The future of food: the sustainable production & consumption of fish Elspeth Probyn Department of Gender & Cultural Studies The University of Sydney, Australia

1. Sexing sustainability
2014-2017 Australian Research
Council Discovery Project:
The future of food: the sustainable
production & consumption of fish
Elspeth Probyn
Department of Gender & Cultural Studies
The University of Sydney, Australia

2. buying sustainable fish?
An Australian study reports that 7% of consumers
are concerned with sustainability, while only 3%
say they would pay 10% more to buy sustainable
fish (Birch and Lawley, 2011).

3. How to make people care about the
ocean and fish?

4. How to make consumers
care about fishers?

5. How the media is making fish sexy

6. A Channel Four Britdoc Foundation study found that after a year of its release 4.7 million
people in the UK were aware of the documentary that the commitment to buy
sustainable fish [of those who had watched it] rose from 43 per cent to 84 per cent.

8. ‘Heston Blumenthal: Food's future is
jellyfish and chips’
The New Scientist 10/6/2010

9. Fish Love: ‘Lizzy Jagger Poses With Dead
Fish For Fishlove Sustainable Seafood
Photo Project’

10. ‘What better way is there to support sustainable seafood than by
posing nude with some dead fish?’

12. ‘Studies of consumption trends in
developed countries find that women are
more likely than men to buy recyclable,
eco-labelled, energy-efficient and Fair
Trade products … women spend far more
time than men seeking information on
sustainable consumption and lifestyle
alternatives.’ (UN Research Institute on
Social Development, 2012)
Women do the shopping and cooking but who do
advertisers address?

13. ‘Waitrose only ever sells fresh cod sustainably sourced.’

14. ‘ it’s only the fish that John West rejects
that makes John West the best.’ .

16. ‘Every day we shape our planet's future when we make small life
decisions - what we buy, what we eat, how we travel. The future of the
planet is in our hands; the future is man-made.’

17. Take home message:
 The UK & US media are making fish sexy through
high production images and the use of celebrity
endorsement.
 Campaigns like Hugh’s Fish Fight use social media
in a savvy way to make people care about fish.
But is this making consumers care about fishers?
Can you have a sustainable fishery without fishers?
 The imagery of fishermen is heroic and pitched to
men. But women overwhelmingly do the shopping and
prep of meals. And they are more aware and willing to
support sustainability.
The answer? Talk to women.