World Food Policy Volume/Issue 2-2/3-1 Fall 2015/Spring 2016 | Page 43

World Food Policy

Discussion

and Pinto da Silva 2014). There is evidence
that some consumers are motivated by
opinion quality, for some interviewees
referred to the views of marine activist
Banjong Nasae when explaining their
reasons for supporting the Shop (002,
003). As recipient of the 2015 Thai
Social Enterprise award, the Shop has
also gained public recognition for its
commitment to social responsibility. One
consumer learned about the Shop from
the publicity garnered by this award;
similarly, a piece in the Bangkok Post
written about the Shop (Karnjanatawe
2015) has likely piqued the curiosity of
potential buyers.

Industrial conventions do not yet
have a direct influence over consumers
who buy from the Shop: there is no
certification scheme in place to justify
market quality. However, in May 2016,
it is anticipated that the Shop will release
its Blue Brand standard. This tool will
attest to the monitoring of supply chains
and show consu mers that the product
they are purchasing has been caught
by small-scale fishers using verifiable
nondestructive fishing gear. The Blue
Brand label will serve as a guarantee
that the appropriate size of species is
caught, that producers are involved in or
supportive of community-based coastal
resource conservation activities, and
that the catching, preserving, processing,
and packaging of Shop product is free
from chemicals. Shop employees believe
that this scheme will create a greater
sense of legitimacy. Consumer survey
participants also believe that this new
label will allow seafood products to be
sold at a higher price and might attract
more consumers since the label acts as a
guarantee of ecological sustainability.

T

he Shop was established to source
seafood from seven small-scale
fisher groups in Prachuap Khiri
Khan province: to a large extent the Shop
has been able to meet this mandate. To
sustain Shop sales, however, seafood
needs to be sourced in a way that
accounts for what can be caught locally
and seasonally. Although the Shop
sources small amounts of additional
seafood from southern Thailand to meet
specific consumer demands, this practice
is labor intensive and less profitable than
sourcing local products. Our analysis
suggests that while a few consumers may
demand a particular type of seafood
product, different from what is being
targeted by local fishers, the Shop
should concentrate its effort in sourcing
and processing local seafood. Lower
trophic level fish such as short-bodied
mackerel and goldstripe sardinella can
be purchased from local fishers at a price
premium while sustaining the Shop (in
terms of revenue and in supporting its
mandate to “go local”).

In addition to these concerns,
there are a few other challenges that the
Shop faces, including seafood storage,
ecological sustainability, shifting market
relations, and long working hours of
Shop employees. We expand on these
issues below, since they are areas that the
Shop must think through as it grows and
expands.
Seafood storage

The Shop is constrained in terms
of the volume of local seafood it can
purchase. Local fishers only sell to the

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