A family owned shrimp exporting company in Ecuador is the first in the world to gain Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) certification for its product.
OMARSA’s Camaronera Cachugran, Camaronera Chongon and Camaronera Puna sites were recognized as responsible and well managed farms following independent, third party assessment conducted by the certification body Institute for Marketecology (IMO).
“We are very proud to be the first to gain ASC certification for shrimp. We have worked hard to reach this point and have taken forward a number of initiatives, such as mangrove restoration projects. OMARSA is dedicated to responsible aquaculture and we are constantly investing to improve our shrimp farming operations,” said Sandro Coglitore, OMARSA’s general manager. “ASC certification helps to strengthen our position as a responsible shrimp exporting company. And, now our customers can verify that when they see the ASC logo on our products.”
OMARSA has “a strong ethos of ensuring environmental and social responsibility and the commitments they have made to further improvements will help to strengthen that reputation,” added Chris Ninnes, ASC’s CEO. “This is quite a milestone for us to be celebrating; ASC-certified shrimp has been eagerly awaited by the market. I look forward to seeing OMARSA’s ASC certified products reach the shelves.”
The ASC-certified shrimp will hit the market next month, with the first products destined for Scandinavia. OMARSA also supplies other countries across Europe, as well as the United States, Canada, South America and Asia.
OMARSA, established in 1977, is a vertically integrated operation, with three shrimp farms, three hatcheries and a processing plant and is among Ecuador’s top five shrimp exporting companies. The company worked with Blueyou Consulting to improve the farm management and practices and reduce any adverse environmental and social impacts, with the goal of meeting the ASC Shrimp Standard’s requirements. The project was co-funded through the IDH Farmers in Transition (FIT) fund, which aims to stimulate and support the production of responsibly farmed shrimp.
Shrimp farms have been able to enter ASC assessment since the shrimp standard and audit manual were finalized in March 2014.
