As compared to other countries, France has been involved very lately in the discussion about fisheries ecolabelling. Reluctant to adopt the existing ecolabels, the professional organisations, the Ministry of food, agriculture and fisheries and the European Commission itself tend to create their own label guidelines to take into consideration other criteria than the mere ecological sustainability. In the meantime, some influential processors and retailing chains are involved in various initiatives covering a wide range of more or less credible emerging ecolabels. The ongoing process is therefore uncertain about the conventional standard(s) that may come out of the asymmetrical situation between the poorly informed consumers on the one hand and the current investment of the whole value chain for more or less consistent fisheries ecolabels on the other.First, a brief historical look at the various events surrounding the European and French dissemination of ecolabels is proposed in the present research, revealing the confusing emergence of a standard that could be socially accepted by the stake-holders. Secondly, from an overall survey dealing with the public image of the fishing industry in Europe (5000 interviews throughout Belgium, the Netherlands,France, Italy and Denmark), a probit model applied to the willingness of developing an ecolabel for seafood products is estimated, showing the existing gap between the social awareness of responsible fisheries requirements and the actual criteria governing the consumer behaviour when purchasing fish. Some implications for the development of ecolabeling in Europe are discussed.
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