David Little (L) delivering his keynote presentation on enhancing social license in farmed small-scale shrimp, and Birgitte Krogh-Poulsen (R) with a smallholder farmer and his family in Andrah Pradesh, India © TCRS
The Centre for Responsible Seafood (TCRS) hosted the third annual Shrimp Summit in Bali, Indonesia from 22 to 25 June. According to TCRS, the long-term stability of the global seafood industry relies on its ability to earn and maintain social licence. To do so, it must operate in ways that are consistent with the values and expectations of society. Small-scale farms produce a significant share of the world’s shrimp, but risks such as labour violations and poor transparency could damage the sector’s reputation.
David Little and Birgitte Krogh-Poulsen, two well-known authorities on social license in aquaculture, delivered keynote addresses at the TCRS Shrimp Summit on engaging smallholder shrimp farmers to improve social license. Both speakers emphasised the unique local and global aspects of this sector.
TCRS communicated in a press release, that on a local level, small-scale farms are expected to generate tangible benefits to their community. However, unstable prices, debt and hardships are shifting this balance in some regions from benefits to burdens. On a global level, the social risks of small-scale farms, which operate with widespread data gaps and low transparency, can threaten consumer perception and confidence in distant markets.
Traditional to intensive systems
Little, chair of aquatic resource development and deputy director at the Institute of Aquaculture, University of Stirling, characterised small-scale shrimp farms as spanning the spectrum of shrimp farming practices, from traditional unfed ponds to modern intensive systems. These farms represent the culmination of complex upstream supply chains often obscured by intermediaries that include breeders, hatcheries, feed manufacturers and feed ingredient suppliers. On the downstream end, they are closely linked with local processors, who sell their products to complex supply chains involving international buyers, certifiers, media and consumers. Local and regional markets are also becoming increasingly important for smallholder farmers.
In the short term, social assurances for small-scale farms are unlikely to come directly from certification, due to the complexity of those standards and the costs of third-party audits. Krogh-Poulsen, senior fellow on human rights and social equity at Monterey Bay Aquarium, recommended assessing and mitigating risks in each region using the aquarium’s recently launched Seafood Social Risk Tool and Socio-economic Learning Framework.
Better coalitions needed
Both speakers called for broad-based coalitions of producers and supply chain stakeholders to drive improvement through improved transparency, traceability and capacity building. Krogh-Poulsen recommended a shift from compliance to due diligence, saying, “We can’t guarantee zero labour violations, but we can guarantee our effort to assess and address them.”
The summit’s keynotes underscored a growing consensus: that the future of shrimp aquaculture will depend on its ability to be socially accountable, locally embedded and globally credible.
