Consumer Education and Outreach

IATP promotes consumer education as a means of facilitating more environmentally sustainable and socially conscious seafood consumption in the United States. One of the ways to do this is providing a direct link from reputable small scale producers to consumers, and inform the public of the way their food is produced. We help to achieve this through our outreach and direct marketing initiatives and by campaigning for more accurate labeling and standards which advance the consumer's right to know. Click on the links to see more details about our work in each of these areas. We also have an extensive online library, and links to many related websites and documents to help interested individuals research aquaculture and fisheries issues

Outreach
IATP believes in educating consumers at grass roots level to enable them to make good decisions in their consumption of seafood. Members of the Fish and Marine Conservation Program are available to present at schools, universities, community groups and any other interested organizations. We have held events at the Michigan State University, Kansas State University, Northern Iowa University and for other community groups.

Activities include lectures, discussions, and a showing of the excellent documentary Net Loss: the Storm Over Salmon Farming, sales of wild fish, and wild salmon barbeques. We bring materials for the participants to take away and encourage a lively and interesting discussion of all the issues relating to factory farmed and wild fish.

IATP is working with the Boston based Seafood Choices Alliance to bring the Chef's Collaborative seminar series to Minneapolis this summer. The objective of this project is to get local seafood restaurants and outlets to promote sustainable and safe seafood choices. For more information, contact Patricia Sanders at psanders@iatp.org or call 877-565-1287. Also, see the link www.seafoodchoices.org

Direct Marketing of Sustainable Fish and Seafood
'IATP supports the direct marketing of sustainably harvested fish and seafood products -- including Marine Stewardship Council-certified wild Pacific salmon and halibut, fresh water shrimp, low mercury tuna and lobster. We do this by connecting members of local fish buying clubs, food cooperatives, retail outlets, chefs and restaurants with small-scale family fishers and producers of sustainable seafood. This results in a better price for the fisher and club member, and directly raises the consumer's knowledge of where their seafood came from. For more information please call our "Good Fish Network" help line at (toll-free) 877-565-1287', or click on the link for a copy of our guide to starting a fish buyers club.'

Labels, Standards and the Consumer's Right to Know
IATP is involved at the regional, national and international levels in the process of technical standards setting designed to establish baseline requirements and performance expectations for both farmed and wild harvested fish. This includes work on a wide range of social and ecological issues such as the criteria for organic and sustainable labels for fish, standards for water quality protection and new initiatives by the global standard-setting agencies.

IATP works within the major standards setting bodies, including the International Foundation for Organic Agriculture, Codex Alimentarius, and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) to develop industry-wide minimum standards for farmed and wild harvested fish and marine products. We advocate for standards with regard to water quality protection, habitat conservation and restoration, additives and residues, antibiotic-use, feed composition, and other health, environmental and ecological issues.

IATP is a very strong defender of the "Consumer's Right to Know." We believe that shoppers are entitled to easy-to-read consumer labeling and signage. IATP staff work to improve "point of purchase" consumer education on fish and marine conservation issues. We promote seafood product labels and store signs that disclose (1) the country-of-origin, (2) genetically engineered ingredients or feed, (3) colorants, (4) additives, (5) sustainability and/or organic certification, (6) nutritional value and (7) all major health-related issues such as antibiotic and pesticide usage, or other toxin contamination. We are working with wholesalers and retailers to help them meet current legal requirements, and working in the federal and state policy arenas to strengthen enforcement

'Staff members have been instrumental in bringing a class action law suit that successfully forced retailers to label farmed salmon as containing colorants. (Without the addition of chemicals to feed, farmed salmon would appear an unappetizing gray color). It is a Food and Drug Administration requirement that all farmed salmon products are identified as containing colorants. Pressure from groups such as IATP also means that as of September 2004, most seafood products will have to be labeled as either "farmed" or "wild', and state their country of origin. This will enable consumers to make better informed, safe and more sustainable decisions in their selection of seafood.'