AQUACULTURE

26 INFOFISH International 6/2013 w w w. in fo f i sh .o rg

by Han Han and Anton Immink

As acknowledged by FAO, aquaculturemakes a significant contribution to foodsecurity, and helps to fill the gap

between the increasing global demand forseafood and the limited growth in capturefisheries production. The rapid growth ofaquaculture across the world however, hasraised concerns about its environmental,social and economic sustainability.

Certification of best practicesrecommended at farm level has become themain approach to address aquaculturesustainability and has been widely adoptedby industry to date. This unfortunately doesnot typically reduce a farm’s risks fromneighbours as well as the wider environment.For example, a well-run, certified farm mightbe sited right next to a poorly run farm thatcould be harbouring disease and needlesslyrisking the future production of the certifiedfarm. As massive disease outbreaks haveattacked tilapia farms in China and shrimpfarms in Southeast Asia, it is recognised thataquaculture operations do not happen ininsolation and that whilst individual farms canhave environmental effects, the real impacts ofaquaculture occur at the cumulative level.

The Sustainable Fisheries Partnership(SFP) is taking a fresh view of the risks of(and to) aquaculture from a zonal scale. Byimplementing three demonstration Aquaculture

Working within the carryingcapacity of the environmentis critical for sustainability.Scientists, regulators,industry and otherstakeholders should jointlydetermine the carryingcapacity for all areas under

an administration’s control. The size of zones may vary withwatershed, administration, prevailing production system,location of interested groups and the intensity of specificissue of concern to ensure a sustainable production. Theindustry needs to define sector-wide management, minimumfarm practice standards and mechanisms for effectiveengagement amongst the stakeholders.

Improvement Projects (AIPs) in China fortilapia, Vietnam for pangasius and Indonesiafor shrimp, SFP is building on experience inculture fisheries to develop a new model forsustainable aquaculture.

Industry-led andsupply-chain drivenimprovements

Founded in 2006, SFP has grown into aninternational non-governmental organisation(NGO) that is widely acknowledged by theglobal seafood industry through two maintools: information and improvement.FishSource™, a publically available andcomprehensive online database created bySFP, provides major seafood buyers with up-to date information on the sustainability of

Anton ImminkHan Han

A visit to aquaculture facility in Indonesia

w w w. in fo f i sh .o rg INFOFISH International 6/2013 27

AQUACULTUREA zonal approach for aquaculture sustainability

fisheries and the improvements they need tomake for their supply-chain to be sustainable.The a Fishery Improvement Project (FIP) ofSFP catalyses and facilitates stakeholdersworking together to improve a fishery bypressing for better policies and management.Such a model has succeeded in dozens offisheries and delivered significant impacts inthe water.

In response to industry requests, SFP hascreated a parallel system for aquaculture thatcomplements the wild fisheries programme.The idea behind the aforementioned AIPs andthe aquaculture profiles in FishSource™ is tomove the industry towards sustainability sothat both the producers and the markets in theinterim period can sustain supplies and stateclearly and publicly that they are movingtowards sustainability. This will be achievedthrough strengthening the running of multiplefarms within a particular area and developingspecific zone level planning and managementactions involving regulators, scientists,producers and the market. Beyond the fewAIPs initially led and demonstrated by SFP,the aim is that improvements will be eventuallycarried out and managed by industry itself.

Zonal management

Working within the carrying capacity of theenvironment is critical. The lack of effective,carrying capacity-based zonal planningrepresents a major risk to aquacultureproducers and the entire supply chain.Scientists, regulators, industry and otherstakeholders should jointly determine thecarrying capacity for all areas under anadministration’s control. The size of zones willbe based on a range of factors, including (butnot limited to) watershed, administration,prevailing production system, location ofinterested groups and the intensity of specific

issue of concern.With the identification of zonal thresholds to

ensure a sustainable production, the industryneeds to define sector-wide management,minimum farm practice standards andmechanisms for effective engagementamongst the neighbours and other localstakeholders. Regulators need to work withthe industry to ensure responsibility andsector-wide management, whilst ensuringdevelopment occurs within clearly definedlimits based on strong science.

Furthermore, farmers in specific producingareas need to be more directly involved inunderstanding the issues and engaging in thedebate around effective regulation. In manyproduction areas farmers have never cometogether to discuss shared concerns andjointly develop action plans to tackle them.Building a producer organisation that tacklespre-competitive issues (eg sustainability,sector reputation) will enhance thepartnership and responsibility among farmers.Through producer organisation, farmers canopenly discuss key issues including (but notbe limited to) following; discharge quality,frequency and timing; disease prevention andtreatment; food safety issues; interaction withfisheries and other resource users. Thedialogue process should be continuous andresult in key improvement actions thatstakeholders should commit to, for example bysigning agreements.

Agreed best practices for both farm andzone level can then be executed within thewider industry (amongst farms and by feed,hatchery, processor, pharmaceutical andtrading industries) and at the policy level.Responsible action by commercial playersand effective enforcement by regulatorsshould increase market confidence in thequality, supply and safety of seafood comingfrom a particular country.

As commented by Henrik Aarestrup, the International Marketing Manager of BioMar, sector-wide improvement as a result of zonal management will help building positive image of theaquaculture industry: When it comes to building an image for an industry it is the lowestcommon denominator for the industry players, which determines the risk of failure. Thepress will always go for the worst example, as this is a better story, and they can in secondsin a TV-program destroy years of work in image building. The zonal management will lowerthe chance that a journalist would randomly run into an uncertified farm and blacken theentire industry based on that one poor farm.

Reader enquiry number 8

AQUACULTURE

28 INFOFISH International 6/2013 w w w. in fo f i sh .o rg

A zonal approach for aquaculture sustainability

A pilot of Chinesetilapia aquaculture

Hainan, the only tropical province in China,is well known for its vigorous development intourism, but also has a strong agriculture sectorbased on its clean water, air and soil suitablefor growing food. As the largest exporter oftilapia in China, Hainan has unfortunatelywitnessed a boom and bust of unregulatedgrowth of tilapia farming in the past decade.

Since 2011, SFP has initiated a ‘ChineseTilapia AIP’ by conducting a series of scopingstudies in Hainan for an in-depthunderstanding of the Chinese tilapia supplychain and the problems it is facing. The studies,both political analysis and environmental impactassessment, along with multi-stakeholderengagement have empowered SFP tomotivate the supply chain to prioritise theirimprovement tasks under the framework of thezonal management approach.

A multi-stakeholder roundtable held inSeptember 2012 helped the Hainan tilapiaindustry to form a ‘Hainan Sustainable TilapiaAlliance’. The Alliance, serving as the platformthat facilitates sector-wide dialogues andcooperation among stakeholders, is expectedto lead and implement zonal improvements tomaintain sustainable growth in coming years.

Since the beginning of 2013, recognisingthe complexity of zones within Hainan, SFPhas started closely working with localproducers and relevant sectors (ie feed mill,hatchery and processor) through organisingsmall roundtables in three counties of Hainan.Farmers have come to realise the need forestablishing a Code of Good Practices (CoGP)as a guideline to responsibly and cooperatively

producing tilapia. Such an industry code marksa key step forward towards industry self-regulation and responsible production.Proposed actions will also enhance informationsharing and data reporting across the localsupply chain, thus improving the transparencyof the industry.

In the meantime, SFP has continuedcollaborating with local research institutes toassess the environmental impacts of tilapiafarming as well as disease risks to the industry.This scientific advisory to the industry shouldprovide evidence to support a request to thegovernment for establishing carrying capacitybased planning and disease surveillance fortilapia aquaculture.

SFP believes that only when the sectorcomes together, there will be a strong voice tobe heard in the broader national planning.Such a pilot in one of the key productionregions for Chinese tilapia will demonstrate theeffectiveness of the zonal management model tothe rest of the Chinese aquaculture industry, Reader enquiry number 9

Han Han is Programme Manager whileAnton Immink is Global Aquaculture

Director at Sustainable FisheriesPartnership (SPF), a China based NGO

engaged in fisheries sector.

thus driving change on a larger scale that mayeventually be adopted globally.

The zonal management approach is a newapproach for much of the world’s aquacultureindustry. Although not unknown amongstsalmon production, eg in Scotland, applicationin Asia, with many small-scale producers andhigher densities of production, is still beingrefined. SFP doesn’t want to do this alone andwould welcome collaboration with moreorganisations keen to develop best practice inzonal planning and management through real-world application on the ground.

28 INFOFISH International 3/2010 w w w. in fo f i sh .o rgGet NOTICED and STAY AHEAD!

Contact us: info@infofish.org

Promote your fishery products and services at www.infofish.orgWe provide customised web advertising solutions to cater to your needs...

Local round table with tilapia farmers.