Speaker: Shreya Yadav | Conservation International

Market-based voluntary sustainability standards (VSS) that aim to incentivize sustainable practices in fisheries, such as certifications, improvement projects, and ratings, have proliferated over the past decade. However, with an explicitly narrow focus on environmental outcomes, it is unclear how these programs have affected social equity, and where, and to whom, the costs and benefits of participating in these initiatives accrue. In this project, we conduct a comparative case study using an empirical, mixed-methods approach that combines interviews, group discussions, and quantitative supply chain analysis to better understand how some VSS (Marine Stewardship Council, Fair Trade, and Fishery Improvement Projects) enable or hinder equitable outcomes in seafood production. We examine three small-scale fisheries in India, the Maldives, and Indonesia that differ in terms of size, species focus, and supply chain characteristics to identify key equity issues and how these initiatives impact them.

We find that, with some exceptions, fishers, fishworkers, and those closest to production are largely unaware of their participation in these initiatives and have not perceived clear benefits related to it over time (procedural equity) and that underlying social, economic, and political conditions significantly influence fishers ability to benefit from VSS (contextual equity) with consequences for the effectiveness of these initiatives. For instance, in India, we find that the FIP’s environmental sustainability goals are likely not being met due to a lack of clear incentives to comply with regulations, coupled with unaddressed and mounting issues related to resource depletion, debt, and competing fisheries that lead to perceived unfairness in the fishery’s distribution of costs and benefits (distributional equity). In contrast, in the Maldives and Indonesia, we find that fishers participating in the FT program perceive more apparent benefits, primarily due to the way individuals are engaged in decision-making. As VSS grow in small-scale fisheries in low- and middle-income countries, it will be crucial for these models to learn from successful strategies and respond to place-specific equity concerns if they are to result in regenerative and equitable conservation outcomes in the long term.