What we heard at SeaChoice’s stakeholder workshop at the 2019 SeaWeb Seafood Summit in Bangkok, Thailand

This report summarizes what we heard from stakeholders about participating in eco-certification processes, including challenges and barriers, and some ideas for improvements that scheme holders could make to help ensure meaningful stakeholder engagement. 

Workshop participants included staff and/or volunteers from environmental and social non-profits who directly engaged with seafood eco-certifications  in some manner. Some attendees regularly consult (or previously had) on certification audits and/or scheme projects, others had experience on eco-certification scheme advisory boards, and others support the eco-certifications through their NGO-to-business partnerships. Attendees included international and Asia-Pacific regional representatives. SeaChoice also conducted surveys with interested stakeholders who were unable to attend the workshop.

The discussion led to a number of recommendations articulated by workshop participants.These recommendations are not specific to a single seafood eco-certification scheme, but rather are offered as practical actions that can be taken by any scheme that desires effective and meaningful stakeholder engagement. 

In terms of improving processes, stakeholders raised three main themes: make the process easier, make it count and make it local. The full list of recommendations can be found in the report.