IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i20p13523-d947353.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Seafood Sustainability Supply Chain Trends and Challenges in Japan: Marine Stewardship Council Fisheries and Chain of Custody Certificates

Author

Listed:
  • Minako Iue

    (Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan
    Sailors for the Sea Japan, Yokohama 236-8648, Japan)

  • Mitsutaku Makino

    (Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, Tokyo University, Tokyo 192-0397, Japan)

  • Misuzu Asari

    (Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan)

Abstract

In Japan, fisheries’ product has decreased since the 1980s, and the government amended the fisheries law in 2020 to shift to managed fisheries. However, awareness of seafood sustainability is still low. This study identifies the reason for the low awareness and states the necessary actions to increase sustainable seafood consumption. The proactive stakeholders in seafood supply were surveyed to determine the current status of sustainable seafood sales. Marine Stewardship Council-certified fishers and MSC’s Chain-of-Custody certification holders answered the questionnaires. Fishers showed a positive attitude, citing proactive sales channel expansions and contributions to sustainability. Distributors were primarily passive, mainly because they obtained the certification at the request of their clients, and about half of them did not disseminate information between consumers and suppliers. Both fishers and distributors expect the government to promote campaigns and education. The stages of the awareness of producers, intermediary trade, and retailers are different and did not align. Therefore, if the supply chain stakeholders proactively educate themselves, choose sustainable products from the fishers, and pass the sustainability information to the consumers, sustainable seafood consumption would progress.

Suggested Citation

  • Minako Iue & Mitsutaku Makino & Misuzu Asari, 2022. "Seafood Sustainability Supply Chain Trends and Challenges in Japan: Marine Stewardship Council Fisheries and Chain of Custody Certificates," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-21, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:20:p:13523-:d:947353
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/20/13523/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/20/13523/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Uchida, Hirotsugu & Onozaka, Yuko & Morita, Tamaki & Managi, Shunsuke, 2014. "Demand for ecolabeled seafood in the Japanese market: A conjoint analysis of the impact of information and interaction with other labels," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 68-76.
    2. Asche, Frank & Bronnmann, Julia, 2017. "Price premiums for ecolabelled seafood: MSC certification in Germany," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 61(4), October.
    3. Kate Barclay & Alice Miller, 2018. "The Sustainable Seafood Movement Is a Governance Concert, with the Audience Playing a Key Role," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-20, January.
    4. Brécard, Dorothée & Hlaimi, Boubaker & Lucas, Sterenn & Perraudeau, Yves & Salladarré, Frédéric, 2009. "Determinants of demand for green products: An application to eco-label demand for fish in Europe," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 115-125, November.
    5. Cathy R. Wessells & Robert J. Johnston & Holger Donath, 1999. "Assessing Consumer Preferences for Ecolabeled Seafood: The Influence of Species, Certifier, and Household Attributes," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 81(5), pages 1084-1089.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Svetlana Tulaeva & Maria Tysiachniouk & Minna Pappila & Minni Tynkkynen, 2023. "Marine Stewardship Council Certification in Finland and Russia: Global Standards and Local Practices," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-20, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Shi, Longzhong & Chen, Xuan & Qiu, Jingran & Li, Li, 2022. "Consumers Preferences for Eco-Labels and the Impact of Information: A Choice Experiment on Aquatic Food Products in China," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322209, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    2. Chen, Xianwen & Alfnes , Frode & Rickertsen , Kyrre, 2015. "Labeling Farmed Seafood," Working Paper Series 10-2015, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, School of Economics and Business.
    3. Suzanne van Osch & Stephen Hynes & Shirra Freeman & Tim O’Higgins, 2019. "Estimating the Public’s Preferences for Sustainable Aquaculture: A Country Comparison," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-24, January.
    4. Bronnmann, Julia & Asche, Frank, 2017. "Sustainable Seafood From Aquaculture and Wild Fisheries: Insights From a Discrete Choice Experiment in Germany," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 113-119.
    5. Roheim, Cathy A. & Zhang, Dengjun, 2018. "Sustainability certification and product substitutability: Evidence from the seafood market," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 92-100.
    6. Fang, Yingkai & Asche, Frank & Gao, Zhifeng, 2020. "Can ecolabel certifications for restaurants influence consumer choices away from home?," 2020 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, Kansas City, Missouri 304268, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    7. Malin Jonell & Beatrice Crona & Kelsey Brown & Patrik Rönnbäck & Max Troell, 2016. "Eco-Labeled Seafood: Determinants for (Blue) Green Consumption," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(9), pages 1-19, September.
    8. Marcello Risitano & Rosaria Romano & Vincenzo Rusciano & Gennaro Civero & Debora Scarpato, 2022. "The impact of sustainability on marketing strategy and business performance: The case of Italian fisheries," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 1538-1551, May.
    9. Chen, Xianwen & Alfnes, Frode & Rickertsen, Kyrre, 2014. "Consumer Preferences, Ecolabels, and the Effects of Negative Environmental Information," 2014 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2014, Minneapolis, Minnesota 168094, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    10. Salladarré Frédéric & Guillotreau Patrice & Perraudeau Yves & Monfort Marie-Christine, 2010. "The Demand for Seafood Eco-Labels in France," Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization, De Gruyter, vol. 8(1), pages 1-26, December.
    11. Kyrre Rickertsen & Frode Alfnes & Pierre Combris & Géraldine Enderli & Sylvie Issanchou & Jason F. Shogren, 2017. "French Consumers' Attitudes and Preferences toward Wild and Farmed Fish," Marine Resource Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 32(1), pages 59-81.
    12. Brécard, Dorothée, 2014. "Consumer confusion over the profusion of eco-labels: Lessons from a double differentiation model," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 64-84.
    13. Asche, Frank & Larsen, Thomas A. & Smith, Martin D. & Sogn-Grundvåg, Geir & Young, James A., 2015. "Pricing of eco-labels with retailer heterogeneity," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 82-93.
    14. Zhu, Zhanguo & Zhang, Tong & Hu, Wuyang, 2023. "The accumulation and substitution effects of multi-nation certified organic and protected eco-origin food labels in China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    15. Meyer, Andrew, 2015. "Does education increase pro-environmental behavior? Evidence from Europe," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 108-121.
    16. Natali, F. & Cacchiarelli, L. & Branca, G., 2022. "There are plenty more (sustainable) fish in the sea: A discrete choice experiment on discarded species in Italy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    17. Schumacher, Ingmar, 2010. "Ecolabeling, consumers' preferences and taxation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(11), pages 2202-2212, September.
    18. Asche, Frank & Bronnmann, Julia & Cojocaru, Andreea L., 2021. "The value of responsibly farmed fish: A hedonic price study of ASC-certified whitefish," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    19. Uchida, Hirotsugu & Onozaka, Yuko & Morita, Tamaki & Managi, Shunsuke, 2014. "Demand for ecolabeled seafood in the Japanese market: A conjoint analysis of the impact of information and interaction with other labels," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 68-76.
    20. Domenico Carlucci & Biagia De Devitiis & Gianluca Nardone & Fabio Gaetano Santeramo, 2017. "Certification Labels Versus Convenience Formats: What Drives the Market in Aquaculture Products?," Marine Resource Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 32(3), pages 295-310.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:20:p:13523-:d:947353. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.