18 DECEMBER 2013 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WAS.ORG Benefits and Limitations of Certification Programs Standards for reducing or preventing negative effects on local biodiversity, such as wetland destruction, water pollution, use of antibiotics and other chemicals, and predator control, and for reducing the use of marine fishmeal and oil are integral components of buyer purchasing policies and ecolabel certification programs. The BMPs used for achieving compliance with standards can certainly lead to improvements at the farm level. For example, Tucker and Hargreaves (2008) compared ponds operated by normal procedures with those in which the following BMPs were implemented: volume reserved to avoid overflow following rainfall events; protein content of feed of 28 percent instead of 32 percent; daily feed input not to exceed 110 kg/ha. Although there was no difference in catfish production between BMP and non-BMP ponds, implementation of BMPs resulted in a sizeable reduction in the amount of groundwater withdrawal by wells to maintain water levels in ponds, a large decrease in pond overflow, and less phosphorus in effluent. Monitoring farm discharges, examination of records of resource use, and observations of environmental conditions necessary in compliance audits can reveal whether or not an individual farm has complied with purchasing policy or ecolabel certification requirements and determine if a certified farm is improving their performance over time or merely complying with standards. Certification programs require continuous improvement, but it is too early to determine if this goal is being attained. There are, however, other issues that are largely ignored. A single aquaculture facility seldom is the only source of negative environmental impacts in an area. For example, effluents from multiple aquaculture facilities as well as from other sources often enter the same water body. Because pollution results from a variety of activities, certification of one of the aquaculture facilities or even all of them that discharge into a particular water body may not lessen the total pollution load enough to cause measurable environmental improvement. Thus, it will be difficult to demonstrate that compliance with sourcing policy or ecolabel certification standards cause measureable environmental improvement at the local level. The broader effects of responsible aquaculture programs will be even more problematic to verify at the regional, country, or global levels. Facilities that participate in sourcing policy and ecolabel certification programs usually are producing products for export to developed countries or they are located in developed countries. The great majority of aquaculture production is in developing countries, and it is sold to markets in the same or other developing countries in which there is no demand for ecofriendly products. Bush et al. (2013) estimated that only about 5% of global aquaculture was currently certified, and the remaining potential market for certified products is only about 8% of global production. The proportion of the total negative impacts of aquaculture that are avoided through better performance by facilities participating in sourcing policy and ecolabel certification is no doubt quite small and likely unmeasurable on a broad scale. Sourcing policy and ecolabel certification programs are in some ways an end in themselves. The supermarkets and restaurants selling products resulting from these programs can claim environmental stewardship in their advertising efforts, thereby avoiding criticisms from eNGOs and attracting environmentally-aware consumers who will feel good about purchasing such products. Once initiated, ecocertification programs become a business with the goal of operating profitably TOP, FIGURE 5. Tilapia feeding at Buritama, São Paulo, Brazil. Fish feed is measured and delivered to cages in the precise quantity needed for optimum fish growth. Photo: João Manoel Cordeiro Alves. MIDDLE, FIGURE 6. Overall view of tilapia cages at Buritama reservoir, São Paulo, Brazil. Fish cages are positioned to allow good circulation of water and the reservoir catchment has adequate vegetative cover to prevent erosion that could cause turbidity in the reservoir. Photo: João Manoel Cordeiro Alves. BOTTOM, FIGURE 7. Tilapia cages at Graciosa estuary, Valença, Bahia, Brazil, where the mangrove habitat was preserved. Photo: João Manoel Cordeiro Alves.
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