Developing Jurisdictional Initiatives for the Seafood Sector

The document outlines a framework for seafood jurisdictional initiatives (JIs) as a complement to traditional certification, ratings, and improvement (CRI) efforts. It defines JIs as place-based approaches that combine governance reform and market-based strategies to address systemic barriers—such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and labor rights—that individual farm or fishery certifications cannot solve alone. The guide details the necessary elements for success, including multistakeholder collaboration, robust monitoring and verification frameworks, and the importance of aligning geographic boundaries with decision-making authority.

• Traditional seafood certification, ratings, and improvement (CRI) efforts are insufficient for achieving global scale or addressing systemic issues like cumulative environmental impacts, labor rights, climate change, and biodiversity loss, which often require policy changes.
• Seafood jurisdictional initiatives (JIs) are defined as place-based efforts in commodity-producing regions that integrate policy and market-based approaches to achieve holistic improvements in production, utilizing ecosystem-based management (EBM) to protect biodiversity and increase climate resilience.
• JIs offer specific advantages over CRI by democratizing planning and management, allowing smallholders who face cost and capacity constraints to participate in sustainability efforts.
• Successful JIs require several core elements: appropriate political and ecological scaling, enabling legal frameworks, commitment from governments and critical stakeholders (including research institutions and producers), public reporting, traceability, and a viable financing pathway.
• Monitoring frameworks for JIs should include direct performance metrics for environmental, social, and economic outcomes, as well as pathway and process indicators to track progress over long timelines (potentially up to 20 years).
• To prevent greenwashing and ensure credibility, stakeholders should avoid attribution claims regarding specific performance outcomes and instead focus on claims about their specific contributions, supported by objective, measurable criteria and strong traceability systems.
• Lessons from terrestrial JIs indicate that success depends on aligning geographic boundaries with decision-making authority, having a coordinating backbone organization, and ensuring meaningful engagement with Indigenous populations and local communities.

APA

Apel, A., Bradley, S., Chu, C., Cross, A., Klinger, D., Macleod, M., & Obregon, P. (2023). Developing Jurisdictional Initiatives for the Seafood Sector. WWF International. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/514/5pwxrfayxf_FINAL_Developing_JurisdictionalInitiatives_for_SeafoodSector_Summar_Fm4PZmu.pdf

Chicago

Apel, Ashley, Stephanie Bradley, Clarus Chu, Alison Cross, Dane Klinger, Merrielle Macleod, and Pablo Obregon. Developing Jurisdictional Initiatives for the Seafood Sector. WWF International, 2023. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/514/5pwxrfayxf_FINAL_Developing_JurisdictionalInitiatives_for_SeafoodSector_Summar_Fm4PZmu.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{apel2023developing, author = {Apel, Ashley and Bradley, Stephanie and Chu, Clarus and Cross, Alison and Klinger, Dane and Macleod, Merrielle and Obregon, Pablo}, title = {{Developing Jurisdictional Initiatives for the Seafood Sector}}, institution = {WWF International}, year = {2023}, month = aug, url = {https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/514/5pwxrfayxf_FINAL_Developing_JurisdictionalInitiatives_for_SeafoodSector_Summar_Fm4PZmu.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }