Naturland Association for Organic Farming e.V.

Artisanal Fishery Certification

according to

Ecological and Social Standards

THE FOOD SUMMER SCHOOL August 30th 2012
Dr. Stefan Holler s.holler@naturland.de www.naturland.de

Artisanal Fishery Certification

according to

Ecological and Social Standards

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Naturland who we are Why we do (also) capture fishery certification The special about artisanal fishery certification The Wildfish certification scheme Conclusion and Outlook

www.naturland.de
Association for organic farming Founded in 1982 One of the largest international organic associations Diverse areas of activity:
- agriculture - processing - forestry - aquaculture - textiles - cosmetics - fair partnerships - capture fishery

Naturland certified farms/companies

Germany:

International: 250 farms/companies, with many cooperatives (ca. 44.000 small scale farmers) 137.000 ha in > 30 countries
Including 40 aquaculture operations (with many cooperatives) and 3 sustainable fishery operations

1800 farms/companies 140.000 ha

Naturland in Ireland: organic salmon, organic mussel, organic trout, since the mid 90ties

Why does Naturland (also) certify capture fishery?

Previous experience with relevant related fields of certification (stakeholder issues, social standards, organic aquaculture, internal control systems ) The strong relatedness of capture fishery and aquaculture, and the interest to bridge the gap in sustainability communication Applications from mainly European seafood companies running own projects on the field of sustainable fisheries and seeking an option for certification Applications from artisanal fishery operations that felt underrepresented by current certification schemes

Sustainability the small window for acting

Ecological: conserve the targeted fish stock and the other components of the ecosystem Social: respect the needs of the other stakeholders and of the society Economical: Parties involved in the fishery must be able to make a proper living from it and to maintain a long term perspective.

Problems with fishery sustainability: Overfishing

(n = 600 www.fao.org)

Problems with fishery sustainability: Impact on ecosystems and bycatch

Satellite pictures of sediment stirred up by shrimp trawlers in the delta of Yangtse river
Source: www.treehugger.com

Ray as a bycatch in shrimp fishery

Source: www. marinephotobank.org

Problems with fishery sustainability: Fishing down the food-webs

Quelle: Pauly et al., 1998

and finally: the expansion

(third country agreements)

Spanish Fishery in the 1950ties and 2002-2004 Source: Prof. Daniel Pauly; SeaAroundUsProject

Small scale fisheries big in sustainability

Source: Prof. Daniel Pauly; SeaAroundUsProject

 but in economical trouble

- limited lobbying power (e.g. for quota, international agreements) - limited access to loans etc. - difficult working environment (e.g. poor infrastructure in fishery settlements, hard physical work) - competition with the industrial fishery sector - difficult access to certification.

Naturland Wildfish certified fisheries in Tanzania (lake Victoria) and Germany (Baltic Sea)

The elements of Naturland Wildfish certification

Project Round Table (Scientific institution(s), public bodies, NGOs, fishers reps., other stakeholders) Setting of Specific Standards Regular Revision of the Standards Providing a data base Naturland Certification General Principles Approval of Round Table Approval of specific standards Accreditation (e.g. with IFOAM, MSC)

External Inspection Body Auditing the ICS Spot-Checking Report

Fishery Organisation/Company (responsible for QM, holding the certificate) Running the Internal Control System (ICS) Running the Approved Fishermens List (AFL)
fisher fisher fisher fisher fisher fisher fisher

ICS

General Principles and Specific Standards

General Principles/Procedures, applicable to any fishery: Requirements on the setup Formal certification requirements General sustainability standards Generally banned practices and gear Processing standards (equal to organic products)

Specific Standards for the individual fishery: Minimum seizes, gear etc. Documentation requirements Concrete measures in social/ecological context (e.g. protected areas, conduct regarding other stakeholders, medical care )

A few conclusions
- artisanal/small scale fisheries have a plus in sustainability, for being more selective, for employing more people and less fuel, for impacting the ecosystem less etc.. - Another great plus is that artisanal/small scale fisheries are not operating and expanding like a pyramid scheme they mainly stay where and what they are. - Up to now, they have more difficulties than industrial fisheries with accessing a reliable certification scheme for proving and communicating this plus, translating it also into a marketing advantage. - We think that Naturland Wildfish is particularly suitable for artisanal/small scale fisheries, since aiming to use local resources and expertise, and addressing also social aspects (which are another strength of this fishery).

Outlook
Naturland Wildfish is still at the beginning. Certified fisheries (May 2012) are: - 3 Tanzanian fisheries around lake Victoria, gillnetting Victoria Perch - 1 German fishery in the Baltic Sea, gillnetting herring - 1 Maldivian pole and line fishery for Skipjack tuna (meet them at www.naturland.de) Naturland has received applications from and started preparation with - another 2 Tanzanian Victoria Perch fisheries - another Baltic Sea herring fishery - a freshwater crayfish fishery in Andalucia/Spain - a pike perch fishery in Russia. And we think there is a lot of other exciting artisanal fisheries out there, waiting to tell their sustainability story to the conscious consumer.

Thank you very much for your kind attention!

03.10.2012| Folie 18| www.naturland.de