The Certified Seafood Collaborative (CSC) has confirmed the US Gulf of Mexico shrimp fishery (white, brown and pink shrimp) for all five Gulf states and federal waters has achieved Responsible Fisheries Management (RFM) certification. This is the first shrimp fishery certified to the RFM Standard.
RFM certification requires fisheries meet RFM Standard criteria which evaluate fisheries in four key areas:
- The fisheries management system
- Science and stock assessment activities and the precautionary approach
- Management measures, implementation, monitoring and control
- Serious impacts of the fishery on the ecosystem
Third-party certification body Global Trust awarded the certification after a thorough evaluation of the Gulf of Mexico Shrimp fishery.
“Congratulations to the American Shrimp Processors Association (ASPA) and the entire Gulf of Mexico shrimp industry for meeting RFM’s comprehensive fishery standard. As the largest shrimp fishery in the US, it’s a testament to its sound fisheries management and commitment to the sustainability of their fishery,” CSC RFM Board Chair Mark Fina said.
ASPA Board President Trey Pearson said achieving RFM certification is “a positive reflection” of the harvesters’ practices on the water and their work to ensure the shrimp is sustainably harvested.
He said: “ASPA has long been confident in US fishery management and practices. With RFM certification we now have independent validation of that fact from a programme recognised by the Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative (GSSI), enabling us to better meet our customer’s sourcing requirements.
“Finally, we are excited about the ability to highlight the USA origin with the RFM eco-label, something that matters not only to us but also to so many of our customers and consumers of Gulf Shrimp. At a time when domestic shrimp is only 6-8% of the total US market share, being able to easily distinguish not only sustainable but also US product through a verified, traceable, front-of-package label is a top priority for the Gulf shrimp industry.”
Achieving RFM certification was a culmination of years of collaboration and fishery improvement work among the shrimp industry, management agencies and NGOs. For 15 years, multiple industry-led fishery improvement projects (FIPs), supported by the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership and the Gulf of Mexico Shrimp Supply Chain Roundtable, Audubon Nature Institute and Texas Sea Grant worked to implement changes needed to the fishery to ready it to pursue and successfully achieve the certification.
Gulf of Mexico shrimp joins the Pacific whiting fishery and eight Alaska fisheries that are RFM-certified.
The RFM certification programme is owned by non-profit foundation CSC. It was the first sustainability eco-certification programme to be benchmarked and recognised by GSSI.
