Guidelines for Developing Jurisdictional Initiatives for the Seafood Sector

The guidelines advocate for jurisdictional initiatives (JIs) as a complementary approach to traditional certification, ratings, and improvement (CRI) efforts. While CRI focuses on individual farms or fisheries, JIs operate at a broader scale to address systemic issues like climate resilience, biodiversity loss, and labor rights through policy reform and multistakeholder collaboration. The document outlines key enablers for success, including government leadership, long-term blended finance, and ecosystem-based management. It also provides frameworks for monitoring, reporting, and verifying claims, emphasizing that performance outcomes typically take eight to 20 years to materialize. Case studies, such as the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) for tuna and a shrimp aquaculture project in Indonesia, illustrate the application of these principles.

• Jurisdictional initiatives (JIs) are defined as place-based efforts in seafood-producing regions that combine policy and market-based approaches to achieve holistic improvements at ecological and political scales.
• JIs are intended to complement traditional certification, ratings, and improvement (CRI) efforts by addressing systemic barriers that CRI cannot, such as cumulative environmental impacts, climate change, and regional social issues.
• Successful JIs require several key enablers, including a coordinating backbone organization, long-term financing (often using a blended finance approach), and a political scale that aligns with decision-making authority.
• The timeframe for achieving systemic change and ecosystem-level outcomes through JIs is long, typically ranging from eight to 20 years.
• Government leadership is critical for the durability of JIs, as they provide the regulatory authority needed to implement policies across an entire production geography.
• The Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) serves as a primary example of a successful fishery JI, where eight Pacific Island governments increased revenues from US$60 million in 2010 to nearly US$500 million in 2018 through a joint management regime.
• A shrimp aquaculture JI is being developed in Banyuwangi, East Java, Indonesia, using a zonal management approach to address shared threats like disease and pollution.
• To maintain credibility, JIs must use a tiered verification system for claims: structural and action claims can be verified by second parties, but performance claims require independent third-party verification.
• Traceability and transparency are essential for verifying market claims and reducing risks such as seafood fraud and illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

APA

Apel, A., Bradley, S., Chu, C., Cross, A., Klinger, D., Macleod, M., & Obregon, P. (2023). Guidelines for Developing Jurisdictional Initiatives for the Seafood Sector. WWF International. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/570/9pvyq8y0kf_FINAL_Guidelines_for_Developing_JurisdictionalInitiatives_for_Seafo_7vrBq8B.pdf

Chicago

Apel, Ashley, Stephanie Bradley, Clarus Chu, Alison Cross, Dane Klinger, Merrielle Macleod, and Pablo Obregon. Guidelines for Developing Jurisdictional Initiatives for the Seafood Sector. WWF International, 2023. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/570/9pvyq8y0kf_FINAL_Guidelines_for_Developing_JurisdictionalInitiatives_for_Seafo_7vrBq8B.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{apel2023guidelines, author = {Apel, Ashley and Bradley, Stephanie and Chu, Clarus and Cross, Alison and Klinger, Dane and Macleod, Merrielle and Obregon, Pablo}, title = {{Guidelines for Developing Jurisdictional Initiatives for the Seafood Sector}}, institution = {WWF International}, year = {2023}, month = aug, url = {https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/570/9pvyq8y0kf_FINAL_Guidelines_for_Developing_JurisdictionalInitiatives_for_Seafo_7vrBq8B.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }