Dear all, Standards designed to minimize the potentially negative impact shrimp aquaculture can have on the environment, farm workers and communities near aquaculture farms were posted Monday for the first of two public comment periods. The draft standards are products of the Shrimp Aquaculture Dialogue, a roundtables that include more than 400 people, among them aquaculture industry leaders, NGOs and scientists. The shrimp standards will be the first global standards for this species that are created through an open, transparent process that is aligned with the International Social and Environmental Accreditation and Labeling Alliance’s guidelines for standard setting. The process encourages input from a broad and diverse group of people and ensures that their ideas will be considered by the full Dialogues. Similar processes have been used for some land-based agriculture industries, but not during such an early stage of the industry’s development. Feedback received during the 60-day public comment periods will be used by each Dialogue’s Global Steering Committee to revise the draft standards before they are posted again for the last comment period. Final shrimp and abalone standards are expected by the end of this year. The ShAD Global Steering Committee is committed to hearing from and listening to as many people as possible before this process ends. Stakeholder input will help guarantee that the final standards offer a progressive definition of responsible shrimp farming. To review the draft shrimp standards and provide comment, go to http://www.worldwildlife.org/what/globalmarkets/aquaculture/dialogues-shrimp.html Regards Eric Eric Bernard WWF US, Shrimp Aquaculture Dialogue coordinator 1 Carrefour de Longchamps 75016 Paris, France Mob: 00 33 6 98405393