Menu
From traditional concepts to global data systems, knowledge is essential to understand the potential next steps that you can take to find the solutions that are available to the challenges you face.
The Knowledge to Action hub will compile information, tools, training, and stories from the global seafood sector. This will be available for users to self-educate themselves and build meaningful connections with others on relevant themes.
The Knowledge to Action channels will become available in the next phase of Seafood MAP.
Aquaculture and fisheries offer exciting production and business opportunities with tremendous positive potential for the environment, nutrition, and communities.
Context matters. The Seafood MAP Principles and Impacts allow all seafood actors, regardless of size or destination, to share their responsible fishery or aquaculture story using a powerful combination of storytelling and measuring impact against the UN SDGs.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
How do fisheries and aquaculture contribute to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development?
There are 17 different Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and all of them are relevant to the fisheries and aquaculture sector. Our sector contributes to the SDGs in many different ways: economic development, elimination of hunger, taking care of the environment, labor and human rights, and of course SDG 14: Life below water. Sustainable fisheries and aquaculture is necessary to save the planet and humanity, but it’s also a very important economic sector that provides livelihoods, nutrition/healthy diets.
For fisheries, the emphasis lies on ending illegal fishing, maintaining healthy states of fish stocks, and creating economic benefits. Aquaculture contributes by increasing food security and creating additional economic benefits. The role of both aquaculture and capture fisheries will be even bigger in the future, which sees a growing population and an increasing demand for healthy diets. Most of the increase will come from aquaculture.
Market-driven tools can accelerate sustainable change and promote collective action, but a large number of tools and initiatives cause confusion on our collective journey.
Woolworths
Within retail value chains, assurance certifications are awarded to companies that have met certain food safety and quality, and/or sustainability standards. Certification confirms that management systems and production processes meet best practise standards and are awarded by a third-party, standard-setting organization. The essential prerequisite for certification is an independent, impartial and objective assessment by a competent third party to confirm adherence to standard requirements. Certification therefore bridges the gap between corporate social responsibility and environmental compliance by verifying companies’ claims of eco-friendliness and ethical conduct, and communicates this to buyers and end customers.
Hybrid governance arrangements such as voluntary seafood sustainability certification are becoming more prevalent in the management of natural resources, where third party certification and eco-labelling schemes are increasingly providing a non-state, market led incentive to achieve ecologically and socially sustainable outcomes. Producers and manufacturers who enter into voluntary certification schemes, with its increased oversight, annual audits and intent to strengthen existing government regulations and requirements, demonstrate that they intend to follow a good governance approach.
Sustainability certification’s advantages go beyond mere confirmation of conformity with the requirements of a standard. Certification allows producers and manufacturers to claim market share and value on the visibility and measurability of improvements towards sustainability and responsibility. Certification can also help companies build reputation by demonstrating sustainability stewardship and a commitment towards transparency and accountability. With certification, companies show customers, investors and other stakeholders that they are managed for the long term. Ultimately, certification allows customers to trust that the products that they buy are good for their wellbeing and good for the planet.
Small-scale operators play a significant role as contributors to global seafood production – but often lack the means and resources to grow into sustainable, thriving members of their communities. At the same time, innovative solutions to global seafood challenges are scaling up.
Tidal
How can technology and real time data drive seafood sustainability forward?
Technology has the power to unlock new insights into aquaculture and fisheries that can enable better management of underwater systems, shifting us into the next generation of sustainable seafood. The ability to look at data on an entirely new magnitude of scale combined with real-time insights can enable faster iteration on discovering best practices, a quicker ability to mobilize and mitigate or prevent potential challenges (such as fish welfare, or bycatch), and greater transparency around what is happening around seafood supply. Technology insights can be integrated up and down the seafood value chain for better planning, supply and demand management, and can work in harmony with assurance tools, certifications and improvement programs to enhance sustainability.
While investments and connected markets accelerate the potential of the sector, government policies and regulations enable its potential. Tools and initiatives that build a bridge between the public and the private sector help the seafood sector to become a driver for good.
Sustainable Fisheries Partnership
Interested in contributing resources to the Seafood MAP Knowledge to Action hub?
Reach out to seafoodmap@ourgssi.org
