“Fishermen are worried a certification row will confuse consumers, says Jane Rankin-Reid in Saturday’s Mercury newspaper.
Fishermen are unhappy with radio advertisements sponsored by the Marine Stewardship Council promoting their March 2nd “Sustainable Seafood Day”. “Buy only sustainable seafood products branded with the MSC gold label”, the advertisement urges listeners.
“We haven’t been advised of Sustainable Seafood day”, snorts Rodney Treloggen, CEO of the Tasmanian Rock Lobster Fisherman’s Association. “This aggressive campaign is really only about internal certification industry rivalry. Its very bad for the local fishing industry to send false messages to consumers when we’re working so hard to protect our fish stocks and have achieved so much in this region.” Many Tasmanian Rock Lobster Fisherman’s Association members has undertaken a voluntary industry initiated program, the award winning, Clean Green, MSC’s main Australian rival, which also runs best practice environmental and fishery stock management awareness courses for local fishermen. “We’ve yet to see the market need to sign up for MSC’s certification program” says Treloggen. It’s very expensive at $200,000 per fishery. I’m not sure of the benefits to Tasmania, given the success of our own sustainability initiatives.” All exporting Australian fisheries must be certified with the Federal Environmental Protection Biodiversity and Conservation Act. “We must be certified every 5 years and if we don’t get it, we’re can’t export. It’s more far reaching than MSC certification”, says Treloggen.
The Marine Stewardship Council is a prominent UK charitable foundation, sponsored by leading British supermarket chains, Tescos, Marks and Spencers, Whole Foods Market Inc and multinational food corporation Unilever, Europe’s largest seafood importer. Seafood sustainability certification has become big business in Europe with consumers increasingly urged to shop with their consciences. But MSC’s certification outreach has had little impact in Australia to date with only two regional fishing bodies, the West Australian Rock Lobster and the Australian Mackerel Icefish (Heard and MacDonald Islands) fisheries signed on to its program.
The MSC’s fifteen month certification process is “onerous”, according to West Australian Fishing Industry Council CEO Guy Leyland, but worth it for Australian fisheries aiming to sell in US and UK retail markets where consumers are increasingly demanding independent third party sustainability certification for their seafood products. Although West Australian rock lobster is the only Australian fishery certified in WAFIC’s catchment to date, very few if any of its MSC gold labeled products are actually available to Australian consumers. Why promote the MSC exclusive “Sustainable Seafood Day” when there are so few certified products available to Australian seafood buyers? “It’s political”, says Leyland. “It’s about creating consumer awareness so there’ll be demand for sustainability certification”.
“That’s a complete load of…”, says Treloggan. “It’s a negative scare campaign, manipulating local consumers to reject Tasmania’s award winning Clean Green standards. Why promote a consumer branding program with no products available if they’re not trying to muscle in on local certification turf and create serious doubt in Australian shoppers’ minds about the integrity of our industry?” In Britain earlier this month, another aggressive MSC sponsored sustainable seafood campaign backfired badly, when condemnation from the UK’s statuary marine agency Seafish, the Scottish Salmon Producers’ organization and rival certification body Friends of the Sea accused MSC of “confusing rather than educating consumers”, by sponsoring the World Wildlife Foundation’s “Stinky Fish” Sustainable Seafood Shopping Survey. The WWF’s online viral marketing campaign is anchored by an animated puppet, Stinky Fish who interrogates restaurant owners and fish sellers about their seafood’s sources. Launched in mid January, Stinky Fish advises seafood shoppers to only buy fish that bears the exclusive MSC gold label for sustainability fishing assurance because “everything else is stinky!” Although MSC staff initially believed Stinky Fish would raise awareness about sustainable fishing amongst a hard to reach online audience, “they did not foresee the negative reaction that the video would engender with its partners and colleagues in the seafood industry”, MSC said in a statement last week. As the charity distanced itself from the fishing furor, it advised WWF to immediately remove any reference to MSC from its website.
“Seafood Sustainability Day” is designed to raise Australian consumers’ awareness quickly”, says Duncan Ledbetter, MSC’s Asian Pacific representative. “You’ve got to remember that as much as 70% of seafood sold in Australia is imported. A lot of the fish products available in Coles and Woolies are not from sustainable fisheries, so looking for a sustainability label is a good thing”. Ledbetter insists that MSC’s radio advertising campaign doesn’t condemn non certified seafood but Australia’s fishing industry experts worry that sending confusing messages to shoppers will do far more harm than good.
from The Mercury in Tasmania, Saturday March 1, 2008
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD is a critical thinker with expertise in the scientific method.
These certification schemes are all designed for the sole purpose of applying what would normally constitute illegal “exclusionary provisions” under trade practice legislation. If two or three suppliers got together and decided to engage in such practices it would in breach of the law but by involving other entities along the value chain and calling it a “certification scheme” they are able to subvert these provisions. For the time being, that is.
But no matter what one calls it, it is still, in essence, a “Cartel” with the sole purpose of engaging in anti-competetive activity.
It is particularly onerous when a small group of retailers with large market share seek to shift the cost of their own “product differentiation strategies” onto their numerous suppliers. This is a clear abuse of market power that has nothing to do with the actual qualities of the product or the buying preferences of the customers.
And we all know that the very first thing the MSC would do if some industry sector was silly enough to give them $200,000 is spend $150,000 on more advertising and the rest on themselves.
These people are a cancer in the market place who’s starting point is the complete reversal of the presumption of innocence. They clearly imply that anyone who has not purchased their “service” is an environmental vandal.
Those who don’t do all they can to combat this parasitic scum may well find that some day they may have to fork out large sums of money to be certified as a non-dysfunctional father, able to be in the same room with your children without the presence of another adult.
Hi Jennifer
Interesting article. Thanks. So much for all these types of certification… Working with traditional fishers in South Africa and following what’s happening in the traditional small scale fisheries in general, I see a greedy fishing industries caring very little for neither marine resources nor traditional fishers. Words from South African traditional fishers, with friends and family members working for the big industry, claim that MSC certified Hake fisheries deliberately target Snoek (worth at the moment roughly 1 US dollar pr. kg.) as “bycatch”. So, when the vessels are not targeting MSC Hake, they engage in very unsustainable fishing on a species upon which the livelihoods of thousands of fishers and their families depend – the Snoek.
There is more and more focus on the unsustainable fishing practises at the global level, and more and more focus on certification of fish. I ask, where is the focus on the traditional small scale fishing sectors around the world, that by and large fish sustainable? The traditional small scale fisheries are in general characterised by very selective fishing practises, high quality products, and no or very low levels of bycatch.
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Fisheries(Lobster Industry)and Government Relations.
The Australian Fisheries is amongst one of the oldest and popular industries in the world which works and operates in the cleanest environment due to its diverse marine fauna and fully protected laws which in return provides fishing industry a vast variety of sea food and adds to an economic growth to the government. According to the reports of Australian department of fisheries, the commercial fishing industry of Australia is the most valuable industry when compared with beef, wool and dairy industry. It is estimated that about 600 marine and fresh water sea food species are caught and sold in Australia and for overseas consumption which helps in contribution of Economic gains for the government and the domestic labour.
The development of Australian fisheries department could be traced back from 1834 when fisheries in Australia flourished in exports of inshore species such as crabs, lobsters and prawns. The records with the fishery department shows that the export of fishing continued till mid 1920’s and added some new species for expansion of industry .Thus this expansion in variety of sea food species made Australia one of the prime country known for its Fish Industry.
In the past two decades, operations regarding the fisheries had really developed in eastern and southern Australia with the development of new technology and fishing methods. Considering Australia with the perspective of fishing region it covers approximately 11 million square kilometres which is an impressive size in terms of fishing and marine activity. Thus, Apart from marine activity such as research or studies, Australia has also achieved a status of a sea food exporter within the domestic and international market which mainly concern Salmon, Prawns and Lobsters.
Thus in this Discussion Paper ,We would be putting light on Fishing Industry and Government relations in Australia .In defining the Fishing Industry we would be moving clause by clause unfolding the different business associations of the fishing Industry .In the second clause ,We would be seeing what kind of different strategies are adopted by the fishing industry to defend and represent its Interest .In the third Clause ,We would be putting light on opposition and confrontation faced by fishing industry by various NGO’s and Unions.
“Fishing Industry in Australia is the prime industry with the gross value of 1744 million dollar per annum which comprise of export of high value species such as lobster, prawns and salmon. According to the reports of Fisheries and agriculture department approximately 70 % of industry revenue is derived from exports to countries like Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan.”
In the recent years there has been a great challenge faced by the Australian Fisheries which has resulted in the decline of production sector .In other words the Industry is facing major challenge in relation to extinction of particular species such as lobster and salmon which is making officials concerned about the future challenges regarding fish industry on which government rely on serious terms of economic growth .Thus, In this part of assignment, we are going to put light on specific area of fishery industry by over viewing Industry of Rock Lobster which is very popular species for sea food both nationally and internationally .In result, I would be discussing the key competitors to the Rock Lobster industry and in the end of discussion we will be seeing what role is played by the government for industry performance and outlook.
In the Present Era the overcapitalisation of global fishing has led to depreciation in the fish stocks in Australian Fisheries as well as worldwide .Thus many studies are been carried out by government officials ranging from policy analyst to fisheries managers to overcome this problem in an effective and a approachable way .In result government of every country tries to work for the industry which faces hard times or is not able to perform well. Comparing Australia’ from fisheries perspective there is a great need of structural change and management procedures to be carried out to resolve the imbalance and disturbance between the capitalism in various fisheries and construct a finest level of relations between the industry and government .
Rock lobster industry is an important and growing industry in Australia. Under the Research carried out by AFMA in the year 2008, rock lobster industry fetches approximately 478.8 million dollars a year and provides full time employment to more than 3400 people .Thus in result Rock Lobster Industry is regarded as one of the most prestigious industry for economic growth in the domestic market as well as in international arena.
Taking an Example of International Arena :Australian Exports of rock lobster mainly comprises of Asian countries such as Japan, Hong Kong and china which are the main recipients of Australian sea food and adds half a billion dollars every year into regional economies which return helps the industry to improve fishing standards and techniques .
The change is industry whether its Rock Lobster industry or any other sea food industry takes place due to the global and local forces which are often beyond the control of the fisheries .The changes varies from economic, environmental and community forces. Thus many times initiatives are taken in by the forces which can put brakes or hold on positive change in the industry. In Australian Context the Southern part of Australian Lobster industry is a big picture or force which has developed and changed global sea food market. Thinking from historical perspective Southern Australian Fisheries was considered as the biggest export market to nations like USA and Europe in the year 1970’s.It was seen that due to globalisation and export of Rock lobster various retailers in USA such as Wal-Mart and Tesco emerged as global retailers. Thus during 1970‘s a significant progress was seen in the Fisheries Industry of Australia due to its trade as well as emerging market power in Rock lobster which added the country to boom economically.
The Current position of Rock lobster industry is going through a great transformation with a big supply and market chain in other words a new type of market has emerged within the sea food sector which is led by emergence of sea food retail stores creating their own supply and market chain. Thus many economic challenges are faced by the industry in present days due to an increase of retails stores that is restraining the growth and profitability of the industry.
The Culture of the industry is clearly defined by the way work is done in the industry. Considering the scenario of Rock Lobster industry in the current day we can clearly highlight that there is wide range of exploitation taking place in the sea food resource. In Australia government of each state has started commercial fishing on the basis of licensing which is totally catch and technology driven. In explanation to this several rules are implied or levied by the government to the fisheries sector which limit their access to sea creatures or fishes only to the specific period .Thus in result many industry such as Rock Lobster industry are driven to adopt best technology for harvest operation to catch the lobster. In the end Lobster has created a commodity culture among different sea fisherman who tends to get hold of as many lobsters they can in the harvesting season which is very short due to government restrictions.
Secondly, as the competition between the technologies is increasing amongst the various level of the Rock Lobster industry many fluctuations are seen in terms of consumer and supply chain which is the main problem felt by the government. In explanation to this as the productivity increases by the fisheries it gives a great increase in demand by the consumer but the major problem which government is facing is the loss of Marine Diversity .Thus, In search of more lobsters many Fish industries are exploiting Sea reserves and causing problem to the marine life in the seas and oceans.
Thirdly, the current approach of fisheries is harvesting which signifies that many trade controls is in the hand of parties or retailer sitting at the beach or processing level .In Result there is very little awareness among fishers about the market requirement as they are locked within the supply approach which makes them relatively weak sellers in the markets. Thus minimization of consumer preferences and sales margin through a combine value adding along the whole supply chain is minimised which preludes fishers from accessing value adding opportunities and better returns.
For Example: The price of Rock Lobster varies from season to season .The price paid to the fisher in the month of November is approximately 20 to 30 dollars per kilogram. Thus on other hand the fisher gets much better price from 40 to 50 dollars in the month of July and august .In the end, we can see that the beach price of the rock lobster strongly depend on the world market which holds a strong influence of lobster price in relation to Japanese market which is the major consumer of Australian Lobsters.
Market planning and development are the key aspects of every industry which determines how well an industry can preform with a well planned study of the market as well as how well an industry could be developed with the use of modern strategies and technology .Thus in this part of Assignment we are going to determine about how well fisheries in Australia is able to perform and develop so far .
In Australia, the current system in fishing industry wether its Rock Lobster industry or salmon industry is totally based on commodity selling and less emphasis is laid on product marketing. Secondly Fishers in the fishing industry have major drawback of having less understanding about the market needs and Consumer preferences. Therefore we can see the industry totally competes on price ignoring the customer needs and preferences. Fourthly Rock Lobster of Australia is the most wanted sea food in the world market but in the recent years the Australian markets have started feeling the challenges from the emerging market of Rock Lobster from Mexico and other seasonal producers are providing a tough competition in regards of cheap product rates. In the end, excessive competition between processors has resulted in unsustainable margin and price instability in the Rock Lobster Industry.
The Rock Lobster Industry in Australia is mainly concentrated in the Regional parts of Western Australia, Tasmania and South Australia which adds significant monetary growth to the Country Thus the study of Rock Lobster shows many rules and regulations which government agencies has imposed on the industry to make the trade of Rock lobster more regulated and to overcome various problems faced by the industry .In the end , In this part of Assignment we will be discussing about the Government and Rock Lobster industry Relations .Apart from that we will also discuss about the role of NGO’S and various Unions who oppose various strategies and working of the Rock Lobster Industry in Detail .
Considering the Commercial Sector of South Australia, Rock Lobster Industry is the only recreational institution which adds to the economic growth of the region. Firstly Government in South Australia Fishing Industry has imposed restrictions onto fishing activities by the means of Fishing Licence .Thus in result fishing of Lobster is now available as Recreational activity for the people who are allowed fishing of lobster but on the Restriction basis .
For Example: In South Australia, Lobster Pots are issued with the purchase of Fishing Licence which limits the users to store only specific number of lobsters. Thus, in result an implication of this rule has benefited the government a lot in the way of earning revenue for the state .Secondly Lobster Licence, keeps a track on illegal fishing of lobsters which remains untraced or uncontrolled by other methods.
In Accordance to the Reports of ABC News dated 13 February 2009 new restrictions are introduced to safeguard the Rock Lobster Industry .In relation to the new rules a decrease has been seen in relation to the Fishing Licenses by 30 percent .Secondly, the number of days for Lobster Fishing has been decreased from 6 to 4 days. Thus these steps and initiatives are taken to prevent and safeguard the number of Lobster catch per season which under fishing laws is no greater than 7800 Tonnes.
The other Environmental issues concerning the Rock Lobster Industry is to maintain the environmental integrity of Marine Park and the reef habitats. It is seen that various government agencies are becoming aware about the ecological threats which can affect the Rock Lobster Fishery .Thus Government specifically in the state of Victoria has taken various initiatives in regards to Petroleum production and exploration which is the sea activity and could cause problem for the sea habitat.
For Example: In the state of Victoria various Marine parks and sanctuaries are established by the government and NGO‘s to protect the Rock Lobster Species. According to the Numeric figure 6 % of Coastal area has been turned into Marine Park to protect the Habitat and reef from any harmful influence and threat,
Due to great opposition by NGO’s and Various Environmental agencies government in the state of Victoria has levied the catch and possession limit to the rock lobster fishing. In relation to the new rule a Fisher related to Commercial industry can only have two bags of Rock Lobster per day and that also changes season to season.
In the year 1995 due to opposition by many NGO’s the Government Issued the RLFMP act under the Fisheries Management .Under this new act, ecological sustainability was the prime objective of the government which would construct guidelines for the fisheries development relating to Rock Lobster Aquaculture and growth in future development .