Consumers in Japan, the world’s biggest seafood market, want both sustainably caught and clearly labelled fish products, a poll commissioned by Greenpeace shows.
More than half of survey respondents said they would like to see labels on seafood products indicating that they were caught using sustainable methods, while less than 20 percent of them said that they would want affordable and tasty seafood, even if it was considered unsustainable.
Also, a substantial majority – 68 percent – of Japanese consumers asked wanted labelling of endangered or vulnerable fish species, in order to help them make better-informed choices, while only 12 percent answered that they would eat seafood regardless of its status.
“This shift in consumer attitude clearly shows that the Japanese market is following trends we have already seen in Europe and the U.S.: consumers want sustainable seafood that will not destroy fish supplies and will leave living oceans for future generations,” said Wakao Hanaoka, Greenpeace Japan oceans campaigner.
Aggressive campaigning by Japanese delegates was instrumental as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) meeting in Doha, Qatar, in March failed to grant protection to even one of 40 fish or coral species proposed.