Asia Regional Seminar on Certification for Small Scale Aquaculture in Thailand

Over the last few years there has been a surge of interest in the development of certification standards for aquaculture products. Many certification schemes have been established addressing a diverse range of issues surrounding aquaculture production including environmental integrity, food safety and quality, social responsibility, animal health and welfare and other issues such as organic aquaculture.

The implementation of certification standards in Asian aquaculture is confounded by the fact that the majority of farms are small scale holdings. There are a very large number of them, they are organised very loosely or not at all and farmers are for the most part poor. This is the context in which aquaculture certification must be implemented. Individual certification is very difficult to implement in the region due to the practicalities of dealing with large number of small scale farmers and their limited capacity to bear associated costs. Increasingly, Governments are encouraging group-based management approaches to empower small scale producers to overcome these issues.

FAO and the Thai Department of Fisheries have conducted a joint project on Certification for Small Scale Aquaculture in Thailand. The project aimed to help small scale farmers implement certification through a group approach, to enhance their market access and improve their environmental, social and economic sustainability. Working in a group reduces the cost of certification for individual farmers, improves market access and assists farmers to move up in the value chain.

• Guidelines on Aquaculture Society Certification released (15/3/2011)
• AquaEd 2010: 21-23 May, Launceston, Australia (17/3/2010)
• Inception meeting on methodologies for aquaculture society certification (9/11/2009)
• Workshop on Developing FAO Guidelines for Aquaculture Certification, Washington DC (4/6/2008)
• Workshop on Guidelines for Aquaculture Certification (8/5/2008)
• Assessment of freshwater fish seed resources for sustainable aquaculture (21/4/2008)
• Aquaculture certification guidelines development process continues in Beijing, Washingt... (12/4/2008)
• WWF Shrimp Aquaculture Dialogue in Belize (1/4/2008)
• London Expert Workshop on Aquaculture Certification (12/3/2008)