After five years of efforts, led by the Association of Fishing Industrialists and Shipowners in the Region of Coquimbo (AIP), the demersal crustacean capture sector received the certification of sustainability of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) program.
Last Friday the official certification ceremony for nylon shrimp as well as yellow and red squat lobster fisheries took place, attended by Undersecretary of Fisheries and Aquaculture Raul Sunico; President of AIP Osciel Velasquez; manager of the National Fishing Society (SONAPESCA) Hector Bacigalupo; and MSC representative for Latin America Rodrigo Polanco, among other guests.
MSC certification is valid for five years. It considers annual visits of experts and commitments from the national regulatory authorities to ensure that compliance with the regulations is maintained. It also incorporates provisions for continuous improvements in obligatory processes and commitments for stakeholders in the sector.
With this acknowledgement, demersal crustacean fisheries become the first industrial one to be certified.
From this moment, products from the three certified fisheries can hold the distinctive blue MSC brand, which is a proof at any instance of the value chain -especially for consumers- that it is food that is captured through environmentally sustainable procedures.
In Chile demersal crustacean capture as in the case of nylon shrimp (Heterocarpus reedi), red squat lobster (Pleuroncodes monodon) and yellow squat lobster (Cervimunida johni) has been practised since the 50’s between the northern and central-southern zones. Catches currently amount to about 13,000 tonnes per year, which translates into exports for about USD 35 million (mainly to the US, Europe and Japan) and sales in the domestic market for approximately USD 15 million.
Most of the capture fleet and the installed processing capacity have base in the commune of Coquimbo, and a fraction in Quintero.
The AIP certification process formally began in late 2013, after a pre-assessment that was completed in 2012. It had the support of Corfo, through co-financing of the Development Project (PROFO) “Certification of Fisheries”, now in its third and final year of performance.
Thanks to this work, various administrative and management measures were implemented, highlighting the change of the old trawl gear that were used until 2014 for more lightweight and highly selective ones. This favoured, on the one hand, the drastic reduction in the impact on the seabed, and secondly, the decline in the impact on the ecosystem by making it possible to release juveniles in the target species (so as to ensure their regeneration) and an easy escape from the accompanying fauna (consisting especially of hake).
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