Artisanal lobster fishers from Ceará State in northeastern Brazil are pursuing a label which recognizes their responsible fishing practices and the origin of their lobster catches.
A June 10 meeting of community leaders from six communities agreed to contract the Spanish branch of Bureau Veritas to certify the fishery. Starting as soon as possible with its evaluation, Veritas aim to start the certification process within the next two months.
The idea of certifying the lobster fishery in this region is not new. The NGO Terramar and the community of Prainha do Canto Verde pioneered certification in Brazil, thanks to this community being chosen by the US Ocean Campaign of the WWF and the Marine Stewardship Council to test the MSC certification in 10 small-scale fisheries around the world in 2000.
The pilot project highlighted how the principles and criteria developed by the MSC were not suitable for small-scale fisheries; ever since, the MSC has been working on adapting and developing standards for small-scale fisheries.
The test also failed because the local fishers in the Prainha community did not have any control over resource management or enforcement.
Lobster used to be the main export commodity from the northeast of Brazil, reaching US$80 mn in the good days of the 1990s. But the fishery has deteriorated in the last 12 years to the point where 70 per cent or more of total exports to the principal market, the US, comes from illegal fishing activities.
In the main, fishers are not licensed and use illegal gear such as gillnets and hookah diving equipment (compressors and air tubes). The latter is highly unsafe, leading to accidents and deaths. Due to lack of data, the state of the fishery and how close it may be to collapse, is unknown. This puts law-abiding small-scale fishers at a considerable disadvantage, and they are increasingly unable to cover their costs from their diminishing catches.
However, thanks to a supply chain project for the small-scale lobster fishery of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) division for sustainable production and consumption, the Brazilian government is now convinced that it needs to take drastic measures. It is even ready to undergo MSC certification to get the fishery under control.
But, based on the previous failure of the MSC, artisanal fishers are worried that they may be left out. They have therefore decided to pursue certification of origin, under the Bureau Veritas Recognition of Responsible Fishing scheme. This way, they will guarantee their participation in the process, thereby ensuring that the market will recognize the social importance of the fishery and valorize the quality of the product which is landed live.
Fisheries so far certified under the Responsible Fishery scheme of the Bureau Veritas include: SCAPECHE Mousquetaires group (France; Patagonian tooth-fish, saithe, lingue,mongfish (North East Antlantic); ARCOPA Adrien group (Peru); hake, anchoy, calamar (Pacific); SAPMER (Mauritius); and tuna (Indian Ocean).
ICSF Member René Schärer described the Bureau Veritas Label to the public on June 19th at a Side Event of the Peoples Summit during the United Nations RIO+20 Conference in the presence of 60 people from around the world, including fishers from the World Forum of Fisher People (WFFP) and from many States in Brazil, NGOs, academics, government representatives and ICSF Members.
Since 1994, the struggle to save the lobster fishery in Brazil and the certification project from 2000 have been documented in ICSF’s SAMUDRA Report. Fishers of Brazil are now betting their last lobsters on the success of this new certification initiative.
For more information see:
Bureau Veritas Responsible Fishing Certification Scheme http://www.bureauveritas.com.tr/wps/wcm/connect/bv_tr/Local/Home/bv_com_serviceSheetDetails?serviceSheetId=14276&serviceSheetName=Responsible+fishing
SAMUDRA Report No. 18: Sailing for a cause http://icsf.net/images/samudra/pdf/english/issue_18/124_art08.pdf
SAMUDRA Report No.29: Lobbying for lobsters http://icsf.net/images/samudra/pdf/english/issue_29/309_art07.pdf
SAMUDRA Report No.29: A Small Start http://icsf.net/images/samudra/pdf/english/issue_29/308_art06.pdf
SAMUDRA Report No. 44: Mining the gold of the Sea http://icsf.net/images/samudra/pdf/english/issue_44/2532_art07.pdf
SAMUDRA Report No. 44: Towards a global Force http://icsf.net/images/samudra/pdf/english/issue_44/2536_art11.pdf
2012 ICSF