Wild Catch
Eco-labelling in the seafood sector has evolved considerably from its humble roots of single issue tuna labels in the 1970s. With the growth in consumer awareness of sustainability issues, retailers and manufacturers serving developed country markets have increasingly recognized value in affiliation with one or another sustainability standard.
Standard compliant seafood production has grown consistently and dramatically as a percentage of global seafood production over the past decade. By 2015, certified production had reached 23 million metric tons, accounting for 14 per cent of global seafood production, up from 0.5 million metric tons (or 0.5 per cent of global) in 2003.
From 2008 to 2015, certified seafood production grew at an annual rate of 30 per cent, over 10 times faster than total seafood production. Eighty per cent of certified seafood comes from certified wild catch production, reflecting the longer history of certification in wild catch markets but also the primacy of sustainability challenges in wild catch production due to issues related to stock management, which, to date, has been the primary driver behind seafood certification.
Two initiatives, FOS (Friend of the Sea) and the MSC (Marine Stewardship Council), dominate certification for wild catch markets, each accounting for 10 per cent of total wild catch seafood. As a consequence, these two initiatives also lead as a portion of global seafood production (including aquaculture) with FOS accounting for 6.2 per cent and the MSC accounting for 5.7 per cent of total seafood production (although of all the standards covered, only FOS and Naturland operate in both wild catch and aquaculture).
GLOBALG.A.P., the leading aquaculture certification scheme, by contrast, accounted for 3.0 per cent of the global aquaculture market and 1.3 per cent of the global seafood market (2015). As of 2015, certified seafood made up more than 14 per cent of global seafood production. MSC- and FOS certified production accounted for virtually all certified wild catch and for 80 per cent of global certified seafood. Six aquaculture certifications accounted for 20 per cent of certified seafood in 2015.
Historically, wild catch fisheries have provided the vast majority of seafood products available on global markets. At the international level, two certification systems, FOS and the MSC, compete for global market share, with each initiative accounting for roughly 50 per cent of total certified wild catch, respectively, by 2015. These two initiatives alone certified 18.6 million metric tons of wild catch seafood, accounting for 20 per cent of total wild catch production and 80 per cent of the total certified seafood market.
Total certified wild catch production has been growing at an annual rate of 36 per cent (2003–2015), significantly outpacing the relative stagnant growth across global wild catch markets over the same period. Although wild catch fisheries are present in most countries and 57 countries had some level of production certified under a sustainability standard in 2015, 70 per cent of certifi ed wild catch production was sourced from five countries, with Peru and the United States accounting for 50 per cent of total certifi ed wild catch.
China, on the other hand, which accounts for 17 per cent of the global wild catch supply, is notably absent from the list of suppliers of certified wild catch production, with the exception of 60,000 metric tons of MSC certified yesso scallops, certified in 2015.
Majority of MSC-certified production being sourced from developed countries and the majority of FOS-certified production being sourced from developing countries.
Certified wild catch accounted for 20 per cent of global wild catch in 2015, with FOS and MSC certifying nearly equal portions of total certified production.
Certified wild catch is growing substantially faster than conventional wild catch production. FOS has grown five times as fast as MSC over the last seven years. By 2015 the total production volumes of the two initiatives converged at just over 9 million
metric tons, growing at a rate of around 6 per cent per annum (2014–2015).
The largest single source of certified wild catch is anchoveta, primarily destined for fish meal markets. Cod, tuna and salmon are the main certified wild catch species destined for retail markets. Overall certified wild catch production is concentrated in fewer species than global production as a whole, with the top five species groups accounting for 74 per cent of total certified wild catch. In 2015, the MSC certified just over 9 million metric tons.
The MSC has experienced rapid and consistent growth over the past seven years, with an annual average growth rate of 18 per cent and a reported retail value of US$4.5 billion in 2015 (MSC, 2014).
FOS now operates as one of the most diversified seafood labelling initiatives certifying both aquaculture and wild catch fisheries. FOS production has grown at a rate of 91 per cent per annum between 2008 and 2015, reaching 9.3 million metric tons of FOS-certified wild catch seafood in 2015 (5.7 per cent of global; 10.1 per cent of total wild catch) and making it the single largest source of certified wild catch on the global market.
FOS has certified the entire production of Peruvian and Chilean anchovies, which at a combined total of about 6 million metric tons of production per year accounts for about half of the world’s fish meal production (Eurofi sh,2012). As a result, Peruvian fi sh meal exported to China, which at half a million metric tons per year (Rabobank, 2015) represents one of the largest trade flows in the entire seafood industry, is now almost entirely FOS certified.