Certification benchmark launched
ASC’s Standards Director Bas Geerts, told Fish Farming Expert that the aims of the GSSI initiative were admirable.
“ASC was pleased to take part in the pilot to further develop GSSI’s benchmarking tool. We hope that by using this tool many more buyers will be fully informed to make decisions to support environmental and socially responsible production. We have received the final tool only recently and have not yet had a chance to review it in detail. However, the goal of the tool is something we can support.”
However, he was keen to emphasise that it was an initiative that would almost certainly require some fine-tuning.
“At the same token, as it is a new and quite detailed and technical document it may need some review/revision before being put in practice by different stakeholders,” he explained.
“In our view, we will need to keep a close eye on further improvement areas on both our side, the scheme owners, as well as on GSSI’s,” he added.
The GSSI launch took place at the 20th anniversary celebrations of the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, in the Spanish port of Vigo.
Taking a collective and non-competitive approach, it aims to provide clarity on seafood certification worldwide and was achieved thanks to the strong support and commitment of partner companies, NGOs, experts, governmental organizations and FAO.
GSSI will publicly recognize seafood certification schemes that meet GSSI Components grounded in the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and the FAO Guidelines for seafood certification and ecolabelling. GSSI’s Tool also outlines the status of existing practices in seafood certification. This will help to make purchasing decisions more efficient by offering greater choice and driving down costs, while promoting environmental sustainability.
