A new project funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research will focus on providing better access for small-scale fish farmers to high value retail markets and levelling the playing field for entering international markets.
Supermarket supported area-based management and certification of aquaculture in Southeast Asia (SUPERSEAS) will focus on fostering dialogue with the supermarket sector to explore how vulnerable producers can secure supply through this valuable channel.
The non-profit research organisation, WorldFish, said that private certification schemes increasingly regulate aquaculture exports and consumers increasingly demand to see the better transparency that they offer.
But the cost of entry for small-scale farmers, which make up the majority of production, has been prohibitive, denying them shelf space in the world’s increasingly important supermarket sector.
SuperSeas will explore the concept of area based management as a means of capitalising on the collective power of a number of farmers to better cope with the demands of these certification schemes.
Michael Phillips, programme leader, Aquaculture, WorldFish, said: “In addition to representing a more inclusive business model that allows for the greater involvement of a wider range of producers, area-based management and certification may also offer opportunities for domestic and regional retailers, in addition to global retailers in the US and EU, to reduce the cost of sustainable sourcing, and verifying traceability.”
Previous efforts have concentrated at the farm-level, which fails to account for or regulate wider landscape-level sustainability issues related to feed, seed, habitat and water quality. An area based management approach can integrate and coordinate farm-level environmental and social issues at a wider ecological scale.
