Browsing by Subject "Seafood"
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Item Open Access Dock to Doorstep: An Overview of Community Supported Fishery (CSF) Programs in the United States & Canada(2015-04-09) Bolton, AlexisIn response to an increasingly globalized seafood industry, Community Supported Fishery (CSF) programs have gained popularity over the last decade. Based loosely on the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) model, CSFs have been described as one way to alter the traditional seafood supply chain by connecting fishers more directly to consumers. While there are a number of potential benefits to this marketing strategy, CSF programs can vary with respect to their goals, institutional structure, sourcing practices, distribution methods, and supplementary seafood sales, which may result in differential benefits to consumers and harvesters. To further investigate these differences and why they may occur, I conducted phone interviews with 22 CSFs, representing 56% of the CSFs currently in operation the United States and Canada. Results indicate CSF programs are diverse and greater consideration should be taken to understand the potential benefits of each unique model. To draw attention to the diversity of arrangements the term ‘CSF’ represents, and help ensure the potential benefits of particular CSF arrangements are presented accurately, three types of CSFs are identified based on the results of this study.Item Open Access Ensuring sustainability in Hawaii’s offshore aquaculture industry: Environmental, economic, and social considerations for future development(2022-05-15) Wong, ZoeOffshore aquaculture, also known as open-ocean fish farming, is an emerging industry in the United States. Hawaii, home to the nation’s only active commercial open-ocean fish farm, has received increased interest and attention as a potential area for growth of the offshore aquaculture industry. State officials will play an important role in guiding the industry’s sustainable development but must take action to avoid the missteps of past projects both in Hawaii and elsewhere. Through background literature research and semi-structured stakeholder interviews, this study seeks to illuminate the environmental, economic, and social considerations that state officials must address and provides policy recommendations for next steps. By formalizing environmental standards for offshore fish farm management, initiating economic research at both state and local scales, committing to meaningful stakeholder engagement with affected communities, and reestablishing a program to oversee development of offshore aquaculture in the state, officials can nurture an industry that enriches Hawaii’s environment, economy, and people.Item Open Access Investigating Application of a Seafood Recommendation Program for Small-Scale Pacific Salmon Fisheries: A Case Study of a Rights-Based Chinook Fishery(2024-04-26) Bernaus, KatrinaWith thirty-five percent of the world’s marine fish stocks overfished (FAO 2022), eco-recommendation programs have emerged as market-oriented solutions to promote sustainable fisheries, focusing on consumer behaviour to drive changes in fishing (Wakamatsu & Wakamatsu, 2017). However, most seafood certification and recommendation schemes focus on large-scale, industrial fisheries (Wakamatsu & Wakamatsu, 2017). While being small-scale is not inherently sustainable, recent discourse on the importance of small-scale fisheries to sustainable development (Franz et al., 2023) highlights the need to ensure small-scale fisheries are not left behind in defining sustainable seafood or meeting the requirements of existing sustainability definitions. Further, some seafood products are primarily fished by small-scale or community-based operations and therefore mostly left out of seafood certification or recommendations. Here, we explore the Ocean Wise sustainable seafood initiative, a Canadian eco-recommendation program typically applied to large-scale fisheries. Ocean Wise has struggled to include small-scale, rights-based, and Canadian Pacific salmon fisheries in their recommendation program. Their assessment process is also based on Western science and takes a desk-based approach, limiting the knowledge that Ocean Wise’s analysts can include in their assessment. Knowing many small-scale and rights-based fisheries are sustainable in their implementation and that local and Indigenous knowledge can provide substantial information on fishery sustainability, we seek to understand how to best incorporate small-scale salmon fisheries into the Ocean Wise assessment processes. We apply a case study of a chinook (suuhaa) near-terminal fishery on Mowachaht Muchalaht First Nation territory in British Columbia, collecting interviews and performing qualitative analysis. Thereby, we investigate the utility of the Ocean Wise fishery recommendation program for a small-scale, rights-based Pacific salmon fishery and explore how local and Indigenous knowledge holders can supplement and modify the assessment and recommendation process. We gather that the Ocean Wise recommendation program is interesting and useful to respondents in our case study but comes with context-dependent challenges. Overall, the attitude towards the Ocean Wise recommendation program and the idea of a “sustainability” label for the chinook fishery was positive. In particular, fishers were responsive to a potential higher product value and expanded market opportunities. However, infrastructure challenges for the remote fishery would limit the success of only using an eco-recommendation to achieve such benefits. When comparing interview data with Ocean Wise’s framework, we found several synergies between the information interviewees were able to provide. Respondents also provide substantial information about where Ocean Wise Analysts can later seek information to bridge particular data gaps. Our results suggest that the Ocean Wise assessment framework prioritizes socio-ecological sustainability, ecosystem-based management, the inclusion of rightsholders, and responses to environmental risks when assessing small-scale fisheries. Emergent themes in our data also help illuminate how the Mowachaht Muchalaht fishing community defines sustainability and the indicators that may help measure social sustainability in a standardized assessment process. Further, we emphasize the need for an inclusive, adaptable, and fisher-centric approach to seafood recommendations that incorporates community engagement, partnership formation, traditional knowledge, and considerations for historical and contemporary restrictions of indigenous rights in the process. These recommendations are necessary to ensure the sustainability of small-scale fisheries and their inclusion in market-based conservation efforts like seafood recommendation programs. Overall, we recommend Ocean Wise alters their assessment process as follows: 1. Create modifications to emphasize the inclusion of rightsholders in fishery management and allow for multiple data types and knowledge forms to inform assessments 2. Incorporate socio-economic sustainability into the recommendation framework 3. Separate fishers from external, uncontrollable conditions in the assessment process 4. Take a project-based approach in assessments and form partnerships with small-scale fisheries 5. Keep in mind historical and contemporary restrictions of Indigenous rights to access resources in Canada while assessing fishery conditions 6. Coordinate efforts with other sustainable seafood programs to share resources and ensure consistency of modifications to assessment standards across the boardItem Open Access Template for Providing Access to Local North Carolina Seafood in Low-Income Communities(2016-04-29) Karasik, Rachel; Talmage, SpencerThis Master’s project provides NC Catch with a template and recommendations for implementing a supply chain that brings locally sourced seafood to low-income communities in North Carolina. The model determines processing, distribution and retail costs that generate revenue while encouraging equitable seafood consumption and identifies strategic partners for the implementation of this project. While the local food movement has introduced ecologically responsible and local fruits, vegetables, dairy and meat products into rural and low-income communities, sustainable seafood is less frequently included in promotion, distribution and education. This project aims to determine if underutilized fish species, which tend to be lower-value, caught off of North Carolina can become seafood products for lower income communities. These products can enter supply chains and markets and be sold at lower prices than current locally harvested seafood products are. A variety of methods were utilized in this process, including a literature review, interviews, focus groups, and GIS and cost analyses for distribution. Results demonstrate that there is an interest in expanding seafood access in North Carolina and that people have diverse preferences for taste, texture, flavor, and processed forms of the seafood they choose to purchase. The results of this work are a cohesive framework for effectively building a supply chain of locally caught, affordable seafood.Item Open Access Thinking Outside the Fishbox: Innovative Ideas for Overcoming the Challenges Fishermen Face Selling their Catch from Boat-to-Fork(2017-04-27) Williams, DaniellaOne rapidly growing approach to support both healthy fisheries and fishing communities is the promotion of local seafood, via direct marketing arrangements such as Community Supported Fisheries (CSF). CSFs are a strategy based on the Community Supported Agriculture model in which fishermen sell their catch directly to consumers. In this study, previously identified barriers impeding the growth and long-term economic sustainability of these systems are ranked through pairwise comparison of discrete choices undertaken by members of the LocalCatch.org network. The resulting top 5 barriers are: (1) Gaining access to processing, storage, and/or markets. (2) Setting prices for catch that are fair to both fishermen and customers. (3) Balancing the extra time and energy required for marketing with the need to leave flexibility for good fishing days or doing other things. (4) Creating the most value for product after accounting for the costs of distribution, processing, and coordination. (5) Selling catch to institutions such as hospitals and schools. This study aims to facilitate innovative problem solving to identified top barriers by soliciting solution proposals from a variety of disciplines, to be unconstrained by the experiences, histories and understanding of those presently immersed in fisheries. I identified speakers through a combination of solution proposal selection and individual solicitation. All speakers were non-fishermen, and only one speaker is currently involved in running an alternative marketing arrangement. Each speaker presented their pitch to the LocalCatch.org network via a webinar in April 2017 as a first step in moving past these barriers towards the further sustainable economic growth of alternative marketing arrangements. The April webinar was recorded and made available as a resource on the LocalCatch.org website, with contact information listed for speakers. Following the webinar I collected feedback from attendees, with results indicating that the techniques, resources and ideas presented will be utilized by attendees in the future. Attendees also showed interest in reaching out to four of the five speakers directly for further information. By providing contact information for speakers, this project hopes to further connections for the LocalCatch.org network and move solutions forward to next steps, from conception to implementation.