Earlier this year, I attended the World Fisheries Congress in Seattle, WA to present on findings of a recently submitted paper exploring the value of sustainability ecolabels such as the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) towards shrimp production. This research was an extension of my masters thesis, funded by the U.S Department of Agriculture, as well as support from Oregon Sea Grant during my Natural Resource Policy Fellowship. The study focused on consumers in South Carolina and their willingness to pay for locally sourced, sustainably farmed shrimp. Using a choice experiment, where survey participants are given several options with varying attributes and prices, our results showed that consumers were willing to pay 41% more for locally sourced shrimp, in addition to 7% more for ASC-certified farm-raised shrimp. The results of this study are novel in that shrimp that is locally sourced on the Atlantic coast, such as Brown and White Shrimp, is harvested, whereas consumers showed a preference, and were willing to pay more for sustainably grown shrimp. Although land-based, recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) is a nascent industry in the U.S., significant steps are being made federal and state governments to expand this form of aquaculture to meet domestic seafood demands, and in turn move towards more sustainable production of shrimp.

The conference covered many topics, ranging from conservation through marine protected areas, to emerging technologies using artificial intelligence to monitor at-sea activities of fishing vessels. Scientists and policymakers around the world convened to share advancements being made in fisheries management through a series of breakout sessions and keynote presentations. The opportunity to present on findings from my masters was both rewarding and insightful as a diverse audience of ecologists and economists asked questions and provided feedback.

While attending the conference, I was fortunate enough to be part of the first cohort to receive accreditation as a fisheries conformity assessor from MSC. This newly formed course was offered to conference participants with previous experience working with MSC fisheries standards under version 2.01. During the workshop phase, we discussed expectations of the new version 3.0 that is currently being incorporated into certified fisheries across the world. Considering the relevance to Oregon, I drafted a policy brief and accompanying technical overview of meeting MSC fisheries standard version 3.0 for the Oregon Pink Shrimp fishery, which has been certified by MSC since 2007 and continues to be the only MSC-certified shrimp fishery in the world. I look forward to continue supporting the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and it’s partners in meeting these new fisheries assessment standards from MSC that ensure a sustainable and economical Pink Shrimp fishery for years to come.