Bluewashing

The accusation that some purveyors of fish are making misleading claims as to the “eco-credentials” of their wares.

“Campaigns to encourage diners and shoppers to question whether the seafood they buy is sustainable have hit the mainstream,” wrote Nic Fleming in The New Scientist, noting the influence of “The End of the Line,” adocumentary exploring the fishing industry based on Charles Clover’s bookof the same name:

However, the advice given to consumers over sustainable seafood is inconsistent at best, and at worst, misleading.

“Putting too much emphasis on consumers is not an effective strategy” for preserving fisheries, says Jennifer Jacquet of the University of British Columbia Fisheries Centre in Vancouver, Canada, who is lead author of a study comparing dozens of sustainable seafood initiatives published in this month’s Oryx [abstract]. “There is simply too much mislabelling, too much misleading information, too many inconsistencies and, so far, too few results.” …

The study’s authors fear that the inconsistency and confusion could be exploited to sell products that do not meet rigorous standards. Thegreenwashing that some companies have employed to falsely boost their eco-credentials “could turn into ‘bluewashing’ today,” they say.

The term bluewash(ing) has been used to criticize the corporate partnerships formed under the United Nations Global Compact initiative (some say this association with the UN helps to improve the corporations’ reputations) and to disparage dubious sustainable water-use projects.