The label has been adopted by the leading supermarkets worldwide, and covers 94 fisheries so far. A number of leading Norwegian companies have been certified, as have some fisheries for saithe, cod, herring and mackerel, in keeping with trends internationally. Iceland is planning to launch a autonomous national sustainability scheme in near future. A key question related to the introduction of such a scheme is what, if anything, might be gained from establishing a national scheme as an alternative to the current supranational certification schemes that already exist?
In this proposed research project we intend to investigate and discuss what type of certification, if any, should be used by the Norwegian seafood industry and why - and then, what strategies may be useful to pursue. This might be one based on existing international certification schemes (e.g. MSC), one based on an independent national scheme, perhaps some combination of the two or indeed none at all. What might be the costs and benefits related to these options? The discussion will also be seen in light of the Icelandic national scheme that is planned to be launched within a year or so. These are some of the questions this project aims to explore and answer:
- Evaluation of the MSC system vs. a national scheme i.e. the planned Icelandic national certifications system for responsible fisheries management, and also products without any official certification on environmentally friendly and/or sustainable production.
- Explore what are the key elements related to the use of a certification on environmentally friendly and/or sustainable seafood production as perceived by the industrial customers in selected markets.
- Identify factors related to environmental concern and sustainability that what would be seen as presumptive in a longer term perspective in the European seafood market
The species we intend to focus on are whitefish and mackerel. Selected species of whitefish are chosen because of their economic importance and history as eco-labelled products. Mackerel is an example of a recent entrant as a main product and a contemporary contentious species due to stock migration, international disputes and the capacity of attendant publicity to reduce market credibility.
