VeriFish · The sustainability indicator framework to communicate responsible aquafood production and consumption patterns

Citizens’ decisions are central to living within the limits of our planet. Purchasing choices can drive change at retail and raw commodity levels but the complexity of fish and seafood food chains, health benefits and risks, and climate impacts need to be simplified and made more accessible and readily comparable. Currently, there are no standardised ways to inform citizens about the various health issues, nor are there guidelines or harmonised indicators for sustainable European fish and seafood products. VeriFish will offer a framework of verifiable sustainability indicators for communications about sustainability based on FAIR data from EU- and global aquafoods repositories, brought together through the extraordinary collaboration of European-wide actors like NOFIMA, EUROFIR and POSEIDON. Leveraging on this indicator, VeriFish will design, develop, and disseminate a number of media products to help citizens, seafood consumers and retailers, associations and policy makers make informed consumption choices. NOFIMA domain experts will work with renowned scientific communicators from EuroFISH and experienced community builder Trust-IT publish a good practice recommendation framework on neutral indicators to communicate sustainability along different consumer segments, aquafood retailers, seafood and aquaculture producers and associations, as well as guidelines for their use in retail and HoReCa (hotels, restaurants, catering). A prototype web application will digest indicators into an accessible (easy to use) comprehensive media product for user communities, including citizens, summarising nutrition, sustainability, and biodiversity aspects. The framework will be open access, and will be tested via a series of related end-user engagement campaigns targeting younger generations via flashcard games for kids, calendars and maps of seasonal fish for retailers and consumers, and sustainable food influencers & chefs on social media.