex task made even more challenging by rapid and unprecedented socioecological transformations associated with climate change. The Resist‐Accept‐Direct (RAD) framework can be a useful tool to support fisheries management in facing the high uncertainty and variability associated with aquatic ecosystem transformations. Here, RAD strategies are presented to address ecological goals for aquatic ecosystems and social goals for fisheries. These strategies are mapped on a controllability matrix which explores the ability to guide a system's behaviour towards a desired state based on ecological responsiveness and societal receptivity to change. Understanding and improving the controllability of aquatic systems and fisheries can help managers to maintain the broadest suite of available RAD management strategies. El manejo de recursos pesqueros es una tarea compleja que se complica aun más con las transformaciones socioecológicas asociadas al cambio climático. El marco de Resistir‐Aceptar‐Dirigir (RAD) puede ser una herramienta útil para la toma de decisiones en el manejo pesquero en cara a la alta incertidumbre y variabilidad asociada a las transformaciones de los ecosistemas acuáticos. Aquí se presentan las estrategias de RAD en cuanto a los objetivos ecológicos para los sistemas acuáticos y objetivos sociológicos para las pesquerías. Dichas estrategias están presentadas en una matriz de control, la cual explora la habilidad de guiar el comportamiento de un sistema hacia el estado deseado basado en la capacidad ecológica a responder al manejo y la receptividad social a cambios. Entender y mejorar el nivel de control de sistemas acuáticos y pesquerías puede ayudar a los manejadores a mantener una amplia selección de estrategias de manejo RAD.
Shrimp farming in Southeast Asia is often touted as a globalisation success story. The region emerged as a key area for farmed shrimp production in the 1990s, and it remains a leading producer of shrimp for export to international markets to this day. This achievement has not, however, been without cost. Small-scale shrimp farmers in Southeast Asia have suffered persistent social, economic and environmental dislocations stemming from price pressures imposed by globalisation and neoliberal economic policies in the seafood sector. Community supported fisheries (CSF) represent an alternative marketing model which could potentially support small-scale producers in Southeast Asia whose viability is threatened by the intensification of shrimp production by large corporate interests. This article investigates opportunities for CSF in the region, encourages research that builds social capital in aquaculture communities, and identifies opportunities to link small-scale shrimp farming operations with local markets that seek high quality seafood produced in an environmentally sustainable and socially responsible manner.
Alternative food networks (AFNs) for seafood employ different approaches along their diverse value chains, yet typically share five common attributes – supporting small-scale and place-based fishing operations through the provision of traceable, sustainable, and high-quality seafood products to customers. While a range of benefits from AFNs have been described, the potential for broad impacts of seafood AFNs remains largely unknown due to a range of constraints, including a lack of understanding of consumer preferences related to different seafood attributes, including those central to AFNs. This paper utilizes an online survey of consumers in Canada (n = 2006) to assess the potential demand for products supplied through seafood AFNs. Results indicate both barriers and opportunities for growing seafood AFNs. While respondents’ top three consumed seafood species (salmon, tuna, and shrimp) aligned with North American consumption patterns, a willingness to substitute between species was also indicated, which could present market opportunities for seafood AFNs offering a variety of product options based on local seasonality and abundance. Respondents prioritized product quality attributes situated at the consumption end of the value chain (e.g., taste, appearance, freshness, affordability, health benefits, and seafood type) over harvesting-related features (e.g., sustainability, production method, and fair compensation to harvesters). In addition, despite some degree of willingness to pay (WTP) – especially for high quality seafood – respondents were not willing to pay large price premiums for other features emphasized by seafood AFNs. Finally, different consumer segments interact differently with seafood AFNs’ five key features – for example, higher WTP was evidenced amongst younger consumers. Overall, the paper suggests that seafood AFNs should consider emphasizing their high-quality product offerings, pricing their products competitively, and targeting specific consumer segments when looking to expand into new markets.
Direct marketing of seafood is a promising avenue for seafood sales in the United States, utilizing local foods venues such as farmers markets and Community Supported Fisheries (CSFs). While interest in locally sourced seafood among local foods communities in Atlanta and Athens, Georgia is high, fishers from coastal Georgia have not filled this profitable niche. We investigate why this opportunity is not exploited by conducting qualitative interviews with twenty-one fishers. Fishers described numerous obstacles to direct marketing, focused on the simultaneous labor investment in on-shore and “on the water” efforts. In addition, fishers’ concerns reveal the financial and social risks that fishers would undertake by attempting to sell seafood outside of their existing economic arrangements with docks. This relationship echoes the understudied patron-client relationships described in fisheries in Southeast Asia. We conclude with a recommendation for modifying direct marketing expectations to accommodate successful integration of seafood.
The processing/wholesale supply chain model has been historically adopted by farmers of Australia's Sydney rock oyster (SRO) (Saccostrea glomerata) industry to transfer their product to consumers. The model has been criticized for restricting farmer's price bargaining power and for offering limited added value to the product. Recent anecdotal reports suggest that there has been a change in how oysters are supplied by farmers to the market. This case study aimed to map the supply chain of SROs at an industry level, to identify and to describe the existing supply and value chain models within the broader supply network structure, and to investigate factors that determine how farmers choose supply chain models. A literature review, a web-content search, and semi-structured interviews with supply chain stakeholders were undertaken to achieve these aims. Results suggest that the processing/wholesale model still plays a dominant role within the broader supply network. However, other models of supply chain coordination that generate higher returns have emerged in response to farmer's dissatisfaction with the processor/wholesaler model. Findings suggest that oyster farmers choose specific distribution models based on the net financial value they generate and other considerations such as farmers' skills, interest in maximizing profits, knowledge about consumer demand, time/effort to develop network links and existing trust-based relationships.
Consistent with preferences for other food products, consumers increasingly care about a range of search and credence seafood characteristics such as: environmental effects and product form. This study utilized a dataset obtained from an online survey, and a Multivariate Ordered Probit formulation to examine the impact of: demographic characteristics, lifestyle preferences, and seafood consumption frequency on preferences for selected seafood attributes. The findings indicate that the factors influencing consumer preferences differ across the attributes examined. Although some demographic variables have a statistically significant effect on consumers’ preferences for seafood attributes other than price, their predictive power was limited regarding preferences for wild-caught, fresh seafood and the impact of sustainability on purchasing decisions. Furthermore, consumers who utilize direct marketing outlets have stronger preferences towards fresh and wild-caught seafood products.
Fishing communities are highly dependent on fishing and maritime economies. Regulations and techniques attempt to control quotas, types of fish caught, and the gear utilized in the industry. Furthermore, societal preferences and markets dictate the value of the fish transacted. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship and recent changes between fishing and community development in two fishing communities in Massachusetts: Gloucester and New Bedford. Moreover, I also discuss the role that fish food plays in cities and their foodways. The research asks how these communities have adapted to changes in fishing stocks, techniques, socioeconomic trends and regulations during the last two decades. A resilience public affairs approach centered on seven governance dimensions of fisheries is utilized to analyze the case studies. It is argued that specializing in niche markets, developing adequate industry facilities, and nurturing the cultural aspects endemic to each fishing community has positively influenced the communities' capacity to withstand major societal transformations. The harbor plans for Gloucester and New Bedford provide some plausible directions toward future improvements in the fishing sector.
The sustainable seafood movement is at a crossroads. Its core strategy, also known as a theory of change, is based on market-oriented initiatives such as third-party certification but does not motivate adequate levels of improved governance and environmental improvements needed in many fisheries, especially in developing countries. Price premiums for certified products are elusive, multiple forms of certification compete in a crowded marketplace and certifiers are increasingly asked to address social as well as ecological goals. This paper traces how the sustainable seafood movement has evolved over time to address new challenges while success remains limited. We conclude by exploring four alternative potential outcomes for the future theory of change, each with different contributions to creating a more sustainable global seafood supply. The decades-long movement for sustainable seafood is centred on a ‘theory of change’ that emphasizes third-party initiatives for certification and consumer signalling. The evolution of that theory, and its potential futures, shows the challenges of management and co-ordination with multiple actors.
A series of coordinated case studies compares the structure, size, and performance of local food supply chains with those of mainstream supply chains. Interviews and site visits with farms and businesses, supplemented with secondary data, describe how food moves from farms to consumers in 15 food supply chains. Key comparisons between supply chains include the degree of product differentiation, diversification of marketing outlets, and information conveyed to consumers about product origin. The cases highlight differences in prices and the distribution of revenues among supply chain participants, local retention of wages and proprietor income, transportation fuel use, and social capital creation.
Faced with strict regulations, rising operational costs, depleted stocks, and competition from less expensive foreign imports, many fishers are pursuing new ways to market and sell their catch. Direct marketing arrangements can increase the ex-vessel value of seafood and profitability of operations for fishers by circumventing dominant wholesale chains of custody and capturing the premium that customers are willing to pay for local seafood. Our analysis goes beyond a paradigm that understands direct marketing arrangements as solely economic tools to consider how these emerging business configurations create a set of conditions that can result in increased bonding and bridging capital among fishers by incentivizing cooperation, communication, and information production and organization. To build our case, we report on the economic value being generated for fishers in a cooperatively owned and operated direct marketing arrangement in eastern North Carolina. Over the course of 2 years, fishers participating in the Walking Fish community-supported fishery received 33% more revenue for their catch compared to the average monthly ex-vessel price of finfish and shellfish landed in the surrounding region, and an additional 14% to 18% more per dollar by way of year-end profit sharing. We argue that these economic benefits create an incentive to participate, resulting in cooperation among fishers and increased communication skills that foster bonding and bridging capital that put fishers in a position to identify and respond to challenges that threaten the social-ecological resilience of the systems within which they operate. We suggest that “institutional starters” like these can play a critical role in increasing the resilience of social-ecological systems, including fisheries.
Community-supported fisheries (CSF) projects show signs of rapid growth. Modeled on community-supported agriculture (CSA) projects, CSFs share objectives of reducing social and physical distance between consumers and producers and re-embedding food systems in social and environmental contexts. This article offers a comparison of CSF and CSA, situated in the differences between seafood and agricultural products, and fishing and farming. We draw on economic and resource theory, past research on CSA, and a member survey from a case study CSF. Survey results show CSF members are interested in accessing high-quality, fresh, local seafood, and in supporting fishing communities, and they believe that participating in a CSF achieves both. They are less certain that a CSF can address environmental concerns, and few identify environmental motives as their primary reason for participating. The latter contrasts with CSA research results, and we contextualize these findings in our broader comparison.
Illegal and unreported catches represented 20–32% by weight of wild-caught seafood imported to the USA in 2011, as determined from robust estimates, including uncertainty, of illegal and unreported fishing activities in the source countries. These illegal imports are valued at between 2.1 billion, out of a total of $16.5 billion for the 2.3 million tonnes of edible seafood imports, including farmed products. This trade represents between 4% and 16% of the value of the global illegal fish catch and reveals the unintentional role of the USA, one of the largest seafood markets in the world, in funding the profits of illegal fishing. Supply chain case studies are presented for tuna, wild shrimp and Chinese re-processed Russian pollock, salmon and crab imported to the USA. To address this critical issue of unintended financing of illegal fishing, possible remedies from industry practices and government policies may include improved chain of custody and traceability controls and an amendment to the USA Lacey Act.
A “buy local” approach to food sourcing appears to provide an increasingly salient mobilizing framework for city, county, and state level governments; non-profits; and funding agencies as a response to problems in the agri-food system. One rather constant source of tension, however, has been a failure to develop shared meanings about what constitutes “local food.” This paper critically examines the multiple ways that “local” is constructed in physical, relational, and symbolic space within the specific context of Washington State. In hopes of extending the debate beyond scholars and activists, we sought the perspectives of a broad sample of Washington citizens using farmer and consumer surveys. Open-ended questions were asked about the meaning of “local food,” as well as structured questions about the values and practical considerations associated with food production and marketing. Although a number of obstacles to using “local food” as a mobilizing construct to address systemic agricultural problems became evident, a surprising amount of agreement about the meaning of the concept was also uncovered.
We use a socio-historical lens to look at how Community Supported Agriculture programs (CSAs) have gained legitimacy as a market form. In this article, we question the countercultural conception of CSAs, especially given their rapid growth over the past 25 years. We contend that placing CSA within a larger frame of reference that incorporates American pastoral values and connects CSA to the history of American pastoralism helps account for how CSA has gained legitimacy with mainstream users. We show that American pastoralism provides a link between 19th century agrarian ideals, 1950s suburbia, 1970s counter-cultural communards, and today’s CSAs. In showing the ubiquity and chameleon like character of American pastoralist ideology, we suggest that it is an important example of a cultural imaginary, which is inducing change in food markets in the United States and at the same time masking certain cultural contradictions. We propose that the development of the Internet as a channel of communication has aided in building legitimacy for this market form by promoting both more personal commercial communications and the possibility of de-massification of communications. Thus, CSAs’ web presence reinforces egalitarian principles and the perception of shared community that are central ingredients of pastoralist ideology.
Ethnography has always been subject to criticism from quantitative sociologists, who accord it a minimal role, but it has recently come under attack from sociologists sympathetic to the method, who themselves have considerable experience in its use. I call this the ethnographic critique of ethnography. This critique questions the reliability of ethnographic descriptions, and shows ethnographic texts to be artefacts, skilfully manufactured in order to construct their persuasive force. This paper offers a defence of ethnography. It identifies the strengths and weaknesses of ethnographic data, and explores some of the procedures an ethnographer must adopt in order to give authority to the data. Some of these procedures are applied to the highly controversial question of sectarianism in the RUC. However, this substantive topic is also useful for illustrating the limits of rules of method to adjudicate those differences between ethnographers and readers of their texts which extend beyond technical matters.
Local food systems' movements, practices, and writings pose increasingly visible structures of resistance and counter-pressure to conventional globalizing food systems. The place of food seems to be the quiet centre of the discourses emerging with these movements. The purpose of this paper is to identify issues of 'place', which are variously described as the 'local' and 'community' in the local food systems literature, and to do so in conjunction with the geographic discussion focused on questions and meanings around these spatial concepts. I see raising the profile of questions, complexity and potential of these concepts as an important role and challenge for the scholar-advocate in the realm of local food systems, and for geographers sorting through them. Both literatures benefit from such a foray. The paper concludes, following a 'cautiously normative' tone, that there is strong argument for emplacing our food systems, while simultaneously calling for careful circumspection and greater clarity regarding how we delineate and understand the 'local'. Being conscious of the constructed nature of the 'local', 'community' and 'place' means seeing the importance of local social, cultural and ecological particularity in our everyday worlds, while also recognizing that we are reflexively and dialectially tied to many and diverse locals around the world.
The abstract for this document is available on CSA Illumina.To view the Abstract, click the Abstract button above the document title.
Increasing attention by consumers to the social and environmental dimensions of the food they eat has generated many different responses, including certification programs, watch lists and local/slow food movements. This article examines the more recent entry of seafood into these consumer social movements. Although a concern with the family farm—as well as tendency to equate national security with food security—has long connected terrestrial food production with other cultural concerns, fisheries have tended to be regarded more as natural resources. Considering seafood as part of the “food system” would enhance the management of fisheries, while the long engagement in fisheries with co- and adaptive management and the politics of knowledge would enrich the debate in the agri-foods literature. The article also offers suggestions on how fisheries management could better govern for sustainable food systems, and provide further ideas about food, sustainability and governance.
In 2001 FAO published the "International Plan of Action to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing". Based on this plan, national and supranational authorities have developed legislation to fight the so called IUU fishing. A key aspect of the legislation proposed so far is the mandatory recording of some data elements and the requirement that these data should be available for access through a traceability system. This article outlines a general framework for evaluation of these types of requirements, using a predictor-outcome N-way matrix. A "good practise" system is described, against which the existing systems and practises can be evaluated. The framework can be used to assess if the regulatory requirements ensure that the relevant IUU fishing identification data are made available, and it can also be used to evaluate the requirements imposed on the traceability system.
Laying a Solid Foundation for Community Supported Fisheries
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Stopping Bait & Switch
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On the Heels of Farm-to-Fork Week, Gordon Bill Supporting Expansion of Community Supported Agriculture Signed by Governor Brown
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