In the past few decades, the production and consumption of fish and seafood products have increased dramatically exacerbating overfishing concerns and accelerating the endangerment of marine ecosystems. As a response to these concerns, new forms of governance such as private transnational rule-setting organizations emerged at different geopolitical scales. These organizations create rules for certification that can be seen as private market-based instruments to govern environmental problems. Examples include the Marine Stewardship Council, Friend of the Sea and the Aquaculture Stewardship Council. While the relevance of these types of instruments has increased during the last years, their effects are a matter of debate. This study explores particularly one key type of effects that can be linked to private transnational rule-setting organizations, namely regulatory effects. Regulatory effects are defined in this paper as the influence of transnational rules and standards on public regulatory processes making the former socially binding in a larger context. The paper explores regulatory effects of transnational fisheries governance at the European level on the basis of three indicators, specifically, endorsement of transnational schemes in green public procurement, availability of public funding for transnational certification and counter development of public certification schemes with similar objectives.
