Certification and the labelling of
certified products aim to identify products that follow certain
minimum standards or regulations, such as standards for quality,
organic production, fair trade, or sustainability.
A variety of seafood certification schemes have been developed
over the past decade, all claiming that the fish that they certify
have been sustainably caught or farmed and that they are the best
option for consumers to purchase.
However, Greenpeace is of the opinion that no fully credible
certification system for sustainable seafood currently exists. At
present, a seafood label can at best help to identify the best
available choice from a particular fishery. It is certainly not an
indicator of whether the purchase of such products is the best
choice in absolute terms.
A good seafood certification programme needs to:
- have strong, clear standards that adequately tackle the
challenges facing our oceans and incorporate the fundamental
principles of precaution and an ecosystem approach to fisheries
management;
- involve a wide group of stakeholders in all the processes of
the programme;
- be fully transparent in the way it works;
- be independently assessed and monitored by external
organisations.
Currently seafood certification programmes fall short of many of
these requirements. Some key seafood certification programmes have
been assessed in more detail: