Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) Certification - Moving Indian Aquaculture towards sustainable

Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) Certification - Moving Indian Aquaculture towards sustainabl

Towards an ecosystem approach to fisheries management in India - case study of the Ashtamudi Lake yellow-foot clam fishery

Conserving marine resources and managing fisheries have been put in an ecosystem perspective in many parts of the world for some time now. The Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries (EAF) and its many variants as enunciated by the FAO differs from most fisheries or environmental policies, which tend to focus on single species or habitats, in that the interconnectedness of ecological, social, and economic parameters for developing local and regional management of an ecosystem is explicitly recognized. Despite the soundness of the concept of EAF, there are only a few successful examples of well managed fisheries using the approach. Even when EAF is ecologically and institutionally attainable, multiple problems can arise from competing interests among stakeholders, undeveloped or inappropriate governance structures, poor science, or lack of political will. The situation is perhaps more complex in the tropics due to the large number of co-occurring species, gears and fishers. In the developing world, this is compounded by the lack of a governance structure, and in places where they do exist, the lack of its implementation

Developments in progressing India's marine fisheries towards Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification

Ecolabelling is a market-based tool to promote the sustainable use of natural resources. Ecolabels are seals of approval given to products that are deemed to have fewer impacts on the environment than functionally or competitively similar products. The ecolabel itself is a tag or label placed on a product that certifies that the product was produced in an environmentally friendly way. The label provides information at the point of sale that links the product to the state of the resource and/or its related management regime. Sitting behind the label is a certification process. A range of ecolabelling and certification schemes exists in the fisheries sector, with each scheme having its own criteria, assessment processes, levels of transparency and sponsors. One of the first scientifically developed ecolabelling schemes, the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) was set up by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Unilever in 1997, but has been independent of them for past many years. The MSC is arguably the most comprehensive fisheries certification scheme in that it covers a range of species and deals with all aspects of the management of a fishery

Charting a Path Towards Sustainable Seafood Resources in India: The Role of Voluntary Sustainable Standards

The rapid development and growth of the fisheries sector in India over the last couple of years has led to the sector playing an increasingly important role in the country’s economy. Fisheries contribute to India’s economy through increased employment, gross domestic product (GDP) and improved food security. The sector is, however, now faced with challenges to continued sustainability amidst concerns about overfishing, depleted stocks and illegal unreported unregulated fishing in the wild catch sector

Ashtamudi clams fetch more

Eco-labelling through sustainable fishing practices results in premium prices and ecological gains. Short-neck clam fisheries of Ashtamudi garnered an eco-label from the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), a first in India. Clams function as bio-filters for Ashtamudi. Understanding the value chain and a comparison between pre and post management of the fishery points to the advantages of certification

Elasmobranch conservation, challenges and management strategy in India: recommendations from a national consultative meeting

Historically, India has been projected as one of the major elasmobranch fishing nations in the world. However, management and conservation efforts are not commensurate with this trend. Along with the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, several generic conservation measures are in place at the regional/local level. But India is still a long way from meeting global conservation commitments. We present here the status of elasmobranch management and conservation in India, with the specific objec-tive of identifying the gaps in the existing set-up. We also present recommendations based on a national consultative workshop held at the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi, in February 2020. We recommend the implementation of a National Plan of Action (NPOA-Sharks) and more in-clusive governance and policymaking for elasmobranch conservation in India

Ashtamudi Clam Fishery - An example of Sustainable Management and Biodiversity Conservation

Short-neck clams oryeiiow-foot clams (Paphiamalabarica) in Ashtam udi Lake are fished by hand rake, diving and handpicking by 1,000-1,500 fishers. Commercial fishing for clams started about 30 years ago - prior to that there had been little demand for them outside the immediate local area where the clams have been eaten for generations. The growth of the commercial fishery was fuelled by demand from export markets and the interest of local fish processors in cooking, freezing and exporting the clam meat to customers in Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia in the 1980s and 1990s