Draft standards for the shrimp aquaculture industry will be presented and discussed at the next meeting of the Shrimp Aquaculture Dialogue, to be held 9-10 March in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Feedback from the meeting will be used to ensure that the final standards adequately address the key negative environmental and social impacts associated with shrimp farming.
The draft standards presented in March will be the product of the Dialogue’s 16-person Global Steering Committee. The committee members’ decisions on what to include in the draft standards will be based on their own experiences and expertise, as well as feedback received from the 400-plus people who have attended shrimp Dialogue meetings. Committee members also will incorporate what they have heard during outreach meetings with small-scale shrimp producers, industry leaders and other stakeholder groups.
The draft shrimp standards are expected to be posted for the first of two 60-day public comment periods a few weeks prior to the Jakarta meeting.
The goal of the Dialogue, which began in 2007, is to create measurable, performance-based, global standards. The Dialogue seeks to follow the international guidelines for standard-setting developed by the International Social and Environmental Accreditation and Labeling Alliance (ISEAL). World Wildlife Fund, which coordinates all of the Aquaculture Dialogues, is the only ISEAL member working to create aquaculture standards.
If you are interested in attending the meeting, contact Eric Bernard at ebernard@wwf.fr or Desy Cut at cdesyana@wwf.or.id by 15 February.
