Collaboration and Innovation to Advance Sustainable Seafood

Challenge

Seafood is a critical food source for nearly three billion people. It uses less resources and space than land-based meat production, including chicken, pork, and beef, and it provides livelihoods for coastal communities around the world. As overfishing decimates wild fish populations, many countries are turning to aquaculture to meet the growing demand for fish protein. The amount of farmed seafood has grown exponentially to meet the growing demand for seafood overall: Aquaculture represents 53 percent of all fish consumed and 9 percent of the world’s animal protein consumption. However, the aquaculture sector continues to face serious sustainability challenges including disease outbreaks, water pollution, use of harmful antibiotics, and reliance on feed from wild fisheries.

To limit the environmental and social harm caused by aquaculture, many NGOs and companies have created certification and rating schemes to improve sustainability of production and provide assurance to customers and buyers that farmed seafood is healthy and sustainable.  Seafood Watch, a program of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, rates seafood products based on their sustainability and provides purchasing recommendations to consumers. Seafood Watch and other seafood rating organizations have inspired more than 85 percent of North America’s seafood retailers and top foodservice companies to commit to sourcing sustainable seafood.

However, the demand for responsibly produced seafood vastly outstrips supply. Barriers include local resistance from fishers and aquaculture operations to certification programs, high costs to implement sustainability measures, and a focus on the sustainability of individual farms.  Many aquaculture products, such as shrimp, are produced by small farmers in Asia, which is responsible for 90 percent of the world’s aquaculture production. These small farmers tend to lack centralized organization (i.e., cooperatives or associations) and have limited capacity and resources to meet certification program standards and improve farm practices.

Solution

Since 2017, Seafood Watch has engaged Resonance as a strategic advisor to develop and implement its global aquaculture and fisheries improvement strategy, with a special focus on Asia. This includes designing and implementing partnerships and innovative collaboration models between seafood supply chain companies, producers, and governments.

• Business Model and Strategy Development. Resonance develops strategies and business models for aquaculture improvement projects that Seafood Watch convenes with its business partners, processors and producers in source countries. We have developed market and partnership strategies, organizational structure plans, and business models for the Vietnam Sustainable Shrimp Alliance, the Asian Seafood Improvement Collaborative, and a shrimp improvement project in Andra Pradesh, India.
• Partnership Assurance Model. Resonance has jointly led the design, execution, and implementation of a new area-based approach to aquaculture improvement: The Partnership Assurance Model. Resonance co-designed the model with Seafood Watch, convened on-the ground partnerships with seafood companies in India and Vietnam, and facilitated workshops to refine the idea with key international and domestic players.
• Governance and Sustainability Assessments. Resonance conducts and produces research for Seafood Watch on opportunities for sustainable seafood, potential new private sector collaborations, aquaculture supply chains, and fishery governance regimes.
• Shared Value Partnership Development. Resonance is identifying and developing partnerships between Seafood Watch, governments, and USAID, to advance sustainable fisheries in Asia.