Searching for (un)sustainabilty in pangasius aquaculture: A political economy of quality in European retail

Drawing on a political economy of food quality, this paper investigates the main sources of uncertainty over the environmental sustainability of Vietnamese pangasius catfish in European markets and how retailers subsequently respond to these uncertainties. Based on media survey and interviews with supermarket retailers across Europe between 2008 and 2010, the analysis focuses on the claims and counterclaims over the sustainability of pangasius aquaculture, how retailers have dealt with the uncertainty these claims have engendered about the fish, and what effect this uncertainty has had on the potential of marketing ‘sustainable pangasius’ in European supermarkets. The paper concludes that successful claims around new food qualities like sustainability by retailers are dependent on the ability of regulatory networks to overcome any perceived illegitimacy of imported products in the face of continuing uncertainty and the wider politics of market protectionism.     

The social relations of catfish production in Vietnam

The growth of intensive export-oriented Pangasius catfish production in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta is unparalleled in terms of rapidity and scale by any other agricultural sector, with production climbing from a low base to more than 1 million tons in a single decade. This paper examines the effects of this remarkable change on the rural class structure in locations where catfish farming has boomed, and analyses the role of local state-society relations in mediating outcomes resulting from the integration of local actors into the global value chain. We conclude that private economic activity is deeply embedded in informal relations with the state bureaucracy in Vietnam, with the result that the expansion of catfish aquaculture has generally acted to reproduce and entrench existing class relations rather leading to a radical reconfiguration of the rural class structure.     

Marine management for human development: A review of two decades of scholarly evidence

This paper reviews the evidence of the impacts of marine management interventions on human development and well-being reported in marine management literature in the past two decades. Documents dealing with fisheries, aquaculture, marine conservation and coastal zone management are assessed in terms of the methodologies used, the human development dimensions considered, and the results reported. The choice of dimensions for defining human development in this literature is contrasted with proposals from the literature on the capability and human development approaches. Possible areas for future research are discussed.     

Economic impact of climate change and climate change adaptation strategies for fisheries sector in Solomon Islands: Implication for food security

Fisheries resources play a major role in the national economy and to food security in Solomon Islands. Climate change is likely to have a substantial impact on fish production that can lead to a fragile food security condition in the country. This paper assesses the potential economic impact of three important climate change adaptation strategies – natural resource management (NRM), fish aggregating devices (FAD) and aquaculture – in Solomon Islands. The study used a country-specific partial equilibrium economic model with six fish sub-sectors and analyzed potential impact of alternate climate change adaptation strategies for 2035 and 2050. The modeling and scenario analyses show that total fish demand is likely to surpass domestic fish production in 2050. Without appropriate climate adaptation strategy, per capita consumption of domestically produced fish will decline, which has serious negative food security implications for the country. The economic (welfare) analysis conducted based on modeling results show that the national level net economic gains due to climate change adaptation strategies are substantial. If cost and topographic conditions permit, low-cost inshore FADs are expected to be a good mechanism for augmenting domestic supplies of tuna and similar species in Solomon Islands.     

Trade intervention: Not a silver bullet to address environmental externalities in global aquaculture

Aquaculture has been the world’s fastest growing food production technology in recent decades, and continued growth in aquaculture production is predicted. While creating economic opportunity, aquaculture is also a new way of using eco-systems, and there is substantial evidence that aquaculture creates negative environmental externalities. Although the most effective way to address these externalities may be improved governance, this approach is often difficult because most aquaculture production takes place in developing countries with limited management capacity. The fact that a large part of aquaculture production is traded motivates substantial interest in the use of trade measures to reduce environmental impacts. However, the wide variety of species, production practices, and governance systems present in aquaculture makes it unlikely that general trade measures will achieve environmental objectives. Rather, there is a real risk that trade measures will reduce economic opportunity, raise new equity concerns, and impinge on public health with little or no environmental impact.     

Distinguishing between natural and aquaculture-derived sediment concentrations of heavy metals in the Broughton Archipelago, British Columbia

Marine sediment samples were collected in the Broughton Archipelago, British Columbia, to assess the use of a geochemical normalization technique in the identification of a chemical tracer of aquaculture waste material. Zinc and copper were suggested as tracers of feed pellets, while copper was considered an indicator of anti-foulant agents used on netpen systems. The sediment samples were analyzed for carbon, nitrogen, organic matter, water, trace-element, and free sulfide concentrations, and sediment grain-size distribution. Sediment texture analysis revealed a wide range of substrate types from sand to silty loam categories. Strong relationships between sediment texture, sediment porosity, and organic content were observed across both near-field and far-field stations. Excess zinc and copper sediment concentrations, identified using a lithium-normalization technique, were restricted to near-field sampling stations (0 and 30m from netpen systems). The relationships between these metal tracers and organic content and sulfur concentrations were explored to account for variations in sediment concentrations of zinc and copper.     

Failure of swim bladder inflation of perch,Perca fluviatilis L. found in natural populations

Perch suffering from swim bladder inflation failure (sinkers) are reported from wild populations of Lakes Constance, Geneva, Lucerne, Sempach, and Zurich in central Europe. Sinkers were found at all 7 locations considered in a survey. Relative abundance of sinkers varied from 0.1% to 7.9% of local perch populations. Sinkers from wild populations and sinkers reared in the laboratory showed similar behaviour and malformations. Information on sinker syndrome in 26 physoclistous species is compiled. It is found to be a widespread problem in aquaculture, but is reported here for the first time from natural populations.     

The value of Pacific sardine as forage fish

This paper develops a simple bioeconomic model to investigate the economic and ecological issues associated with the commercial harvest of Pacific sardines relative to their value as forage for commercially, recreationally, and ecologically important predators in the California Current ecosystem. The model was used to evaluate how changes in the net per unit value of sardines, the net per unit value of sardine predators, and the transfer efficiency of predators affect the total net value of sardines, i.e. the net value of catches and the net value from sardine predation. Given recent market conditions for sardines and their commercial predators, and transfer efficiencies derived from predation data of the 1960s, it was found that the value of commercially caught predators and the efficiency by which they convert sardines to exploitable biomass were most important in determining the viability of the sardine fishery. The values assumed for predators that are not commercially caught were of no consequence under these conditions. Taking the value of sardines as forage into account does not necessarily mean an either-or situation for the fishery. As long as there is some measure of net value from the fishery and net value from predation, both benefit society at large.     

Where do fishmeal and fish oil products come from? An analysis of the conversion ratios in the global fishmeal industry

As a result of the stagnation of commercial fishery landings, aquaculture activities are expected to increase over the next decades to match the growing demand for marine protein. Overall, it is expected that the aquaculture sector could reduce some of the fishing pressure applied to wild stocks. However, this development is likely to be limited by the availability of key aquaculture inputs, specifically fishmeal and fish oil products (FMFOP). Aquaculture provided 60 % (fish meal) and 80 % (fish oil) of the world total consumption of these products in 2007. FMFOP are generally derived from small pelagic fish species, but can also be derived from other sources. Identifying the origin of FMFOP is crucial to understanding the effects of this new pressure on marine social-ecological systems. Two factors are of particular importance in the reduction sector transforming wild fish into fishmeal or fish oil: the two “conversion ratios” (i.e. the ratio between the quantity of wild fish harvested and the resulting quantity of FMFOP, and the ratio between the quantity of FMFOP and aquaculture production), and the type of raw material used by the reduction sector. Based on trade and production databases from FAO and the International Fishmeal and Fish oil Organisation (IFFO), this paper proposes an approach to identify the origin of FMFOP. It shows that whereas different countries use different pelagic resources to produce FMFOP, other countries use non-pelagic sources, and some countries use pelagic resources for human consumption.