With its recent Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative (GSSI) recognition, Marine Eco-Label Japan (MEL) has responded to critics of its inclusion as a Tokyo Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games approved sustainable label, showing it can be used to meet the sustainability standards of purchasing managers.
The Marine Eco-Label Japan (MEL) Aquaculture Management Standard (Version 1.0) and Fisheries Management Standard (Version 2.0) were both recently recognized by the GSSI, which found them in alignment with the GSSI Global Benchmark Tool (version 1.0).
The recognition counters complaints from environmental and sustainability non-governmental organizations – including Greenpeace – that Japan’s home-grown, industry-sponsored program should not be an approved certification for sustainable sourcing at the Tokyo Olympic Games. Japan has committed to sustainable seafood sourcing at event venues, and hotels and restaurants in the area are also expecting demand for such products from the many foreign visitors expected to attend the Olympics.
The argument from NGOs against MEL was that it lacked any third-party verification and did not meet the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) guidelines. The GSSI recognition showcases that MEL does meet these requirements.
It also levels the field between MEL and more globally-known programs like the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), which are based on the same Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) guidelines. With GSSI recognition, MEL can claim equivalency among the recognized sustainable seafood programs.
GSSI’s Benchmark Tool consists of performance areas related to scheme governance, operational management (including chain of custody) and applied aquaculture farm and wild-capture fisheries audit standards. Obtaining the benchmark certification gives MEL a leg up in marketing in Europe and the United States, where many companies require GSSI-approved eco-labels.
Though the MSC and ASC certifications have shown tremendous growth in Japan – due to both the Olympics and a desire of companies to show that they are meeting United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in their corporate social responsibility reports – the option to use a less expensive domestic program may hold greater appeal now that a claim of equivalency, and the resulting buyer acceptance, is being established.
