Two California, U.S.A.-based seafood companies are now in charge of the fisheries improvement project for Mexico's industrial shrimp.
Meridian Products, of Vernon, California, and Ocean Garden Products, in San Diego, California, took over the financing and leadership of the FIP from Sustainable Fisheries Partnership in early 2018.
SFP, a nonprofit that works to rebuild depleted fish stocks and reduce the environmental impact of fishing, began work on the project in 2007 with a focus on the blue, brown, and white shrimp fisheries of Mexico's Gulf of California. It continued to direct the FIP until 2016, when it began to transfer responsibility for the FIP to industry.
“The sustainability of the resource is entirely dependent upon the fishermen and ship owners,” Meridian Products President Rick Martin said, “The control document is the public and legal commitment of the ship-owners to undertake that responsibility.”
Meridian Products and Ocean Garden Products are two of the top buyers of shrimp from Mexico. Both Martin and Ocean Garden president and CEO Lance Leonard said they are upping their involvement in the FIP because they want to ensure the sustainability of the fisheries.
“The stock assessment is the single most important indicator as to the current health of the species, and the predictor of future stock,” Leonard said. “Healthy fisheries are the lifeblood to the economy and to the long-term sustainability of the ocean and the shrimp industry.”
The FIP is aiming for management standards meeting or exceeding those of the Marine Stewardship Council, with the eventual goal of achieving MSC certification for all target shrimp species, and an updated rating from the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch Program. according to the Fishery Progress FIP database.
“By the summer of 2020, the FIP aims to achieve a management performance in accordance with the MSC standard indicators for sustainable fisheries,” Fishery Progress reported. “It seeks to do so by initiating continuous assessments of all shrimp stocks targeted by the fishery; improving transparency in monitoring, research and decision-making processes for fishery management; evaluating means to reduce the fishery's environmental impacts; and maintaining the fishery's full compliance with the regulatory framework.”
The FIP is also focusing on strengthening the formal stock assessment process.
“A key part of the FIP has been ensuring good compliance with all Mexican fisheries regulations. Meridian Products, as part of the SFP-led FIP in 2013-2014, was the first company to apply control documents in Mexico and have compliance of fishing vessels supplying them checked by an independent auditor,” SFP said in its release.
Pesca Responsable y Comercio Justo, a Mexican company, has been retained as consultants to provide technical support and aid with public reporting.
