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. 2020 Jan 23;15(1):e0227812.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0227812. eCollection 2020.

A capability approach to assess aquaculture sustainability standard compliance

Phatra Samerwong  1 , Hilde M Toonen  1 , Peter Oosterveer  1 , Simon R Bush  1
Affiliations

A capability approach to assess aquaculture sustainability standard compliance

Phatra Samerwong et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Sustainability standards are used to assure improved environmental performance in the aquaculture sector. But standard setters face limitations in including a broad range of producers with different capabilities, which in turn reduces their scope and impact. Drawing on Sen's capability approach, we introduce a novel way to assess the extent to which sustainability standards can support the capability of farmers to make prescribed improvements to their production practices. In doing so, we compare four shrimp aquaculture standards (Aquaculture Stewardship Council, Global Aquaculture Alliance, Southeast Asian Shrimp Aquaculture Improvement Protocol and the Thai Agricultural Standard) based on an analysis of what we label the 'prescribed capitals' and 'bundle of capitals' that underpin the compliance capability of producers. The results show that standards narrowly prescribe standards requiring human capital, while there is potential for prescribing a wider bundle of social, financial and physical capitals that can allow more flexible standard compliance. The findings raise the prospect of redesigning sustainability standards to support a broader diversity of producer capabilities and, in turn, increase their overall impact.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1
Bundle of capitals (1A: Capital directly prescribed by standard (standard direct); 1B: Alternative capital used to mobilize a capital prescribed by standard (standard indirect); 1C: Alternative (not prescribed) capital used to directly fulfil standard’s criteria (alternative direct); 1D: Alternative (not prescribed) capital used to mobilize another alternative (not prescribed) capital (alternative indirect).
Fig 2
Fig 2. Comparison of prescribed capitals against a normalised capitals index across four aquaculture standards.
(BAP—Best Aquaculture Practices; ASC—Aquaculture Stewardship Council; SEASAIP—Southeast Asian Aquaculture Improvement Protocol; TAS 7401—Thai Agricultural Standard).
Fig 3
Fig 3. Comparison of bundle of capitals across against a normalised capitals index four aquaculture standards.
(BAP—Best Aquaculture Practices; ASC—Aquaculture Stewardship Council; SEASAIP—Southeast Asian Aquaculture Improvement Protocol; TAS 7401—Thai Agricultural Standard).
Fig 4
Fig 4. Comparison of average deviation between prescribed and bundles of capitals for four aquaculture standards.
(BAP—Best Aquaculture Practices; ASC—Aquaculture Stewardship Council; SEASAIP—Southeast Asian Aquaculture Improvement Protocol; TAS 7401—Thai Agricultural Standard).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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