Bush, S.R. (2016). Reversing the Burden of Sustainable Aquaculture. Solutions 7(4): 27–30. https://thesolutionsjournal.com/article/reversing-the-burden-of-sustainable-aquaculture/
Perspectives Reversing the Burden of Proof for Sustainable Aquaculture by Simon R. Bush
Simon Bush
Small-scale pangasius fingerling nursery in An Giang province, Vietnam.
I
magine a fish farmer in a developing country, with poor literacy and minimal capital, having to comply with international sustainability standards in order to sell their fish. Then, imagine they have not been involved in setting these standards and in fact, no one came to consult them on what makes their farms sustainable or not. However, to comply with these standards and maintain market access, they will need to make changes to how they manage water quality, biodiversity, and demonstrate good labor practices. In the short term, these changes will directly affect their livelihoods and incomes through increased costs and efforts, while any benefits from sustainability remains a long-term and uncertain proposition. For such farmers, the biggest irony is that buyers requiring compliance to sustainability standards are also dependent on their fish as one of the
most important meat proteins for global food and nutrition security. Given this dependence, demonstrating compliance with these standards might seem like a disproportionate burden. In Asia, export markets must seem like a double-edged sword to the more than 16 million smallholder fish farmers in the most productive aquaculture region of the world.1 On the one hand, farmers in major production regions like Asia and many other parts of South America and West Africa make an increasingly important contribution to a healthier and more sustainable source of animal protein than other meat products in major export markets.2 Accessing export markets also offer the opportunity to charge higher prices and therefore increase incomes. But on the other hand, the global boom in aquaculture production, with production now
equivalent to ‘capture fisheries’ production,3 has led to increased concern for NGOs, consumers, and governments about environmental and social impacts. This has resulted in greater surveillance over production through audited compliance to voluntary sustainability standards. As many supermarkets have pledged to only purchase sustainably certified seafood, including fish from aquaculture, a core group of standards have emerged as de facto barriers to market access.4 Arguably the two most dominant standards have also taken on a divided geography between the two largest importing markets in the world. The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) standards are more recognized in Europe, while the Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA) is dominant in the US. More than ever before, access to these export markets requires producers to demonstrate their sustainability through respective certification from these organizations. It is commonly assumed by academics, NGOs, and policy makers alike that the burden of proving that compliance to sustainability standards, like any other legal or market requirement, lies with producers. Indeed, this assumption is the very basis of voluntary certification; farmers should actively demonstrate their ‘good’ production practices. But globalized seafood markets also mean that producers are far from one homogenous group. Over 85 percent of the volume of fish traded to Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries comes from the developing world.3 Shifting the burden of proof to producers in developing countries does not consider the capacity of individual producers to demonstrate compliance with international standards. Major buyers of seafood, including both wholesale importers and
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