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Abstract:
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"The requirement of institutions to sustain seafood supplies that come from marine
commons has been discussed in scientific literature for decades. Thus far, the focus
has been on regulating the most direct contact with the resource - fish harvests. This
has been extremely warranted, given the increasingly technological forms of fishing,
high rates of exploitation, etc. Despite strict regulations across several regions and
countries, like the EU, USA and NZ, achieving ecological sustainability has had
limited success - they may have seen recovery of fish stocks in their own waters often
as resulting a result of spatial fixes to feed seafood demand, like increasing harvests
within Exclusive Economic Zones of African and Asian nations, as well as increasing
harvests in international waters (case in point: Chilean Sea Bass). Clearly limiting
fishing alone cannot achieve the ultimate goal of equitable and ecologically
sustainable fisheries.
Some types of resource users may asymmetrically contribute to resource exploitation,
but they may often be overlooked, particularly if they are slightly further up the
supply chain. In the case of seafood, the role of consumers in making “responsible”
choices has been recognized by multiple organizations, like SeaFood Watch, Marine
Stewardship Council etc. Yet their participation in the processes of creating marine
commons, i.e. commoning, have never been given serious attention.
Using data on ~500 seafood consumers who identified as being interested in
ecological sustainability from India, we examine the extent to which consumption can
facilitate or hamper fisheries management. We contrast this with data from seafood
restaurants. We find that the selective consumption of seafood does not support the
types of commons initiatives that are created by fishermen in India. Instead selective
consumption drives economic, ecological and social declines in marine fisheries.
Therefore we propose the concept of a seafood commons - one in which seafood
consumers are seen as resource users who disproportionately affect fisheries
management across the globe through the demand for seafood that they create."
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