Article: Finding Sustainable Seafood Can Be Complex
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220810-can-eating-fish-ever-be-sustainable
Although this article does not spell it out, the implication for an end consumer wanting to buy sutainable will always rely on the product having traceability requirements. Certification is the best mechanism and signal we currently have for supply chains managers and consumers alike to achieve and verify this.
"[The Marine Stewardship Council blue tick] means at least they are being audited, and they have to prove things," says Clarke. "It's a great way of just quickly and easily identifying whether something's a sustainable choice."

Certifications like these can also be a protection against fraud, a huge issue in the seafood industry.

A 2016 meta-analysis of DNA identification studies of seafood found that globally there was a 30% rate of misdescription – meaning the fish was not the species stated on the label or menu. But a 2019 DNA study by the Marine Stewardship Council found that seafood bearing its sustainability mark was labelled correctly over 99% of the time.

One issue with these labels, however, is that gaining them can be a significant process for a fishery involving data collection and a lot of paperwork – meaning not every fishery has the resources to receive the stamp, even if they are working sustainably.


Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
https://www.eea.europa.eu/help/glossary/eea-glossary/life-cycle-assessment
Life-cycle assessment (LCA) is a process of evaluating the effects that a product has on the environment over the entire period of its life thereby increasing resource-use efficiency and decreasing liabilities. It can be used to study the environmental impact of either a product or the function the product is designed to perform. LCA is commonly referred to as a "cradle-to-grave" analysis. LCA's key elements are: (1) identify and quantify the environmental loads involved; e.g. the energy and raw materials consumed, the emissions and wastes generated; (2) evaluate the potential environmental impacts of these loads; and (3) assess the options available for reducing these environmental impacts.
definition lca sustainablity | permalink | 2022-07-15 17:24:07

The seafood supply chain from a fraudulent perspective
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12571-018-0826-z


Seafood is one commodity which has endured extensive fraudulent activity owing to its increasing consumer demand, resource limitations, high value and complex supply chains. It is essential that these fraudulent opportunities are revealed, the risk is evaluated and countermeasures for mitigation are assigned. This can be achieved through mapping of the seafood supply chains and identifying the vulnerability analysis critical control points (VACCP), which can be exposed, infiltrated and exploited for fraudulent activity. This research systematically maps the seafood supply chain for three key commodities: finfish, shellfish and crustaceans in the United Kingdom. Each chain is comprised of multiple stakeholders across numerous countries producing a diverse range of products distributed globally.