62 MARCH 2017 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WAS.ORG Objectives of the Seafood Savers Program Initiated by WWFIndonesia, Seafood Savers was established in October 2009 as a stepwise approach platform to encourage sustainable fisheries/ aquaculture business and practices. Two major ecolabels — the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) — are the references to conduct fisheries/aquaculture improvement activities. The Seafood Savers program has the main target to work closely altogether players in fisheries/aquaculture industries to create sustainable fisheries/ aquaculture. Specifically, Seafood Savers intends to: • Confer appreciation to companies committed to sustainable fisheries/aquaculture practices, • Give assistance to obtain MSC and or ASC certification through fisheries/aquaculture improvement activities, • Link markets among producers, retailers and financial institutions, thus increasing responsible fisheries/ aquaculture product availability in the market, • Encourage provision of national policies supporting sustainable fisheries/aquaculture, and • Improve awareness of consumers to buy responsible seafood products. Aquaculture provides a wide variety of benefits to various sectors, e.g. income generation for farmers/owners, pressure reduction on wild stock, employment and livelihoods in rural or remote areas, increased fish supply and other economic advantages from trade. However, aquaculture does not produce fish without leaving a trace. Irresponsible resource use and farming practices represent the dark side of aquaculture; it is not hard to cite examples of the adverse effect of aquaculture on the environment. Shrimp farming has been very prominently blamed for mangrove clearing, habitat conversion, loss of ecological goods and services, groundwater salinization and seed removal from wild stocks. In fact, aquaculture is operated in diverse ways. When maximal production for economic benefit is considered to be the main target, without awareness of the wellbeing of the environment and humans, then unsustainability becomes a threat. Farms that are not very sophisticated contribute a disproportionately greater impact on the environment. Traditional small-scale farms may bear more responsibility due to poor knowledge about farm management. There are good aquaculture practices applied by stakeholders and those responsible practices must be appreciated, encouraged and shared. A Gateway toward Global Sustainable and Responsible Aquaculture Certification Niki Nofari Training farmers to use a refractometer to measure salinity (Photo: WWF-Indonesia/ Nizar Fahrezi). Monitoring replanted mangrove trees, Bulungan, North Kalimantan (Photo: Suminto).
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