Abstract

Consumers who want sustainable seafood face a wall of eco-labels they mostly do not understand, even as seafood is projected to expand as a lower-impact alternative to land-based meat. This article treats Iceland's fishing industry as a case study in how sustainable commerce can be organized, examining the sector through the commercial, legal, and ethical lenses of a three-part framework. Iceland makes an instructive model because fishing is central to both its economy and its culture. Commercially, the industry extracts value from byproducts and protects its workers, foreign and temporary crews included, through certification requirements and federal labor law. Legally, individual transferable quotas and third-party ecolabels such as Marine Stewardship Council certification hold overfishing in check while securing export advantages. Ethically, bycatch mitigation and aquaculture reform address animal welfare. The model has flaws, and the clearest is quota concentration that shuts out smaller and younger fishers. Other nations, the authors argue, should adapt Iceland's lessons to their own circumstances instead of copying them outright.