WWF: Eco-Certifacation of Farm-fish...

Little Hawk

Active Member
So now the illustrious - Western based - World Wildlife Fund is on the cusp of endorsing net-pen raised farmed salmon with an Eco-Friendly certification.

WTF?

Any remaining shred of credibility that this organization previously had, has now evaporated in my view.

My colleague, Alfredo Quattro of the Mangrove Action Project, is one of many working hard to educate all of us on the travesties and destruction caused by industrial-scale salmon & shrimp farming on a global scale.

Marine Harvest appears at the root of all of it...



NEWS RELEASE Embargoed until: 14th May 2009

Worldwide Protest Against WWF’s Plans to Launch Aquaculture Stewardship Council

Over 70 human rights and environmental groups from around the world have today expressed outrage at the planned launch of the World Wildlife Fund's Aquaculture Stewardship Council.

In a letter sent today to leading members of WWF, campaigners claim that the organisation's plans to certify the industrial production of shrimp and salmon are influenced by the vested interests of the aquaculture industry, and do not reflect or take into account the wishes of local communities and indigenous peoples who live alongside shrimp and salmon farms. They say that WWF continues to reject invitations to meet with representatives of affected communities in six different aquaculture regions across the world.

Campaigners also argue that the planned certification process is inherently flawed in favour of the aquaculture industry. They point to the fact that the certification body run by WWF is part-funded by the food industry , and that the individual employed by WWF to run the process, was previously employed as a regional vice-president for a controversial aquaculture multinational, that has been widely accused of labour violations and environmental destruction.

“WWF needs to explain why they are happy to engage with industry, but have repeatedly rejected calls for meetings from over 70 groups, representing tens of thousands of marginalised people from around the world?” asks Juan Jose Lopez, Coordinator of RedMangar in Latin America.

“How can any process be regarded as legitimate when a large Western Ngo and it's financial backers in the food industry are able to dictate what is best for the livelihoods of people in other countries around the world?” asks Alfredo Quarto, of Mangrove Action Project.

“The proposed certification by WWF promises to legitimise environmentally and socially damaging forms of aquaculture in the name of cheap prawns and salmon. It's high time that WWF stops 'Pandering' to the interests of big business, and instead begins to listen to the voices of real people that rely on the oceans and forests to survive.” says Natasha Ahmad, ASIA secretariat.

Regional Contacts:

Asia: Natasha Ahmad: Asia Solidarity Against Industrial Aquaculture (ASIA), secretariat@asia-solidarity.org 00913322840767
Latin America: Juan Jose Lopez of RedManglar (Latin American Mangrove Network), Colombia redmanglar@redmanglar.org
Africa: Abdoulaye Diamé of the African Mangrove Network, Senegal abdoulayediame@yahoo.com
UK: Jim Wickens of Forest Peoples Program jim@forestpeoples.org +44 7736070379
USA Alfredo Quarto of Mangrove Action Network, mangroveap@olympus.net. Tel. (360) 452-5844

Notes to Editor:

The rapid rise in global demand for cheap shrimp and farmed salmon has caused extensive degradation of mangrove wetlands and other coastal ecosystems and subsequent losses in biodiversity. These losses have also destroyed livelihoods among local communities and indigenous peoples in many nations across the global South.

Shrimp: At a time when shrimp is the most popular seafood in the U.S., and growing in popularity in Europe and Japan, most consumers don't realize the extensive problems their appetite for shrimp engenders. 90% of shrimp consumed in the U.S. are imported from countries where mangrove ecosystems have been recently cleared to establish vast stretches of shrimp ponds dug into once productive wetland soils. This causes serious declines in biodiversity and related wild fisheries, shoreline erosion, increased susceptibility to hurricanes and tsunamis, and releases massive quantities of carbon, which had previously been safely stored beneath mangrove roots, thus contributing to climate change. There are also many health issues raised by eating farmed shrimp grown in chemical soups of antibiotics, pesticides and other contaminants. For more information log onto http://www.mangroveactionproject.org/issues/shrimp-farming/shrimp-farming.

Salmon: Similar issues pervade the fin-fish aquaculture industries. Salmon farming is one such industry leading to massive escapes of non-native Atlantic salmon into Pacific Ocean waters, while endangering native Pacific salmon and other marine life because of disease and parasite outbreaks, pollution and overuse/misuse of antibiotics potentially causing dangerous pathogens to develop antibiotic resistance. http://www.puresalmon.org/fact_sheets.html

Feed: salmon and shrimp are carnivores, and for every kilo of the product on the supermarket shelf, several kilos of wild caught fish and frequently GMO-sourced soya, are used to feed the farmed salmon and shrimp. The sheer amount of food needed to feed shrimp and salmon on an industrial scale is destroying ecosystems and livelihoods on land and at sea in Latin America, where much of these feedstuffs are sourced from. See: http://www.theecologist.org/pages/ecologist_media.asp?podcast_id=105

Certification: Scientific research carried out in Indonesia to assess the effectiveness of certification schemes on farmed shrimp in the region, found a catalogue of systemic problems associated with certification, and concluded that, “these systems may never fulfill any of their overarching objectives such as long term sustainability or reduced consumption of non-certified shrimps” http://www.naturskyddsforeningen.se...ment/Rapporter/rap-inter-shrimp-naturland.pdf









"Some could care less if there's any fish left for our kids!"
 
Sort of reminds me the x-greenpeace founder (Moore) who sold out his values for a buck. Amazing..

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