Tracing environmental sustainability discourses: an Australia-Asia seafood case study

The seafood market is highly globalised with a growing demand for seafood andfish products worldwide. The capacity of wild fisheries is limited and thereforeaquaculture is fast becoming the most stable source of seafood to meet increasingdemand. Subsequently, the perceived environmental risk of fin-fish aquaculture hasbeen the focus of substantial environmental campaigning, media and public scrutinyaround the world. This paper places localised tensions regarding the environmentalimpacts of salmon aquaculture within transnational environmental sustainability debatesconcerning seafood production and vice-versa, with a focus on the Australia-Asiaregion. The results contribute to understanding the interpretation and communicationof environmental sustainability of seafood through international supply chains andto audiences at different spatial scales. The paper draws particularly on the caseof salmon aquaculture in Tasmania, Australia’s southern island state. It highlightsmechanisms, such as certification, for which information flows transnationally regardingthe environmental sustainability of seafood production, the resultant transnational andlocal public sphere and the implications for local discourse, market access, governanceand certification of seafood production