Toward Credible Claims

• Author: Read Porter/Rebecca Kihslinger
• Position: Staff Attorney at the Environmental Law Institute/Science and Policy Analyst at ELI
• Pages: 36-42

Page 36 ❧ THE ENVIRONMENTAL FORUM Copyright © 2011, Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, D.C. www.eli.org.

Reprinted by permission from The Environmental Forum®, July/August 2011

The rapid expansion of aquaculture in re-

cent decades has given rise to increased

concerns about the environmental and

social implications of the industry. Aqua-

culture has averaged a seven percent an-

nual growth rate since 1970 (FAO 2009) and now

supplies half of all seafood consumed by humans

globally each year (Naylor, et al., 2009). Although

modern techniques have improved the economic

ef‌f‌iciency and prof‌itability of the industry, aquacul-

ture production still causes impacts such as local-

ized nutrient enrichment or depletion, release of

antibiotics and pesticides, disruption of local envi-

ronments, conf‌licts with other land and water uses,

introduction of nonnative species, disease transmis-

sion to native species, and depletion of wild f‌ish

stocks due to the dependence on wild capture as a

food source (Marine Aquaculture Task Force 2007).

To date, global regulation of aquaculture produc-

tion has rarely addressed these issues in a consistent

or ef‌fective manner.

Voluntary third-party certif‌ication has the po-

tential to f‌ill this gap by encouraging producers to

voluntarily reduce the social and environmental

impacts of production (Marine Aquaculture Task

Force 2007). ese systems operate by establishing

certif‌ication standards to measure performance; a

separate secretariat sometimes holds the standards

and manages the certif‌ication process. In most sys-

tems, accredited independent, third-party certif‌ica-

tion bodies audit producers to determine whether

they are in compliance with these standards. Com-

panies found to be in compliance may sell their

goods as certif‌ied (ELI 2008).

Ef‌fective and credible certif‌ication systems im-

prove performance by protecting the interests of

both industry and the public. Certif‌ied producers

benef‌it by obtaining exclusive access to markets or

price premiums, while buyers — whether whole-

salers, retailers, or consumers — obtain assurance

that the environmental and social impacts of certi-

f‌ied products are less than competing, non-certif‌ied

products (Lee 2008).

Certif‌ication appears to be a successful model

from an industry perspective, as seafood retailers

from Aldi to Walmart have committed to source

only certif‌ied seafood. e growing importance of

certif‌ication makes it imperative that these systems

equally protect the public’s interests by accurately

and transparently representing the benef‌its they

provide. However, certif‌ication systems have not

provided clear, consistent, and measurable state-

Toward

Credible

Claims

e growing importance of aquaculture

certif‌ication makes it imperative that

these systems equally protect the public’s

interests by accurately and transparently

representing the benef‌its they provide

Read Porter is a Staf f Attorney at

the Environmen tal Law Institute.

Rebecca Kihslinger is a Sc ience

and Policy Analys t at ELI.

re s e a r c h & Po l i c y