Aquaculture for all

Shrimp Farming Standards Reach Out to Globe

GLOBE - The world's shrimp aquaculture industry leaders and other stakeholders will meet in South America and Southeast Asia this Autumn to develop standards for shrimp farming that has a minimal impact on the environment and society.

According to Fish Update, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF)-initiated Shrimp Aquaculture Dialogue will hold its second meeting in the Americas region October 9-10 and first meeting in Southeast Asia in November. These are two of the three regions that are the focus of the Dialogue, which was created last year. East Africa, where two Dialogue meetings have been held, also is a priority region.

"The standards will not be credible without input from people in Southeast Asia and the Americas, given that those are two of the world's most important shrimp farming regions," Jose Villalon, director of the WWF-US Aquaculture Program told Fish Update. "We are excited about working with them to build consensus on what will be the world's most robust standards for shrimp."

At both fall meetings, participants will work on creating the criteria to focus on in order to reduce each of the key environmental and social impacts related to shrimp farming. They then will create indicators, or points of measurement to determine the extent of each impact. Fish Update reports that they will build off of draft criteria and indicators discussed at previous Dialogue meetings, as well as the "International Principles for Responsible Shrimp Farming" adopted in 2006 by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

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