The Ben Tre clam fishery in Vietnam has received Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification, becoming the first fishery in Southeast Asia to meet the organisation’s sustainability and management standards.
The nationally renowned Ben Tre hard clams are hand picked using metal rakes and collected into mesh sacks. Once collected, the clams are sold to domestic markets and exported to Europe, the US, Japan, China and Taiwan.
The fishery is operated by a local cooperative that provides close management and surveillance of the broodstock and harvestable clams within their area. Support and advice are provided to the cooperative by the Ben Tre People’s Committee Department of Fisheries and the Ben Tre Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD). Ben Tre DARD and WWF co-sponsored the MSC certification process.
“Although our clams are largely familiar to the EU market, we are still thinking of ways to better promote our business overseas,” said Tran Thi Thu Nga, Vice Director of Ben Tre DARD. “MSC certification gives us the right to promote our products with the credible MSC ecolabel to customers worldwide.”
