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National Fisheries Institute

Members

The National Fisheries Institute’s group of members include a wide range of different contributors such as Associate/Suppliers to the Industry, Bank & Financial Services, Broadline Distributor, Exporter, Importer, Processor, Producers, Retailers & Groceries, Seafood Restaurants, Suppliers, Trade Associations & Universities, Wholesale. Some well-known members include Wells Fargo Bank, Sysco Corporation, US Food Inc., National Fish and Seafood Inc, Seatrade International Co., Inc.; Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Red Lobster Seafood Co., and Santa Monica Seafood.

The National Fisheries Institute (NFI) and its members are committed to practices that preserve the proper management of the environments of the world’s ocean. They endorse the United Nations Principles for Responsible Fisheries and practice all of the required regulations included. Their commitment to preserving the ocean provides a guarantee of healthy seafood around the world and a guarantee for the future generations to have an abundance of fish populations. The members of NFI also stress for generic seafood brand consumption to increase sales for the companies of the members. They also decide what to spend money on for endorsing, for example they decided to spend $35 million on advertising for the benefits of seafood consumption.

The NFI and its members practice responsible aquaculture by following all regulations and enforcing them, and marketplace to support free trade.They ensure the public has the facts about the health benefits of fish and shellfish by informing its consumers and combining with associations such as the FDA. NFI and its members support and promote sound public policy based on ground truth science of all marine life. The slogan of the NFI and its members is “We are the people. We are the fish. We are the ocean.”

Sustainability

Sustainability is the foundation of the seafood community. Sustainability is the practice of seafood that is caught the correct way that meets the demand for the current generations but does not affect the ability to supply the demand for seafood in future generations. Members of the NFI such as the Whole Foods corporation have incorporated certification requirements for its sustainability policy. Seafood sustainability takes into account the impacts of the economy, society, and the environment. The NFI collaborates with other foundations to ensure seafood sustainability. They collaborate with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans Committee (DGAC) which recommends to consumers to eat a wide variety of seafoods caught naturally or raised in a fish farm. They also work with the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) that was founded in 2009 for the concern of the future population of tuna. The NFI also ensures that the public is informed of the recent facts or events that occur involving sustainability through the media.

Future of North American Fisheries

The NFI works to improve sustainability through studies of the ocean by catches and other studies by scientists. The role a study of the ocean can play in improving the harvesting of the resources, and improving the present fish harvesting methods is important for the quality of catch (NAFC, NFI,  FCC ,1966). The practices of the NFI are a necessity for the future of the ocean and its fish population and environment.

The NFI Greenwashing

Greenwashing is a strategy of advertising or propaganda to make consumers believe that they are getting what they want the most environmentally sound way. The National Fisheries Institute is helping launch a campaign to make aquaculture shrimp and imported wild caught shrimp seem more environmentally friendly.  In similar ways to other industries the shrimp processors are hiring public relations agencies that have names that seem very environmentally friendly when in reality they aren’t. The National Fisheries Institute has also seen very good public reputation by donating money to conserve sea turtle populations. On the contrary, the NFI collaborates with the Ocean Trust group that is run by a former NFI lobbyist who distributes educational materials and videos that take the blame away from the shrimp industry for affecting sea turtle populations. Whole Foods, the largest natural foods chain in the United States is a member of the NFI and supports the Ocean Trust group. Whole foods does not sell turtle-safe shrimp. The NFI and the Ocean Trust group ultimately support shrimp farming and the importation of shrimp from of foreign countries. Shrimp farming have a negative effect on the environment in the United States. The importation of shrimp from foreign countries also threatens the independant shrimp fisheries in the United States.

Endorsements

The main objective of the National Fisheries Institute is to preserve and protect the seafood industry. The members of the NFI strive to achieve this by endorsing new initiatives. In 2007 the NFI endorsed three specific seafood initiatives to benefit the safety part of the industry. One initiative they have worked on is certification of importers and exporters. This provides evidence that the NFI does support the importation of seafood from foreign countries. The second initiative the NFI endorsed is to Internationally recognize food safety and labeling regulations proving the NFI’s goal for healthy seafood. The third initiative is the certification of labs to sample and test foods that meet FDA guidelines. The initiatives that the NFI endorse reveal that their intentions are to better the seafood community and seafood consumers, however the support of international seafood fisheries threatens small local fisheries in the United States. The NFI requested 200 million dollars from congress to increase the budget for the FDA to reassure consumers confidence in the seafood supply. Approximately 85 percent of seafood is imported. The NFI has worked with U.S. and overseas officials to meet guidelines on food safety. The members of the NFI were among the first companies to adopt the successful regulatory system of food-borne illness. The National Fisheries Institute’s endorsements prove the intent of their action through out the seafood industry is to promote health and to satisfy consumers.

Greenpeace and Surveys

Greenpeace is an effort to reveal surveys taken with retailer companies about the quality of their seafood. The NFI has recently told retailers to not to get carted away by free information caused by a survey resulting in a “report card”. Retail companies are going to be asked many questions about the sustainability of their seafood sold in their stores. Some retailers are worried about the potential report that their consumers would see. Some might ask why any retailer would voluntarily complete and arbitrary survey with a predetermined outcome? Retailers are worried that consumers would be swayed to buy less fresh seafood. The effort of greenpeace is an effort of extortion to open up retailers for media attention on the sustainability of the source of their seafood. Although it seems like the retailers would have something to hide by declining the surveys, they can easily avoid causing problems for themselves by not taking the survey.

Evaluation of Sources

It appears that sources numbers one, two, five, and seven are all the same source, or at least the link links to the same page. Sources numbers three and four are the same source and the link links to an error. Source six links to the same error as sources three and four. Sources eight, nine, and ten all link to the same error site. Sources eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen all appear to be the same source, and they all link to the same error site as sources eight, nine, and ten. Sources seventeen, eighteen, and nineteen all appear to be the same and they all link to the same error sight as sources eight, nine, and ten. Only sources one, two, five, and seven brought me to a useful sight, but the names of the websites that the links are intended to link to appear as though they would provide useful information.