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Committing to socially responsible seafood

DOI:10.1126/science.aam9969
Authors:
John N. Kittinger at Conservation International
John N. Kittinger
Lydia C.L. Teh at University of British Columbia - Vancouver
Lydia C.L. Teh
Edward H Allison at University of Washington Seattle
Edward H Allison
Nathan James Bennett at University of Santiago de Compostela
Nathan James Bennett
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Abstract and Figures

Seafood is the world's most internationally traded food commodity. Approximately three out of every seven people globally rely on seafood as a primary source of animal protein (1). Revelations about slavery and labor rights abuses in fisheries have sparked outrage and shifted the conversation (2, 3), placing social issues at the forefront of a sector that has spent decades working to improve environmental sustainability. In response, businesses are seeking to reduce unethical practices and reputational risks in their supply chains. Governments are formulating policy responses, and nonprofit and philanthropic organizations are deploying resources and expertise to address critical social issues. Yet the scientific community has not kept pace with concerns for social issues in the sector. As the United Nations Ocean Conference convenes in New York (5 to 9 June), we propose a framework for social responsibility and identify key steps the scientific community must take to inform policy and practice for this global challenge.
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INSIGHTS
sciencemag.org SCIENCE
PHOTO: AU-UN IST PHOTO/STUART PRICE
By John N. Kittinger, Lydia C. L. Teh,
Edward H. Allison, Nathan J. Bennett,
Larry B. Crowder, Elena M. Finkbeiner,
Christina Hicks, Cheryl G. Scarton,
Katrina Nakamura, Yoshitaka Ota,
Jhana Young, Aurora Alifano, Ashley
Apel, Allison Arbib, Lori Bishop, Mariah
Boyle, Andrés M. Cisneros-Montemayor,
Philip Hunter, Elodie Le Cornu, Max
Levine, Richard S. Jones, J. Zachary
Koehn, Melissa Marschke, Julia G. Mason,
Fiorenza Micheli, Loren McClenachan,
Charlotte Opal, Jonathan Peacey, S. Hoyt
Peckham, Eva Schemmel, Vivienne Solis-
Rivera, Wilf Swartz, T. ‘Aulani Wilhelm
Seafood is the world’s most interna-
tionally traded food commodity. Ap-
proximately three out of every seven
people globally rely on seafood as a
primary source of animal protein (1).
Revelations about slavery and labor
rights abuses in fisheries have sparked out-
rage and shifted the conversation (2, 3), plac-
ing social issues at the forefront of a sector
that has spent decades working to improve
environmental sustainability. In response,
businesses are seeking to reduce unethi-
cal practices and reputational risks in their
supply chains. Governments are formulating
policy responses, and nonprofit
and philanthropic organizations
are deploying resources and ex-
pertise to address critical social
issues. Yet the scientific com-
munity has not kept pace with
concerns for social issues in the
sector. As the United Nations
Ocean Conference convenes
in New York (5 to 9 June), we
propose a framework for social
responsibility and identify key
steps the scientific community
must take to inform policy and
practice for this global challenge.
Over the past several decades,
the scientific community has
invested sizable effort in deter-
mining key elements for environ-
mental sustainability in fisheries
and aquaculture, informing the
creation of globally recognized
standards [e.g., (4)]. A similar effort is now
needed for social responsibility, yet compara-
tively little research effort has been invested
in the social dimensions of seafood sustain-
ability. As a result, the seafood sector has
largely been in a reactive stance, respond-
ing to visible issues associated with slavery
and human rights. Although these egregious
violations must be eliminated, social respon-
sibility encompasses far more, and a narrow
focus overlooks other pervasive issues that
have real-world impacts on billions of people.
To remedy this, we developed a compre-
hensive framework for social responsibility,
responding to a need for alignment around a
shared, transdisciplinary approach, informed
by a strong scientific basis to support policy
and practice. Policy instruments such as the
International Labour Organization’s Work in
Fishing Convention, the Food and Agricul-
ture Organization of the United Nations’ Vol-
untary Guidelines for Securing Small-Scale
Fisheries, and the UN’s guiding principles on
business and human rights are already being
used by governments, businesses, and non-
profit organizations as the basis for action
on specific issues, such as human rights and
labor. Our framework unites a diverse set of
social issues that have heretofore been frag-
mented and is informed by social science
research on human rights, natural resource
management, and international develop-
ment. Our framework is also informed by
practical experience from organizations and
experts that work in the seafood sector and is
supported by a strong legal and policy basis
for implementation, as indicated by review
of international law, policy, and guidance
(table S1). The framework comprises three
components (see fig. S1): (i) protecting hu-
man rights and dignity and respecting ac-
cess to resources, (ii) ensuring equality and
equitable opportunities to benefit, and (iii)
improving food and livelihood security (see
the photo).
FRAMING SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Protecting human rights requires that fun-
damental human rights are respected, labor
rights are protected, and decent working
conditions and safety standards are pro-
vided, particularly for at-risk groups. Human
rights violations range in severity from the
most egregious, such as slavery, to less acute
but pervasive practices such as abrogation of
wages, poor working conditions, and restric-
tions on freedoms. Violation of these rights
in the seafood industry has been observed in
both developing and developed economies
(5). A largely overlooked, but critical, aspect
of human rights is rights to re-
sources, including traditional
tenure and access rights. These
social, economic, and cultural
rights are central to many indig-
enous management systems and
are especially rele-vant in small-
scale and customary fisheries
that supply most of the catch for
direct human consumption but
where regulatory institutions to
protect fishers’ interests are gen-
erally lacking (6).
Ensuring that seafood is eq-
uitably produced requires that
benefits derived from its pro-
duction accrue to all partici-
pants in the supply chain (e.g.,
fishers, processors, and dis-
tributors), not just those with
financial or political power (7).
Ensuring equality requires that
SCIENCE AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Committing to socially responsible seafood
POLICY FORUM
Ocean science must evolve to meet social challenges in the seafood sector
A man carries a sailfish to the Xamar Weyne district fish market in Mogadishu,
Somalia. Overfishing by foreign vessels affects Somali food and income security.
912 2 JUNE 2017 • VOL 356 ISSUE 6341
Published by AAAS
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SCIENCE sciencemag.org
workers receive appropriate recognition,
voice, and engagement, irrespective of their
gender, ethnicity, nationality, culture, or so-
cioeconomic status. Marginalized groups,
such as women, are often discounted in
terms of their role, knowledge, or influence
in fisheries (8), and the high prevalence of
migrant labor in the seafood industry can
create conditions ripe for discrimination
(5). Failure to recognize issues of equity
and social justice can result in misguided
policies, often with consequences for small-
scale producers, minorities, or women (9).
Improving food and livelihood security re-
quires that ocean-dependent communities,
some of the most vulnerable people in the
world, do not suffer from the global seafood
trade (8). In coastal fisheries in Africa, for ex-
ample, extraction by foreign fleets is reduc-
ing the availability of fish, the main source of
animal protein, affecting both nutritional and
income security (10). Such practices place vul-
nerable populations at risk and run counter
to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs). Businesses are obligated under inter-
national policy to ensure that their practices
do not undermine food and livelihood secu-
rity, including providing fair access to mar-
kets and preserving capabilities for workers
to generate income in the face of social and
environmental change. Businesses can do
more than mitigate their impact and should
seek to improve livelihood conditions where
they operate and ensure food security where
seafood is a critical component of diets (11).
SCIENCE FOR A SEA CHANGE
This framework can aid in global alignment
among governments, businesses, civil soci-
ety and nonprofit organizations, driving in-
tegration of social responsibility into policy,
practice, and ultimately performance in the
sector. Here, we identify opportunities for
the scientific community to support this
transition by providing relevant knowledge
to inform actionable approaches toward so-
cial outcomes.
First, ocean science must evolve—incorpo-
rating a stronger focus on social dimensions
and their linkages to environmental issues.
Social science is embedded in sustainability
science, but key social science concepts such
as agency, inequality, and social justice are
missing from many sustainability efforts (12),
and social science research capacity in the
sector is woefully inadequate. Environmental
challenges—including habitat destruction,
overfishing, and resource collapse—threaten
the viability of livelihoods and food security
and create conditions for discrimination
and subversion of human rights. Social and
environmental issues often overlap in the
same geographies, such as Southeast Asia, a
hotspot of overfishing and labor issues (13). In
these areas, slavery and forced labor depress
the true cost of extraction, which distorts the
market and promotes overexploitation (14).
The research community can play a timely
and important role in assessing the linkages
between environmental sustainability and
social issues, bringing necessary expertise
together to inform responses by businesses,
government, nonprofits, and communities.
The UN SDGs explicitly recognize the link
between ecosystem health and human well-
being, but more integrated approaches need
to be developed to address these issues in the
fisheries and aquaculture sector.
Second, the scientific community has a
major role to play in research, monitoring,
and analysis of the seafood sector, including
developing rigorous, objective approaches
to evaluate performance. Evidence-based
assessments are needed to understand the
scale of social abuses and the efficacy of ap-
proaches, particularly as governments begin
to translate existing international laws, poli-
cies, and guidance (table S1) into domestic
laws, regional initiatives, and regulations
to improve industry practices. Social sci-
ence provides a strong foundation for these
approaches, and existing performance in-
dicators and tools [e.g., (12, 15)] need to be
adapted to meet this challenge. The research
community can also integrate social respon-
sibility indicators into globally accepted per-
formance standards for sustainable seafood
by ratings and certification schemes, reduc-
ing the prevalence of social abuses and risks
for businesses. Continued development of
research approaches, tools, and technologies
will be critical, particularly to ensure trans-
parency and accountability, to reduce risk
and secure market incentives for businesses,
and to produce credible information while
considering the sensitivity and risk associ-
ated with researching these issues (13).
Third, the research community must be
responsive to real-world needs. The current
level of commitment to integrating the pri-
orities of stakeholders and decision-makers
into research is inadequate. This requires
more than simply training and hiring more
social scientists in the sector—it requires a
shift in (i) the way social and environmental
research is conceptualized and conducted
together with stakeholders, (ii) the expertise
prioritized in the development of research
capacity and initiatives, and (iii) the level
of resources directed toward these issues.
This requires prioritizing the coproduc-
tion of knowledge with the scientific com-
munity engaged together with stakeholders
in a participatory approach to develop re-
search initiatives that have a clear pathway
for implementation in practice. The ocean
science community can benefit from experi-
ence in other production sectors—including
agriculture, forestry, energy, and mining—
that have addressed similar challenges by
investing in shared strategies, a strong mul-
tidisciplinary evidence base, and collabora-
tive institutional arrangements and global
research networks [e.g., (16, 17)].
By 2030, the oceans will need to supply 152
to 188 million metric tons of seafood to nour-
ish a growing population (18). Fulfilling this
demand in a socially and environmentally
sustainable manner will require increased
investment from public and private sources,
so that the level of resources and expertise
committed is commensurate with the scale
of these challenges. Across the sector, organi-
zations that work on environmental sustain-
ability issues will need to work more closely
with socially focused organizations, as these
issues are intrinsically linked and require
joint investments. The global conversation
about social issues presents an opportunity
for the seafood sector to take steps to ensure
that a healthy ocean will support human
well-being, now and into the future.
REFERENCES AND NOTES
1. Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations,
“The state of world fisheries and aquaculture” (FAO, 2016).
2. K. Hodal , C. Kelly, F. Law rence, Guardian, 10 June 2014.
3. M. Mendoza, R. McDowell, M. Mason, E. Htusan, “Fishermen
slaves: Human trafficking and the seafood we eat”
(Associated Press, 15 March 2016).
4. Marine Stewardship Council, “MSC fisheries standard”
(MSC, London, 2014).
5. M. Ma rsch ke, P. Vanderge est, Ma r. Po l ic y 68, 39 (2016).
6. C. Sharma, Mar. Stud. 10, 41 (2 011).
7. C. Béné, R. Lawton, E. H. Allison, Worl d De v. 38, 933 (2010).
8 . N. Weerat unge, K . A. Snyder, C. P. Sze, Fish Fish. 11, 405
(2010).
9. E. H. Allison, F. Ellis, Mar. Pol i cy 25, 377 (2001).
10. J. S. Brashares et al., Science 306, 1180 (2004).
11 . C. D. G old en et al., Nature 534, 317 (2016).
12. C. C. Hic ks et al., Science 352, 38 (2016).
13. J. Stride, D. Murphy, “Assessing government and business
responses to the Thai seafood crisis” (The Freedom Fund,
London, and Humanity United, San Francisco, CA, 2016);
http://freedomfund.org/wp-content/uploads/Thai-
seafood-reforms-FINAL.pdf.
14 . S. Gold , A. Trautri ms, Z . Trodd, Supply Chain Manag. Int. J.
20, 485 (2015).
15. J. L. Anderson et al., P LOS ONE 10, e0122809 (2015).
16. Humanity United, Free and Fair Labor in Palm Oil Production:
Principles and Implementation Guidance (Humanity United,
San Francisco, CA, 2015).
17. Sustainable Coffee Challenge, “Sustainability Framework”
(Conservation International, 2016)
18. Secretariat, Fishing for a Future, Getting to Eden: Building
an Ideal Future for the Global Fish Food System through
Collective Action (Fishing for a Future, 2013).
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The opinions expressed in this article are the authors’ own
and do not reflect the institutional policies or viewpoints of
organizations with which individual authors are affiliated. We
acknowledge support from the Nippon Foundation’s Nereus
Program, the NSF IGERT Program on Ocean Change (award no.
1068839), the Center for Ocean Solutions, Stanford University,
the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of
Canada, and the Liber Ero Fellowship Program.
SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS
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10.1126/science.aam9969
See supplementary materials for author affiliations.
Email: jkittinger@conservation.org
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(6341), 912-913. [doi: 10.1126/science.aam9969]356Science
2017)
Vivienne Solis-Rivera, Wilf Swartz and T. 'Aulani Wilhelm (June 1,
Charlotte Opal, Jonathan Peacey, S. Hoyt Peckham, Eva Schemmel,
Marschke, Julia G. Mason, Fiorenza Micheli, Loren McClenachan,
Cornu, Max Levine, Richard S. Jones, J. Zachary Koehn, Melissa
Boyle, Andrés M. Cisneros-Montemayor, Philip Hunter, Elodie Le
Aurora Alifano, Ashley Apel, Allison Arbib, Lori Bishop, Mariah
Cheryl G. Scarton, Katrina Nakamura, Yoshitaka Ota, Jhana Young,
Bennett, Larry B. Crowder, Elena M. Finkbeiner, Christina Hicks,
John N. Kittinger, Lydia C. L. Teh, Edward H. Allison, Nathan J.
Committing to socially responsible seafood
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Supplementary resource (1)

Kittinger-etal Suppl Materials-Socially Responsible Seafood
Data
June 2017
John N. Kittinger · Lydia C.L. Teh · Edward H Allison · Nathan James Bennett · T. Aulani Wilhelm
... The range of social issues in fisheries span human rights abuses and wider labour issues around terms and conditions of employment, in addition to the broader notions of wellbeing, food security, gender equality and health impacts at the community level [3], which are more frequently the focus of FIPs in small scale fisheries. Underpinning the emergent social agenda in FIPs is the Monterey Framework [11,12]-a framework developed and advanced by NGOs, companies, and academics that notably failed to engage trade unions, workers' representatives, and human rights authorities in its development and thus cannot be understood as a tool grounded in a labour and human rights context. The Monterey Framework defines socially responsible seafood as: (1) Protecting human rights, dignity, and access to resources; (2) Ensuring equality and equitable opportunities to benefit; and (3) Improving food and livelihood security [12]. ...
... Underpinning the emergent social agenda in FIPs is the Monterey Framework [11,12]-a framework developed and advanced by NGOs, companies, and academics that notably failed to engage trade unions, workers' representatives, and human rights authorities in its development and thus cannot be understood as a tool grounded in a labour and human rights context. The Monterey Framework defines socially responsible seafood as: (1) Protecting human rights, dignity, and access to resources; (2) Ensuring equality and equitable opportunities to benefit; and (3) Improving food and livelihood security [12]. Attempting to unify a continuum of social issues experienced in the seafood sector, its original intent was to elevate social issues at the 2017 UN Oceans Conference via voluntary commitments and inform a social scientific agenda to influence policy and practice [12]. ...
... The Monterey Framework defines socially responsible seafood as: (1) Protecting human rights, dignity, and access to resources; (2) Ensuring equality and equitable opportunities to benefit; and (3) Improving food and livelihood security [12]. Attempting to unify a continuum of social issues experienced in the seafood sector, its original intent was to elevate social issues at the 2017 UN Oceans Conference via voluntary commitments and inform a social scientific agenda to influence policy and practice [12]. Since then, it could be argued that the Monterey Framework has been used to avoid human and labour rights policies and legally binding commitments to benefit workers [1]. ...
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... This rapid expansion in the fish trade has increased the world's fish consumption and associated cases of seafood fraud. Routing seafood products through a complex supply chain reduces traceability and creates an opportunity for seafood fraud [28,29]. Among different types of seafood frauds, the identification of geographical origin misrepresentations is one of the most difficult to detect and thus is likely to go unnoticed, eventually hurting the profitability and credibility of seafood producers associated with a famed place. ...
... This rapid expansion in the fish trade has increased the world's fish consumption and associated cases of seafood fraud. Routing seafood products through a complex supply chain reduces traceability and creates an opportunity for seafood fraud [28,29]. Among different types of seafood frauds, the identification of geographical origin misrepre-sentations is one of the most difficult to detect and thus is likely to go unnoticed, eventually hurting the profitability and credibility of seafood producers associated with a famed place. ...
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... Social responsibility a term that encompasses a broad spectrum of social issues relevant to global seafood production, including human rights, labor rights, and economic development (Conservation Alliance for Seafood Solutions, 2021a). In practice, it includes diverse initiatives in which fundamental rights are respected, labor rights are protected, benefits are equitably distributed, and safe and decent working conditions are provided for both men and women (Kittinger et al., 2017;Opal, 2018;Teh et al., 2019). The Sustainable Seafood Movement, initially focused on environmental sustainability, began by conservation non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in response to government inability to regulate and address overfishing in valuable fisheries (Gutiérrez and Morgan, 2015;Konefal, 2013;Roheim et al., 2018). ...
... As a result of mounting evidence around human and labor rights issues in the seafood sector, in the past several years, social responsibility has become an increasing focus of the Sustainable Seafood Movement and is now being integrated into existing interventions like certifications, FIPs, and buyer sourcing commitments, resulting in the proliferation of new tools (Ross Strategic et al., 2020). In 2017, the Monterey Framework for Social Responsibility was developed to define social responsibility in the sector and align efforts (Kittinger et al., 2017). This framework has since garnered voluntary commitments from over two dozen businesses and is now recognized by the Conservation Alliance for Seafood Solutions in their Common Vision (Conservation Alliance for Seafood Solutions, 2021a). ...
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  • Sep 2022
Seasonality is a natural feature of wild caught fisheries that introduces variation in food supply, and which often is amplified by fisheries management systems. Seasonal timing of landings patterns and linkages to consumption patterns can have a potentially strong impact on income for coastal communities as well as import patterns. This study characterizes the relationship between seasonality in seafood production and consumption in the United States by analyzing monthly domestic fisheries landings and imports and retail sales of farmed and wild seafood from 2017 to 2019. Analyses were conducted for total seafood sales, by product form, by species group, and by region of the United States. The data reveal strong seasonal increases in consumption around December and March. Seasonal increases in consumption in Spring and Summer occurred in parallel with domestic fishing production. Domestic landings vary by region, but most regions have peak fishing seasons between May and October. Alaska has the largest commercial fishery in the United States and seasonal peaks in Alaska (July/August, February/March) strongly influence seasonality in national landings. Misalignment between domestic production and consumption in some seasons and species groups creates opportunities for imports to supplement demand and lost opportunities for domestic producers.
... A healthy and sustainable food system is underpinned by knowing where food comes from, and how it is produced. However, wild-caught seafood is a hard-to-monitor shared resource, and seafood supply chains are often opaque and complex (Fox et al., 2018;Kittinger et al., 2017), which in turn makes seafood particularly vulnerable to fraud. Provenance fraud occurs when consumers or businesses are intentionally deceived about where seafood is caught or its production method, with products often substituted with lower-quality and lowervalue options, or harvested from locations with fewer regulations regarding sustainability or ethics concerns. ...
The universal imprint of oxygen isotopes can track the origins of seafood
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Full-text available
  • Sep 2022
Identifying the source of seafood is critical for combatting seafood fraud, but current tools are predominantly developed and applied on a species‐specific basis. This study investigates how multiple marine taxa could be geolocated at global scales by exploiting stable oxygen isotope compositions in carbonate biominerals (δ18Obiomin), where we expect to see universally expressed and predictable spatial variation in δ18Obiomin values across taxa. We constructed global ocean isoscapes of predicted δ18Obiomin values specific to fish (otoliths), cephalopod (statoliths) and shellfish (shells), and a fourth combined “universal” isoscape, and evaluated their capacity to derive δ18Obiomin values among known‐origin samples. High correspondence between isoscape‐predicted δ18Obiomin values and a compiled database of measured, georeferenced values (3954 datapoints encompassing 68 species) indicated that this δ18Obiomin approach works effectively, particularly in regions with highly resolved projections of seawater δ18O composition. When compared to taxon‐specific isoscapes, the universal isoscape demonstrated similar accuracy, indicating exciting potential for universal provenance applications. We tested the universal framework via a case study, using machine‐learning models to identify sample origins amongst regions of divergent (Tropical Asia vs Temperate Australasia) and similar (Temperate Asia vs Temperate Australasia) climates and latitudes. Classification accuracy averaged 75.3% between divergent regions, and 66% between similar regions. When endothermic tuna species were excluded from the analysis, the accuracy between divergent regions increased up to 90% between divergent regions. This study presents the first empirical step towards developing universal chemical markers, which have the potential to support a more inclusive and global approach of validating provenance of seafood.
Rights and representation support justice across aquatic food systems
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Full-text available
  • Oct 2022
Injustices are prevalent in food systems, where the accumulation of vast wealth is possible for a few, yet one in ten people remain hungry. Here, for 194 countries we combine aquatic food production, distribution and consumption data with corresponding national policy documents and, drawing on theories of social justice, explore whether barriers to participation explain unequal distributions of benefits. Using Bayesian models, we find economic and political barriers are associated with lower wealth-based benefits; countries produce and consume less when wealth, formal education and voice and accountability are lacking. In contrast, social barriers are associated with lower welfare-based benefits; aquatic foods are less affordable where gender inequality is greater. Our analyses of policy documents reveal a frequent failure to address political and gender-based barriers. However, policies linked to more just food system outcomes centre principles of human rights, specify inclusive decision-making processes and identify and challenge drivers of injustice.
Nutrition: Fall in fish catch threatens human health
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  • Jun 2016
Christopher Golden and colleagues calculate that declining numbers of marine fish will spell more malnutrition in many developing nations.
Slavery scandals: Unpacking labour challenges and policy responses within the off-shore fisheries sector
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Over the past year, scandals around what has been labelled slave labour in the industrial fisheries sector in Thailand have revealed not only the connections between northern buyers and southern labour practices, but also the relative lack of research on fisheries labour in Asia and the global South. The slavery and trafficking framings pervading these depictions have been very useful for drawing attention to and acting on criminal activities in labour recruitment and abuse, but have limits as a basis for addressing the underlying causes of forced labour in fisheries. Insights from research on regional labour migration as well as the work of civil society organisations in Thailand suggest that broader improvements in labour relations will require changes in migration management, with a focus on addressing vulnerabilities that restrict the abilities of migrant workers to obtain better working conditions. This analysis provides the basis for assessing the potential and limits of recent programmes to improve labour relations on the oceans, including anti-trafficking policies, IUU enforcement, buyer efforts to ensure that supply chains do not involve forced or illegal labour relations, and Thai government actions.
Modern slavery challenges to supply chain management
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Purpose – This paper aims to draw attention to the challenges modern slavery poses to supply chain management. Although many international supply chains are (most often unknowingly) connected to slave labour activities, supply chain managers and researchers have so far neglected the issue. This will most likely change as soon as civil society lobbying and new legislation impose increasing litigation and reputational risks on companies operating international supply chains. Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides a definition of slavery; explores potentials for knowledge exchange with other disciplines; discusses management tools for detecting slavery, as well as suitable company responses after its detection; and outlines avenues for future research. Findings – Due to a lack of effective indicators, new tools and indicator systems need to be developed that consider the specific social, cultural and geographical context of supply regions. After detection of slavery, multi-stakeholder partnerships, community-centred approaches and supplier development appear to be effective responses. Research limitations/implications – New theory development in supply chain management (SCM) is urgently needed to facilitate the understanding, avoidance and elimination of slavery in supply chains. As a starting point for future research, the challenges of slavery to SCM are conceptualised, focussing on capabilities and specific institutional context. Practical implications – The paper provides a starting point for the development of practices and tools for identifying and removing slave labour from supply chains. Originality/value – Although representing a substantial threat to current supply chain models, slavery has so far not been addressed in SCM research.
The Fishery Performance Indicators: A Management Tool for Triple Bottom Line Outcomes
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Pursuit of the triple bottom line of economic, community and ecological sustainability has increased the complexity of fishery management; fisheries assessments require new types of data and analysis to guide science-based policy in addition to traditional biological information and modeling. We introduce the Fishery Performance Indicators (FPIs), a broadly applicable and flexible tool for assessing performance in individual fisheries, and for establishing cross-sectional links between enabling conditions, management strategies and triple bottom line outcomes. Conceptually separating measures of performance, the FPIs use 68 individual outcome metrics-coded on a 1 to 5 scale based on expert assessment to facilitate application to data poor fisheries and sectors-that can be partitioned into sector-based or triple-bottom-line sustainability-based interpretative indicators. Variation among outcomes is explained with 54 similarly structured metrics of inputs, management approaches and enabling conditions. Using 61 initial fishery case studies drawn from industrial and developing countries around the world, we demonstrate the inferential importance of tracking economic and community outcomes, in addition to resource status.
The Livelihoods Approach and Management of Small-Scale Fisheries
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An approach to poverty reduction in low-income countries known as the 'sustainable livelihoods approach' is applied to understanding the strategies of artisanal fisherfolk confronted by fluctuating fisheries resources. The livelihood approach is explained, and the insights it provides into conventional fisheries management policies in developing countries are explored. It is argued that both state-led management and some of the newer, community or territorial use-rights approaches, if predicated on an incomplete understanding of livelihoods, can result in management directives incompatible with both resource conservation and the social and economic goals of management.
Bushmeat Hunting, Wildlife Declines, and Fish Supply in West Africa
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The multibillion-dollar trade in bushmeat is among the most immediate threats to the persistence of tropical vertebrates, but our understanding of its underlying drivers and effects on human welfare is limited by a lack of empirical data. We used 30 years of data from Ghana to link mammal declines to the bushmeat trade and to spatial and temporal changes in the availability of fish. We show that years of poor fish supply coincided with increased hunting in nature reserves and sharp declines in biomass of 41 wildlife species. Local market data provide evidence of a direct link between fish supply and subsequent bushmeat demand in villages and show bushmeat's role as a dietary staple in the region. Our results emphasize the urgent need to develop cheap protein alternatives to bushmeat and to improve fisheries management by foreign and domestic fleets to avert extinctions of tropical wildlife.
"Trade Matters in the Fight Against Poverty": Narratives, Perceptions, and (Lack of) Evidence in the Case of Fish Trade in Africa
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Summary Two opposing views exist in the literature on the potential role that international fish trade plays in economic development. While some claim that fish trade has a pro-poor effect, others denounce the negative effect of fish export on local populations' food security and doubt its contributions to the macro-economy. In this paper, we explore this debate in sub-Saharan Africa. Our analysis did not find any evidence of direct negative impact of fish trade on food security; neither did it find evidence that international fish trade generates positive, pro-poor outcomes. This paper discusses the possible reasons for this apparent lack of development impact and highlights the unsupported assumptions underlying the current discourse about international fish trade. We suggest that, given lack of evidence for the development benefits of fish trade between Africa and developed countries, fisheries policy could consider support for regional (Africa-to-Africa) trade that meets the growing African demand for lower-value fish. Means of overcoming barriers to intra-African trade in fish are discussed.
Gleaner, fisher, trader, processor: Understanding gendered employment in fisheries and aquaculture
Article
Most research on gender difference or inequities in capture fisheries and aquaculture in Africa and the Asia-Pacific focuses on the gender division of labour. Emerging research on globalization, market changes, poverty and trends in gendered employment within this sector reveals the need to move beyond this narrow perspective. If gleaning and post-harvesting activities were enumerated, the fisheries and aquaculture sector might well turn out to be female sphere. A livelihoods approach better enables an understanding of how employment in this sector is embedded in other social, cultural, economic, political and ecological structures and processes that shape gender inequities and how these might be reduced. We focus on four thematic areas – markets and migration, capabilities and well-being, networks and identities, governance and rights – as analytical entry points. These also provide a framework to identify research gaps and generate a comparative understanding of the impact of development processes and socioecological changes, including issues of climate change, adaptation and resilience, on gendered employment. Without an adequate analysis of gender, fisheries management and development policies may have negative effects on people’s livelihoods, well-being and the environment they depend on, or fail altogether to achieve intended outcomes.
Fishermen slaves: Human trafficking and the seafood we eat
  • Jan 2016
  • M Mendoza
  • R Mcdowell
  • M Mason
  • E Htusan
  • Mendoza M.
M. Mendoza, R. McDowell, M. Mason, E. Htusan, "Fishermen slaves: Human trafficking and the seafood we eat" (Associated Press, 15 March 2016).