But if it were going to call for a fundamental change in how they do things
Writting your own standards is a fundamental change in how they do things? Hmm. So wait, they don't even want to pay a little fee for certification and write their own standards? Being MAC certified is such a business builder, why aren't they joining up in masses?
They can still sell cyanide fish all day long Rover, they just can't call them as MAC fish. Same facility, seperate tanks? So hows that change anything they're doing now, other then loading themselves up with paperwork. A MAC fish won't fetch them a higher price, in fact, it'll just cost them more money to purchase and WAY more in paperwork. So I ask you, what does MAC have to offer them, other then extra costs and paperwork?
Certifing an exporter who mixes fish is what is known as "green wash". It impies that the exporter isn't mixing fish at their facility. It impies they're clean, when in fact they can still buy, sell and trade in the cyanide caught MO's. It impies alls cool and lowers the alert level.
Dirty exporters see no need to dish out money to continue to do what they're doing anyways. Clean ones see no need as MAC is all ready saying mixed fish are cool. So who needs MAC? Well, retailers, as a tool for advertising they're a better store then the rest whom aren't certified. What makes them better? They do more paperwork? They sell a few token clean fish? They still can mix and contribute to the cyanide problem WHILE sasying to their consumer, we're clean. You really think a LFS employee won't fudge and sell a non MAC as MAC to please his customer who is looking for the elusive MAC fish?
My problem is while being a vehicle for reform, they're also a vehicle for business as usual fot the dirty exporters. Geez, they can sell all the dirty fish they want, as long as the also do the MAC ones, they're a "certifiably clean source".