Sustainable Aquaculture, Certification

and Market Access

CV Mohan & Michael Phillips

WorldFish, Penang, Malaysia

Presented at the International Seafood Safety and Trade

11-12 June 2015, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Fish is a key element in food and nutritional

security (also a special food…)

Aquaculture

• Important to Asia and the

world

• Food fish supply

• Nutrition

• Employment

• Trade

• Income

• Diversity (in terms of species,

systems and scale) =

resilience

• SME dominated industry

structure

Aquaculture has emerged to meet fish demand Million tons

Sources: WRI (2014) FAO (2012a), FAO (2012b), FAO (2013), FAO (2014).

Future fish supply and Demand: Role of

Aquaculture

Farming of fish and other aquatic products will need to increase

by >60% by 2030 to meet growing demand (World Bank 2014)

About half of the demand for these foods is now met by

aquaculture

Asia accounts for the bulk (90%) of the present global

aquaculture production of 66 million tones (2012)

Today, almost 80 percent of global aquaculture production

comes from small and medium enterprises

Aquaculture baseline Projections for China,

SEA and South Asia by 2030 (World Bank 2014)

2010 2020 2030 % Change

(2010-2030)

Global 57,814 78,625 93,612 61.9

China 36,562 46,790 53,264 45.7

SEA 7,171 11,384 14,848 107.1

SAR 2,185 3,493 4,163 90.5

India 3,885 6,232 8,588 121.1

How will this massive growth be accomplished without negative

consequences?

Sustainable Intensification Pathway – Way forward?

Key Steps in analyzing sustainability and sustainable growth

and investment pathways……..

Step 1

• Identification of Drivers of Change

• Develop future scenarios

Step 2

• Aquaculture system characterization

• Future supply/demand modeled using AsiaFish

• Aquaculture technology options identified

Step 3

• Social/economical/ environmental outcomes of aquaculture development pathways assessed and Potential Blue Growth pathway identified

• Financing needs, business innovations and policy implications for future aquaculture identified

Step 1

• Identification of Drivers of Change

• Develop future scenarios

Step 2

• Aquaculture system characterization

• Future supply/demand modeled using AsiaFish

• Aquaculture technology options identified

Step 3 • Social/economical/

environmental outcomes of aquaculture development pathways assessed and Potential Blue Growth pathway identified

• Financing needs, business innovations and policy implications for future aquaculture identified

Step 1

• Identification of Drivers of Change

• Develop future scenarios

Step 2

• Aquaculture system characterization

• Future supply/demand modeled using AsiaFish

• Aquaculture technology options identified

Step 3 • Social/economical/

environmental outcomes of aquaculture development pathways assessed and Potential least impact pathway identified

• Financing needs, business innovations and policy implications for future aquaculture identified

Steps…..

Step 1: Drivers of change

Step 2: Future scenarios and

fish supply demand analysis

Step 3: Understand outcomes,

consequences and choices

Step 4: Investments

Drivers and uncertainties

Past drivers Future drivers

• Competitiveness in international

markets

• Increasing domestic consumption

• Feed prices

• Infrastructure and financial

support

• Skill of labor and technicians

• Climate change impacts

• Degradation and deforestation

• Water availability and quality

• Consumption patterns

• Purchasing power of consumers

• Increasing population

• Land and water spatial zoning

• Strategic planning

• Law and policy enforcement

Key uncertainties which will have a profound impact on aquaculture

Capacity and Infrastructure Technology Trade and Markets

Environment, Disease and

Climate Change Socioeconomic Development Policy and Regulation

• Seed and feed quality and

availability

• Increasing productivity

… and challenging environmental outcomes

- energy, land, feed ingredients

-30%

-20%

-10%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

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ge

from

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e

Cumulative energy demand

-30%

-20%

-10%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

Chan

ge

from

bas

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e

Direct land-use

-30%

-20%

-10%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

Ch

ange

from

bas

elin

e

Wild fish use

Chinese exports

Baseline

Rapid aquaculture expansion

Shrimp disease

Challenge:

Increasing

production

without increasing

environmental

impacts

Least Impact Growth Pathways?

• Widespread adoption of best practice

combined with new technologies reduces

footprint of carbon, water, feeds

• Sustainable intensification, less

expansion of land area

• Low impact species and systems choice

• SME oriented inclusive growth

• Processing efficiencies and recycling

• Regulations and policies

• Diversified production for resilience

• Carnivorous fish from wild fisheries

Advocacy and policy briefs to support

least impact pathways

Will Aquaculture Certification Progress Sustainability agenda?

Does aquaculture certification really contribute to

progressing the sustainability concept?

Very small volumes certified at present (only 4.6% of global aquaculture

production compared to 11% of total wild marine fisheries harvest

certified or under assessment)

Only high value species covered. Dominant species like carps not

seriously considered

Only commodities exported to developed markets covered. Emerging

Asian domestic market not really considered

Only better performing segment of the sector considered

Small scale sector very poorly represented

To deliver environmental gains,

certification programs should…..

• include small and medium aquaculture enterprises

• who account for the majority of global production

• keep up with growing demand for certified products in Asian

markets

• which are by far the largest consumers of seafood globally

• consider the wider landscape-level sustainability issues

related to feed, seed, habitat and water quality (e.g. Area

based management, Cluster certification)

• the present schemes have a narrow farm-level focus

Credibility, Comparability, Transparency….

• Public/Private Certification Programs

• FAO Guidelines on Aquaculture Certification

• Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative (GSSI) Global

Benchmark Tool

• Conformity assessments and benchmarking will ensure

comparability

• Equivalence and harmonization??

Role of Improvement Programs in

progressing the sustainability agenda?

• Improvement Programs (as stepping stones towards compliance to

certification programs)

• Fisheries in Transition (Fisheries Improvement Projects-FIPs)

• Market access/incentives to Fisheries committed to FIPs

• Credibility of FIPs?

• Conservation Alliance for Seafood Solutions has come up with

Guidelines for supporting FIPs

• Aquaculture farms in transition (Aquaculture Improvement projects -

AIPs)

• Market access/incentives to AIPs?

• Credibility of AIPs?

• No harmonized approach – what is a credible AIP?

• Market demand and need will drive a growth

in aquaculture

• Many positive outcomes possible

• Business as usual not an option

• Significant investment opportunities for least

impact sustainable intensification

Long Term Goal

Aquaculture needs to grow to meet future

fish demand globally

Identify least impact technologies that

can respond to future needs

Ensure reduced environmental impact

and social equity

Encourage inclusive, SME approach

Increase trade through linking smallholders to value chains

STANDARDS and Certification

• Inclusive and accepted

sustainability standards

• Increased penetration on

domestic markets

BETTER MANAGEMENT

PRACTICES

• Inclusive dissemination of

existing knowledge

• Research and new

technologies for key footprints

MARKETS AND CONSUMERS

• Low impact species

• Consumers and nutrition

• Growth in domestic markets

CAPACITY AND AWARENESS

• Inclusive of all small and large

farmers

• Fish and nutrition

• Organizational development

FINANCING AND BUSINESS

MODELS

• Access to finance

• Investing in incubation and

growth of SME sectors

• Right mix - short vs long term

POLICIES AND

REGULATIONS

•Land and water regulations

•SME investment and growth

•Monitoring and compliance

Investment in key building blocks for

Sustainable aquaculture

“Blue Frontiers” interventions for

sustainable growth of aquaculture

• Innovation

• Regulations and policy

• Technologies and management

• Monitoring and compliance

• Consumers, markets.

+ Investment

Thank you