URI Sustainable Seafood Initiative

JOIN US June 26-28, 2011, for the Baird Symposium on sustainable seafood

The URI Sustainable Seafood Initiative web site is intended to provide independent information on the issue of sustainable seafood, the various approaches being used to promote demand for sustainable seafood, and the efficacy of those approaches. The target audiences are the seafood industry, retailers, restaurateurs, the catch sector and aquaculture producers, policy-makers, environmentalists, and academics.

WHAT IS SUSTAINABLE SEAFOOD?

The 1987 Brundtland Report to the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development defined sustainable development as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Sustainable seafood can be similarly characterized, as the harvesting of seafood from capture fisheries and aquaculture using means which meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. However, even within this framework, different stakeholders define sustainability in many different ways, and consensus remains elusive.

PURPOSE OF THE WEBSITE

The purpose of this website is not to find consensus around the term sustainability, but rather to provide independent clarity on the means by which various groups are using market-based approaches to promote sustainable seafood, however that group defines it. Some groups use seafood guides, categorizing seafood into green, yellow and red lists, where at times there is consensus among the lists and at times there is not. Another approach is ecolabeling, or certification, programs. Yet other groups have proprietary programs available for seafood buyers. As most in the seafood world know, this can be a very confusing issue because often the various approaches appear to be at odds with each other in their final recommendations on sustainable seafood.

The purpose of this website is to provide:

A source of information on where you may further your knowledge
Third-party independent analysis of mechanisms of the sustainable seafood movement, and
Analysis of the market impacts of the sustainable seafood movement based on peer-reviewed research from around the world

A key feature of this website is the Resources Database, which is a searchable database of peer-reviewed journal articles, government publications, reports by environmental organizations, and other pertinent reports addressing fisheries and aquaculture certification, consumer preferences for ecolabeled seafood, international trade implications, and other related issues. Its purpose is to provide you with access to as wide a perspective of reputable research on these issues as possible. Many of the reports can be downloaded directly from the database.

We hope you find this website informative. We certainly hope you will email us with suggestions for improvement, or items which should be added to the database, at crw@uri.edu. This website is a living document and will continue to be updated, so we hope you will visit it often.