FULL REPORT - Panda

[Pages:146]FULL REPORT ASSESSMENT OF ON-PACK, WILD-CAPTURE SEAFOOD SUSTAINABILITY CERTIFICATION PROGRAMMES AND SEAFOOD ECOLABELS

An independent assessment by Accenture Development Partners (ADP)

Principals

WWF International Marine Programme Avenue Mont-Blanc 1196 Gland Switzerland

Study authors

Accenture AG Fraum?nsterstrasse 16 8001 Z?rich Switzerland

Accenture, through its international development unit, Accenture Development Partners (ADP) has supported WWF in conducting a thorough and structured Assessment of sustainable WildCapture Seafood Ecolabelling Schemes (further referred to as "Ecolabels"). Accenture is not technically or scientifically expert in this arena, nor are they stakeholders or an interested party in the field of marine conservation. The scope of Accenture's support was to apply Accenture's approach methodology and experience with other assessment exercises to develop and execute the review. Accenture was not engaged in identifying the Ecolabel inventory or in developing the assessment criteria. Since Accenture did not review or comment on the criteria, Accenture takes no responsibility for the resultant ranking of labels.

Citation: Assessment Study of On-Pack, Wild-Capture Seafood Sustainability Certification Programmes and Seafood Ecolabels. Accenture. WWF International. 2009.

? 2009 Accenture. All rights reserved. ? 1966 Panda symbol WWF-World Wide Fund For Nature (formerly known as World Wildlife Fund) ? "WWF" and "living planet" are WWF Registered Trademarks December 2009

Photo credits cover page: Left:? J?rgen Freund / WWF-Canon Right: ? Brent Stirton / Getty Images / WWF

Table of Contents

Executive Summary .....................................................................................................................................................................1 1 Introduction .........................................................................................................................................................................3

1.1 What is an Ecolabel?..........................................................................................................................................................4 1.2 Seafood Ecolabelling Today ...............................................................................................................................................4 1.3 Trends and outlook............................................................................................................................................................4

1.3.1 Climate change ...........................................................................................................................................................5 1.3.2 Environmental impact of on-shore and supply chain facilities...................................................................................6 1.3.3 Impacts of other human activities on fish and ecosystems........................................................................................6 1.3.4 Social and ethical trade criteria ..................................................................................................................................6 1.3.5 Humane treatment of animals....................................................................................................................................7 1.4 Purpose of this study .........................................................................................................................................................7 2 Wild-Capture Standards.......................................................................................................................................................9 2.1 Scope of the Ecolabel Scheme ...........................................................................................................................................9 2.1.1 Scheme objectives ......................................................................................................................................................9 2.1.2 Issue scope................................................................................................................................................................10 2.1.3 Geographical scope...................................................................................................................................................10 2.1.4 Product and market scope........................................................................................................................................10 2.2 Type of Ecolabel Scheme .................................................................................................................................................10 2.2.1 Category....................................................................................................................................................................11 2.2.2 Scheme owner and operator ....................................................................................................................................11 2.2.3 Participation and openness ......................................................................................................................................11 2.2.4 Scheme overview......................................................................................................................................................12 3 Assessment Study Approach..............................................................................................................................................13 3.1 Assessment Methodology................................................................................................................................................13 3.2 Quantitative Assessment .................................................................................................................................................15 3.3 Quantitative Assessment Criteria ....................................................................................................................................15 3.3.1 Structure of the criteria ............................................................................................................................................16 3.3.2 Structural and procedural criteria for ecolabel schemes..........................................................................................17 3.3.3 Accreditation and certification structures ................................................................................................................20 3.3.4 Accreditation and certification procedures ..............................................................................................................21 3.3.5 Ecological criteria......................................................................................................................................................23 3.3.6 Fisheries management system criteria .....................................................................................................................27 3.3.7 Traceability criteria ...................................................................................................................................................29 3.4 Scoring procedures for individual ecolabel schemes.......................................................................................................30 3.4.1 Scoring Scale .............................................................................................................................................................30 3.4.2 Scoring Templates.....................................................................................................................................................31 3.4.3 Applicable Topics Selection.......................................................................................................................................33 3.5 Qualitative Assessment....................................................................................................................................................33 3.6 Basis for Quantitative Evaluation.....................................................................................................................................35 4 Selected Wild Capture Initiatives.......................................................................................................................................36 4.1 Inventory of wild capture seafood organisations with a sustainability claim..................................................................36 4.1.1 Ecolabels ...................................................................................................................................................................37 4.1.2 Sustainability programmes with on-pack label.........................................................................................................44 4.1.3 Other sustainability programmes .............................................................................................................................50 4.1.4 Excluded programmes ..............................................................................................................................................54 4.2 Sustainability Programme Typology ................................................................................................................................54 4.3 Sustainability Programmes Scope Definition...................................................................................................................57 5 Assessment Results............................................................................................................................................................75 5.1 Qualitative descriptions ...................................................................................................................................................76 5.1.1 Environmental impacts of production processes .....................................................................................................77 5.1.2 Social and ethical dimension ....................................................................................................................................84

5.1.3 Economic dimension.................................................................................................................................................89 5.1.4 Animal welfare and other impacts............................................................................................................................92 5.2 Quantitative assessment summary .................................................................................................................................94 5.2.1 Ecolabel Schemes......................................................................................................................................................95 5.2.2 Sustainability programmes with on-pack label.......................................................................................................101 5.3 Good and Best Practices Highlight.................................................................................................................................103 6 Conclusions ......................................................................................................................................................................109 6.1 Perspective of the Study ................................................................................................................................................109 6.1.1 Study Parameters and Results ................................................................................................................................109 6.1.2 Objectivity of the Assessment ................................................................................................................................109 6.2 Final Quantitative Appraisal of Ecolabels ......................................................................................................................110 6.2.1 Ecolabel Ranking .....................................................................................................................................................110 6.2.2 Comparative Analysis of Ecolabel Elements ...........................................................................................................110 6.3 Summary........................................................................................................................................................................112 6.3.1 Quantitative assessment ........................................................................................................................................112 6.3.2 Qualitative review...................................................................................................................................................115 6.4 Observations from this Study ........................................................................................................................................116 7 ANNEX..............................................................................................................................................................................118 8 References .......................................................................................................................................................................135 9 Bibliography .....................................................................................................................................................................136

Terms and definitions

Term Accreditation Accreditation body Accreditation system Assessment criteria Certification Certification body

Chain of custody

Conformity assessment

Criterion (criteria) Ecolabel FAO Guidelines FAO Interested party Standard

Standard setter Sustainability programmes Traceability Third party

Definition Procedure by which a competent authority gives formal recognition that a qualified body or person is competent to carry out specific tasks. (FAO Guidelines: 8, based on ISO/IEC Guide 2: 1996, 12.11) Body that conducts and administers an accreditation system and grants accreditation. (FAO Guidelines: 9, based on ISO/IEC Guide 2: 1996, 17.2) System that has its own rules of procedure and management for carrying out accreditation. (FAO Guidelines: 10, based on ISO/IEC Guide 2: 1996, 17.1) WWF defined sustainable fishing certification criteria Procedure by which a third party gives written or equivalent assurance that a product, process or service conforms to specified requirements. (FAO Guidelines: 14, based on ISO Guide 2: 15.1.2) Competent and recognised body that conducts certification. A certification body may oversee certification activities carried out on its behalf by other bodies. (FAO Guidelines: 15, based on ISO Guide 2: 15.2) The set of measures which is designed to guarantee that the product put on the market and bearing the ecolabel logo is really a product coming from the certified fishery concerned. (FAO Guidelines: 16) Any activity concerned with determining directly or indirectly that relevant requirements are met. Note: typical examples of conformity assessment activities are sampling, testing and inspection; evaluation, verification and assurance of conformity (supplier's declaration, certification); registration, accreditation and approval as well as their combinations. (FAO Guidelines: 18 & 19, based on ISO Guide 2: 12.2) Variable used in this project to specify performance requirements against which compliance can be assessed. Mark of approval or certification, usually a product label or scheme logo, that denotes the product meets a specified standard. Guidelines on Ecolabelling of Fish and Fishery Products from Marine Capture Fisheries (FAO, 2005) Food and Agricultural Organisation of United Nations Any person or group concerned with or directly affected by a standard. (ISEAL Code of Good Practice: 3.2) Document approved by a recognised organisation or arrangement, that provides for common and repeated use, rules, guidelines or characteristics for products or related processes and production methods, with which compliance is not mandatory under international trade rules. It may also include or deal exclusively with terminology, symbols, packaging, marking or labelling requirements as they apply to a product, process or production method. (FAO Guidelines: 22; based on TBT Agreement, Annex 1) Standard, in these criteria, refers to a standard for certification. Including requirements, criteria and performance elements in a hierarchical arrangement. For each requirement, one or more substantive criteria should be defined. For each criterion, one or more performance elements should be provided for use in assessment. (Based on FAO Guidelines: 22) Organisation or arrangement that has recognised activities in standard setting. (ISO/IEC Guide 2:1996) Wild-capture seafood programmes that make a sustainability claim. For this study, this term encompasses either ecolabels or other entities such as education programmes, seafood companies, etc. Ability to track the movement of a food product through specific stages of production, processing and distribution along the product's supply-chain. Person or body that is recognised as being independent of the parties involved, as concerns the issues in question. (ISO/IEC Guide 2:1996)

Acronyms

Acronym ADP BSI CB COFI DFID EBM ETI EMAS FAO FLO FSA GHG GTZ ILO IMO ISEAL ISO PET RFMO RSB SAI TBT UN UNCLOS UNCTAD WTO WWF

Definition Accenture Development Partnerships British Standards Institution Certification body Committee on Fisheries, FAO Department for International Development, UK Ecosystem-based Management Ethical Trading Initiative Eco-management and Audit Scheme (European Union) Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations FairTrade Labelling Organisations UN Fish Stocks Agreement Greenhouse gases Deutsche Gesellschaft f?r Technische Zusammenarbeit, Germany International Labor Organisation International Maritime Organisation International Social and Environmental Accreditation and Labelling Alliance International Organisation for Standardisation Protected, endangered or threatened species Regional Fisheries Management Organisation Roundtable on Sustainable Bio-fuels Social Accountability International Technical Barriers to Trade (a WTO agreement) United Nations United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea United Nations Conference on Trade and Development World Trade Organisation World Wide Fund for Nature

Executive Summary

Over the past five decades, fisheries practices and management systems have depleted wild stocks, degraded marine habitats, and reduced marine biodiversity and ecosystem functions. Despite global recognition of these issues, the health of world's oceans continues to decline.

In response to the growing public awareness of these negative impacts, an increasing number of market- oriented certification schemes for wild-capture seafood products have been established. The basic concept behind such product labeling schemes is to provide economic incentives to producers and the industry to adopt more sustainable fishing practices while safeguarding or enhancing access to consumer markets. A number of such market-based ecolabels and sustainability certification programmes have been created. The goal of this report is to assess whether they live up to the worthy goals of improving fisheries' management as well as the management of oceans and marine resources. The question such certification programmes ultimately raise is whether they can reverse market forces that are currently driving unsustainable fishing and generate the demand and incentives that support sustainable fisheries.

The development of wild-capture seafood ecolabelling and sustainability certification programmes (further referred as to sustainability programmes) is also a response to the growing demand from the key importing nation retail markets for more sustainably produced seafood. This pressures the industry to adopt more sustainable fishing practices. However, to what extent does a given programme effectively address sustainable fishing practices and does this actually improve the situation in the marine environment? If sustainability programmes - as market-based means to facilitate sustainable fishing - are really to deliver positive benefits, they must be developed and operated according to certain criteria. This study was designed to assess whether seafood ecolabels address the impacts of unsustainable fishing on the marine environment, the extent to which they identify ecologically sustainable fishing practices and management systems, and the degree to which they measurably improve performance over time.

With a view to supporting progress in sustainable fishing and increased confidence in, and understanding of, sustainable seafood ecolabelling, WWF developed a set of criteria that reflect best practice for fisheries ecolabelling certification schemes that certify fisheries management practices. WWF contracted an independent management consultancy, Accenture's non-profit practice Accenture Development Partnerships (ADP), to assess a provided inventory of sustainability programmes that make varying sustainability claims, against the WWF criteria. Accenture's role was to apply Accenture's approach, methodology and experience with other assessment exercises to develop and execute the assessment study. Whilst it is conceptually relatively simple to compare one label against a set of criteria, WWF intended to use this study to seek to improve seafood ecolabelling by building on best practice. Thus this study sought best practice elements of labels within and across the range of sustainability programmes considered. The study analyses various components of sustainable fishing separately to compare the relative strengths and weaknesses of various schemes and highlights best practices in different aspects of sustainable fisheries certification.

The study was aimed primarily at a quantitative assessment of the claims made by various ecolabels for addressing the impacts of unsustainable fishing on the marine environment, and at identifying ecologically sustainable fishing and management systems. Other impacts such as carbon footprint, the environmental impacts of production, social issues, and animal welfare were qualitatively assessed, acknowledging that these are also important dimensions of sustainability.

The study revealed there are many good practices used to foster ecologically sustainable fishing and management practices. However, most of identified ecolabels are neither consistent nor coherent across all

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assessed performance areas, preventing them from being fully effective and credible. This also shows there is much room to improve and further develop this field. None of the standards analysed are in complete compliance with the criteria identified and defined by WWF as necessary for credible ecolabels or certification programs. The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is the only ecolabel that is close enough to be considered compliant with these criteria.

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