Farmed shrimp. (Photo: Finca Granjas Marinas San Bernado)

Honduran shrimp farm obtains ASC certification

HONDURAS
Tuesday, May 03, 2016, 03:00 (GMT + 9)

Finca Granjas Marinas San Bernado farm in Honduras has successfully gained ASC certification for responsible shrimp farming.

The site operated by Group Granjas Marinas, located in Choluteca, was successfully assessed by independent certifier Control Union Peru earlier in the year, together with four of the companies' other farms.

"At Ganjas Marinas Group we strongly believe in the value of responsible aquaculture. As a company, we support the robust criteria and transparency that the ASC programme requires certified farms to follow," explained Victor Wilson Canessa, CEO of Grupo Ganjas Marinas.

"I am thrilled that our first farm has been successfully certified to the ASC standard and extremely proud of the teams that made it happen. I now look forward to seeing our Finca Crimasa, Finca Las Arenas, and Aquacultivos de Honduras (AQH) & Finca Cadelpa operations recently audited by Control Union Peru to meet the ASC's standard," Canessa pointed out.

For his part, Chris Ninnes, CEO of the ASC congratulated the Group and stressed the fact that they join a growing group of shrimp farmers that value the improvements that achieving ASC certification brings.

“It is also interesting to see the increasing interest for ASC shrimp products in the market. Despite representing less than 7 per cent of the total certified volume they account for over 30 per cent of the products using the ASC logo. Through the commitments made by farms like Granjas Marinas Group, we are helping transform the world's seafood markets and promote the best environmental and social aquaculture performance," Ninnes said.

Andreas Lehnhoff, Director of WWF Guatemala / Mesoamerica stated that global aquaculture shrimp production is growing approximatively 10 per cent annually and that currently it is one of the highest growth rates in aquaculture.

“It's great to see an increasing number of farms in Latin America building upon the example of Belize where 90 per cent of shrimp farms are ASC certified," Lehnhoff highlighted.

Meanwhile, Roy van Daatselaar of the Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH), added: "The certification of the Granjas Marinas Group sites is an endorsement of their responsible practices. Through our Farmers In Transition Fund (FIT) we support producers that are clear in their desire to meet the highest standards for shrimp aquaculture. Our goal is to increase the responsible production of shrimp globally."

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