In many Asian countries, making fishing practices more sustainable and working harder to comply with European Union regulations are the keys to improving the flow of seafood from Asia to the EU countries, according to a new report by a Dutch research institute.
The LEI Wageningen UR (Agricultural Economics Research Institute), at the behest of the Netherlands’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs, conducted a study of the fishing and seafood export practices of Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The study comes in the wake of increased exports of seafood to the EU from those countries, according to a statement from the institute.
“On the whole, there are good opportunities for increasing export in the product chains analyzed, but such an increase would require further investment and continuing support,” the institute’s researchers wrote.
The institute created a series of reports on each country. While a summary of each report did not outright criticize any country, the institute made suggestions on how the countries could increase the amount of seafood exports to the EU
For example, the institute suggested that Vietnam, Pakistan and Sri Lanka work more on sustainable fishing practices, or exploring sustainable practices in new products in order to boost exports to EU countries.
Some countries, such as the Philippines, the report found, are having difficulty meeting EU certification at competitive prices, if they can do it at all. Others, such as Bangladesh, can boost exports of shrimp, a prime seafood export there, by “improving product quality and the infrastructure” of its shrimp industry.
In Indonesia, which has what the report described as “one of the largest seafood industries in the world,” the institute suggested finding better ways to handle fish after being caught, such as “better refrigeration and storage facilities.”
