7 purchaser can either temporarily stop buying the unsustainable seafood and wait until the required
improvements are made, or can engage suppliers, producers and other industry partners in a FIP. Within this FIP, agreements can be made with which the actors engaged should comply and which
can create an incentive for positive change towards sustainability for the rest of the value chain through the market forces. Instead of stopping purchasing the seafood and waiting until
improvement occurs, the FIP actors can play an active role in establishing the desired improvement by creating an incentive for change within the crab value chain themselves.
2.3 Value chains
Understanding the structure of the value chain is the basis of this study. The subsequent analysis will be regarded in that context. According to Kaplinsky and Morris 2001: p.4 a “value chain describes
the full range of activities which are required to bring a product or service from conception, through the different phases of production [...], delivery to final consumers, and final disposal after use.” Value
chains have both vertical and horizontal elements Bush and Oosterveer, 2007; Bolwig et al., 2010. Part of the vertical chain is the movement of commodity from producers on a local level toward
global retailers and consumers. This involves flows of information and knowledge, material resources and finance between buyers and suppliers within the chain Bolwig et al., 2010. Horizontal
elements represent how livelihoods are positioned or embedded in a local social and political context Kaplinsky and Morris, 2001. Bush and Oosterveer 2007: p.388 state that “[b]oth horizontal and
vertical aspects of chains and networks are important for fisheries due to the perishability and high value of fish products, the global extent of trade and the range of actors involved: ranging from
small-scale producers through to multinational processors, importers and retailers.”
Figure 2.1 Intersection of global and local commodity chains and networks. This figure illustrates the connection between scales of actors in the vertical chain and the embeddedness of actors within
networks on their own level. Source: Bush and Oosterveer 2007: p.388.
This then holds for FIPs as well as they regard fisheries. Since FIPs try to create positive incentives through the value chain, I think it is essential to know what the structure of the value chain is in
8 order to understand how commodities move through different actors and how information flows
back to the producers. According to Bush and Oosterveer 2007, analysis of vertical flows between the production and consumption level and analysis of the influence of horizontal actors and
processes at the points where transactions take place are essential to understand these flows Figure 2.1. The SFP mentions in its document on fisheries that it is necessary to create a FIP that fits the
situation; a FIP that is adjusted to the local culture and the needs of the fishery SFP, 2012b. In the context of value chains this could be translated in the statement that as all fisheries are different.
The kind of incentives that can or should be created depends on the fishery and the existing vertical linkages and horizontal elements in the value chain that determine the flows of commodity and
information. Bush and Oosterveer 2007 conclude that “[g]reater awareness of local characteristics and social
practices is needed to improve our understanding of locally embedded chains that facilitate commodity and information flows, as well as the wider networks of actors that surround transactions
in the space of place.” p.397. If reflected on FIPs this would mean that more information about the local situation of a fishery would lead to a better understanding of information and commodity flows
within the value chain. On top of that it would lead to a better understanding of the way the local actors in the fishery are embedded in the wider network of actors on the global scale. This would
increase understanding of the effectiveness of FIPs, their capacity to improve a fishery. Therefore, I consider it important that the structure of the value chain is understood, before the flow of
information and the change of practices are analysed.
2.4 Continuous Improvement
