Description:
Over the past several decades, significant effort has been invested in determining the key elements for environmental sustainability in fisheries and aquaculture, informing the creation of globally recognized standards, such as the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). However, recent media revelations about human rights violations in the seafood sector in both developing and developed countries have placed social issues at the forefront of conversations around seafood production. In response, a coalition of academic institutions, industry, and nonprofit organizations co-created a framework encompassing a shared and comprehensive definition of social responsibility to align efforts in this space. This framework, referred to as the “Monterey framework” for social responsibility (Kittinger et al. 2017), is supported by more than two-dozen businesses and over 25 non-profit organizations, and spans issues from human rights, access to resources, equality and equity, and livelihood and food security. Moving from principles to practice of the Monterey Framework will require multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral partnerships, as well as mutually agreed upon protocols, best practices and guidelines to avoid duplication and ensure alignment in this critically important effort. The primary purpose of the workshop is to co-develop a protocol (including indicators and guidelines) for measuring social responsibility in Fishery Improvement Projects (FIPs).

Workshop Goal: To align the Fishery Improvement Project (FIP) community of practice in their efforts to integrate social responsibility into FIP practice, with guidance from existing international protocols, frameworks, and best practices for protecting and respecting human rights and social responsibility in fisheries. In other words, collective action!

Workshop Process: Convene and engage stakeholders from human rights and social responsibility organizations, environmental organizations active in FIP implementation, and the academic community, in an inclusive, co-development process with a diversity of perspectives, experience, and knowledge bases.

Workshop Outcome: A mutually agreed upon protocol (i.e. indicators and guidelines) for measuring and benchmarking improvements in social responsibility in fisheries that will be applicable and salient across a wide range of fisheries globally, and sensitive to limited time, funding, and resources of FIP implementers.

Workshop Facilitators Jack Kittinger // Elena Finkbeiner // Yoshi Ota