This white paper aims to provide an overview of issues relating to sustainability in seafood production and outline global seafood sustainability initiatives. It discusses the current state of global seafood stocks and the FAO’s assessment of any progress made in enhancing their future.
Further to this, there is an examination of the difficulty in reaching a harmonised definition of ‘sustainability’ across the various stakeholders involved in the seafood industry. The global schemes to promote seafood sustainability are described in-depth. The effect on the future of fish stock levels for generations to come is in a large part central to the discussion on the commitment by retailers and consumers to include sustainability when making a selling or purchasing decision. This document also describes in brief the concerns and effects on environmental and social factors to bring the wider perspective of the seafood industry into focus.
