The sustainable seafood movement viewed as a maturing social-ecological issue using a South African case-study

We analyze the sustainable seafood movement as a maturing social-ecological issue. Using a timeline of events over more than a decade and other indicators of growth, we identified key points during its six developmental stages, and evidence of entrance into the final (Normative) phase. After distilling and evaluating the main criticisms and claims attributed to sustainable seafood initiatives globally, we concur that the movement has successfully cultivated a demand for solutions to the challenges of seafood sustainability by creating novel interactions along the value chain – even with the modest investment of our South African example. The global movement is best considered as a dynamic process with interplay at multiple spatial and temporal scales, and asynchronous phases of maturation. We recommend future investment in compliance, governance, credibility, and trust-building as key interventions to reduce risks of problem displacement, in support of a stable Normative phase across the seafood supply chain.