Durán, Ecuador-based shrimp exporter Omarsa has added carbon neutral certification to all of its shrimp currently certified by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC).
The certification was issued by TÜV Rheinland after an extensive audit of the company’s carbon emissions used in creating and shipping its products, including its energy use for its farm production, processing plants, biological waste generation, and even indirect emissions such as the company’s office electricity usage and fuel consumption for its fleet of vehicles.
“This certification is evidence of [our] commitment to caring for the environment and demonstrates [our] willingness to offset the impacts generated by the exercise of the shrimp-processing activity,” the company said in a press release. “For more than a decade, [we have engaged] with the implementation of practical improvements throughout their production chain to ensure that the exercise of [our] activity takes place within a controlled environment and that it reduces impacts. However, like all human-caused activity, the generation of impacts is inevitable.”
With the help of Ecuadorian environmental consultancy Sambito, Omarsa, which claims to be Ecuador’s second-largest shrimp exporter by volume, engaged in a campaign to reduce and offset its emissions, including upgrading its equipment, planting and preserving native forests in the area of its ASC-certified farms, and buying carbon bonds in order to neutralize the emissions it could offset.
“Achieving this certification represents for Omarsa the closing of that cycle to guarantee that our activities are truly sustainable and, consequently, friendly to the environment and our surrounding,” Omarsa General Manager Sandro Coglitore said. “With this action, Omarsa seeks to continue leading the initiatives towards sustainability in the industry.”
Omarsa, which produces a diverse array of shrimp products, including head-on, headless, and value-added shrimp, said it will continue to add sustainability-minded offerings to its product range and “continue looking for ways that shrimp farming [can have] the least possible impact on the environment.”
Photo courtesy of Omarsa
