Quantifying the Accessibility of Sustainable Seafood in Southeast Queensland, Australia

Seafood is a nutritious source of protein for billions of people around the world and is generally more sustainable than other animal-based protein sources. As the human population grows, seafood will continue to play an important role in feeding the world. The sustainability of seafood products differs, depending on the species consumed, origin, and production/fishing method. Having access to sustainable seafood products is essential to ensure future generations can continue to consume seafood. We aimed to determine the accessibility of sustainable seafood products to consumers in southeast Queensland, Australia. We surveyed 52,447 fresh, cooked, and processed (packaged) seafood products across southeast Queensland from 2110 establishments (restaurants, supermarket, takeaway shops). We investigated the species, origin and catch method of seafood products and used this information to determine their sustainability according to the Good Fish Guide developed by the Australian Marine Conservation Society. We found enough information to determine the level of sustainability for 36% (n= 18,709) of surveyed products: 4.9% were sustainable, 4.1% were classified as ‘Eat Less’, and 27% were classified as ‘Say No’. The 64% (n=33,737) of products that we could not assess was due to the lack of information at point of sale (16%) or the product was not included in the Good Fish Guide (48%). The top three most accessible sustainable products were Australian farmed barramundi, oysters and prawns. The three most common products to ‘Say No’ were Australian farmed Atlantic salmon, imported prawns and basa. We found that 44% (n= 12,040) of products listed in the Good Fish Guide were lacking origin information. Improving the labelling of species, origin, and catch method of seafood products at the point of sale, especially detailed information about a product’s origin, is essential to improving the accessibility of sustainable seafood.

Enhancing Sustainable Consumption in China: A Seafood Example

In recent years, market surveys on sustainable seafood consumption have analysed Chinese people’s willingness to purchase ecolabelled seafood produced and imported into China. Endogenous and exogenous determinants are thereby unveiled to explore Chinese consumers’ sustainability consciousness, purchasing decisions, and the means of bridging the divide. This article builds upon and adds to these empirical findings with a market-based and information lens. It draws inspiration from analysing the growing interest of younger and middle-class consumers in acquiring seafood information; integrative sourcing and marketing strategies of intermediary businesses to deliver such information; and awakening of public regulators to the imperative of realizing the right to information of less-informed parties. Instead of segregating these stakeholders along a linear supply chain, the study emphasizes the deepening of a consumer-centric information network underpinned by supply chain transparency and traceability. It thus aims to inform a steady shift from a production-oriented to a consumer-oriented seafood management paradigm through systematic reforms of China’s consumer law. To encourage and empower sustainable consumption, the ‘consumer’ notion needs proper broadening and consumers’ right to know should be recognized as a judicial and self-contained legal entitlement with enforcement safeguards.

Determinants affecting consumers' attention to fish eco-labels in purchase decisions: a cross-country study

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to investigate the role of consumer altruism and other socio-cultural factors in predicting how much attention consumers pay to seafood eco-labels.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical investigation was carried out by administering an online questionnaire to a sample of Italian and Spanish people from December 2019 to April 2020. After carrying out the principal component analysis procedure, the work made use of an ordinal logistic regression.FindingsBoth Italian and Spanish consumers with an altruistic attitude, who feel that food produced in a sustainable way can protect the environment and workers, appear more likely to take an eco-label into account. In addition, in both countries, consumers with a higher level of education and in the older age range are more likely to read eco-labels before buying fish products.Research limitations/implicationsThe first limitation is mainly related to the sampling procedure, which is not probabilistic and does not allow for generalisation of the results. Furthermore, some indicators related to COVID-19 were not included as the planning stage of the research methodology occurred before the pandemic.Practical implicationsA better understanding of the main determinants predicting consumers' attention to seafood eco-labels could be crucial to promote effective marketing strategies aimed at increasing consumer interest and awareness in sustainable seafood and eco-labels.Originality/valueExploring the role of consumers' altruism in how much attention is paid to seafood eco-labels appears to be a new approach that emphasises the role of altruism as a variable capable of bridging the “value-action gap”.

Recommendations for Integrating Evidence-Based, Sustainable Diet Information into Nutrition Education

The adoption of more sustainable diets (SD) has the capacity to meet the needs of individuals without compromising future generations’ abilities to do the same. Nutrition educators are ideal candidates for delivering SD education to consumers, yet evidence-based recommendations for the profession have not been crafted. The results of a thorough, narrative review of the literature performed in 2021 suggest there are five well-supported recommendations nutrition educators should consider incorporating in their work. They are (1) shift towards a plant-based diet, (2) mitigate food waste, (3) limit consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPF), (4) engage in local food systems, and (5) choose sustainable seafood. Each recommendation is discussed below in detail, to provide nutrition educators with a nuanced scope of the issue, after which suggestions for the inclusion of these recommendations, using an example of the authors’ experiences from the US Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP), are provided.

Ecolabeled seafood and sustainable consumption in the Canadian context: issues and insights from a survey of seafood consumers

The concept of sustainable consumption is a much debated practice that has been seen as an outcome of the emergence of ecological citizenship—a concept that brings together the citizen and the environment in a framework that is underlined by social justice considerations and incorporates a vision of citizenship that involves both the private sphere and the public sphere of human activity. This study examines Canadian consumer awareness and uptake of certified sustainable seafood. We introduce the concepts ecological citizenship and sustainable consumption as a way of framing our research. Seafood ecolabels may be a valuable tool in translating general environmental concern about the marine environment into more sustainable fisheries practices. We conducted an on-site consumer survey in the Greater Toronto Area and a nearby city. Our findings showed that in contrast to high levels of awareness of the importance of the marine environment and the sustainability of seafood, consumers had a limited understanding about the meaning of sustainability in the case of seafood, and little knowledge about actual ecolabels found in the Canadian marketplace. Attitudes towards the marine environment and sustainable seafood, understanding of the meaning of seafood sustainability, and purchasing behaviors of sustainable seafood were significantly different by some socio-demographic characteristics. Positive attitudes towards the marine environment and sustainable seafood and better understanding of seafood sustainability were significantly associated with the increased purchasing of ecolabeled seafood. Lack of understanding of ecolabels, limited information about product sustainability, and lack of in-store guidance were identified as key barriers to purchasing ecolabeled seafood products.

Valorization of Seafood Processing Discards: Bioconversion and Bio-Refinery Approaches

The seafood industry generates large volumes of waste. These include processing discards consisting of shell, head, bones intestine, fin, skin, voluminous amounts of wastewater discharged as effluents, and low-value under-utilized fish, which are caught as by-catch of commercial fishing operations. The discards, effluents, and by-catch are rich in nutrients including proteins, amino acids, lipids containing good proportions of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), carotenoids, and minerals. The seafood waste is, therefore, responsible for loss of nutrients and serious environmental hazards. It is important that the waste is subjected to secondary processing and valorization to address the problems. Although chemical processes are available for waste treatment, most of these processes have inherent weaknesses. Biological treatments, however, are environmentally friendly, safe, and cost-effective. Biological treatments are based on bioconversion processes, which help with the recovery of valuable ingredients from by-catch, processing discards, and effluents, without losing their inherent bioactivities. Major bioconversion processes make use of microbial fermentations or actions of exogenously added enzymes on the waste components. Recent developments in algal biotechnology offer novel processes for biotransformation of nutrients as single cell proteins, which can be used as feedstock for the recovery of valuable ingredients and also biofuel. Bioconversion options in conjunction with a bio-refinery approach have potential for eco-friendly and economical management of seafood waste that can support sustainable seafood production.

Fraud in highly appreciated fish detected from DNA in Europe may undermine the Development Goal of sustainable fishing in Africa

Despite high effort for food traceability to ensure safe and sustainable consumption, mislabeling persists on seafood markets. Determining what drives deliberate fraud is necessary to improve food authenticity and sustainability. In this study, the relationship between consumer’s appreciation and fraudulent mislabeling was assessed through a combination of a survey on consumer’s preferences (N = 1608) and molecular tools applied to fish samples commercialized by European companies. We analyzed 401 samples of fish highly consumed in Europe and worldwide (i.e. tuna, hake, anchovy, and blue whiting) through PCR-amplification and sequencing of a suite of DNA markers. Results revealed low mislabeling rate (1.9%), with a higher mislabeling risk in non-recognizable products and significant mediation of fish price between consumer´s appreciation and mislabeling risk of a species. Furthermore, the use of endangered species (e.g. Thunnus thynnus), tuna juveniles for anchovy, and still not regulated Merluccius polli hake as substitutes, points towards illegal, unreported and/or unregulated fishing from African waters. These findings reveal a worrying intentional fraud that hampers the goal of sustainable seafood production and consumption, and suggest to prioritize control efforts on highly appreciated species.