Standars for responsible fisheries

The purpose of certification is to guide efforts towards sustainable fisheries, using market forces to promote behaviors that favor sustainability. We want to ensure the integrity of the fisheries and improve the quality of life of the fishing community. The fishing process begins from the catching until the product is commercialized; therefore during the certification all the process will be evaluate.

After the analysis of international and national law, these are some of the most important criterion we have chosen to follow:

National
- The Code of Renewable Natural Resources and Environment.

- Act 13 of 1990 which seeks to regulate the integrated management and rational exploitation of fisheries resources to ensure their sustainable use.

International
- Principles and Criteria for Sustainable Fishing.
Version Marine Stewardship Council

- Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries. (FAO Conference at its 28 period section)

This are some of the most important principles for responsible practices with a view to ensure the conservation, management and effective development of living aquatic resources, with due respect for the ecosystem and biodiversity, found in the documents above.

• The users of living aquatic resources should conserve aquatic ecosystems. The right to fish carries with it the obligation to do so responsibly to ensure the conservation and effective management of living aquatic resources.
• Fisheries management should promote the maintenance of quality, diversity and availability of fishery resources in sufficient quantities for present and future, in the context of food security, poverty alleviation and sustainable development. Management measures will not only ensure the conservation of target species but also of species belonging to the same ecosystem or dependent upon or associated with them.
• Prevent overfishing and excess fishing capacity and implement management measures to ensure that fishing effort is commensurate with the capacity of fisheries resources and their sustainable use.
• Take into account traditional knowledge about resources and their habitat, as well as environmental, economic and social issues. We will give priority to research and data collection to improve scientific and technical knowledge on fisheries and their interaction with the ecosystem.
• Developed and apply to the practicable extent, fishing gear and practices selective and environmentally safe in order to maintain biodiversity and preserve the structure of populations, aquatic ecosystems and fish quality. Where there are appropriate fishing gear and practices selective and environmentally safe, they should be recognized and accorded a priority in establishing conservation and management measures for fisheries.
• Users of aquatic ecosystems should minimize waste of catch of both species that are the target species as those that are not, for fish and other species as well as the effects on species associated or dependent species by catch unused and other living resources.
• The harvesting, handling, processing and distribution of fish and fishery products should be made ​​so as to maintain the nutritional value, quality and safety of products, reduce waste and minimize the negative effects on the environment.
• It´s very important that fishers and aquaculturists understand the issues related to conservation and management of fisheries resources on which they depend, promoted through education and training awareness about their responsible fisherie .
• It´s very important the contributions of artisanal and small-scale fisheries to employment, income and food security, it´s also important to appropriately protect the rights of workers and fishermen, especially those engaged in subsistence fishing and small craft scale, a secure and just livelihood, and provide preferential access, where appropriate, to exploit fisheries resources as well as traditional fishing.
• It´s prohibit the use of fishing practices and the use of poisons and explosives and other comparable destructive.
• Promote the development of appropriate standards and guidelines for the effective use of energy in the fisheries sector, capture and post-harvest.
• The owners, charterers and operators of fishing vessels should minimize the amount of material taking aboard of potential garbage using adequate provisioning practices.
• The owners, charterers or operators of fishing vessels should ensure that their vessels are fitted with equipment to reduce emissions of ozone-depleting substances. The crew members of fishing vessels responsible should be familiar with the proper operation and maintenance of machinery on board.
• Ensure the right of consumers to have innocuous fish and fishery products, and unadulterated.
• Establish and maintain national quality assurance and safety effective in protecting consumer health and prevent commercial fraud.
• Given the existence of different production methods, through cooperation and by facilitating the development and transfer of appropriate technologies, to ensure that the methods of processing, transport and storage are environmentally sound.

Encourage those involved in processing, distribution and marketing to:

a. losses and reduce post-harvest waste,
b. improve the use of catch, to the extent that fits management practices responsible for fisheries,
c. use the resources, especially water and energy (including wood) of an environmentally sound manner.

The work

Fisheries, including aquaculture, provide a vital source of food, employment, recreation, trade and economic welfare of people throughout the world, both for present and for future, therefore should be carried out responsibly.

The concept of responsible fisheries, states that "this concept encompasses the sustainable utilization of fisheries resources in harmony with the environment, the use of capture and aquaculture practices that are not harmful to ecosystems, resources or quality of such, the incorporation of added value to such products through transformation processes that meet the health standards of trade practices that give consumers access to good quality products.

To continue to implement the responsible fisheries the work is been developed with a cooperative of local fishermen, they are currently who supply fish to the people of the region, all the fishermen associated with this cooperative use traditional fishing and management has a cold chain, handling and conservation of the product.
There was a preliminary trip to the area, in which it began a relationship with the fishing community and was made ​​a reconnaissance of the fish community and the state of the ecosystem. We had foreseen the realization of a trip at the end of December or in January in order to organize the specific implementation of legal and environmental criteria, but the trip was not achieved in December because the cooperative was not working and in January there was an armed conflict present, we will travel to the area when the conditions enable us. We are currently in contact with the cooperative by phone.

In Colombia there is an organization that has been working in a project very similar to the one we want to accomplish. This organization is working in the Pacific Ocean, we contacted them to know and learn from their experiences. They have been working with the fishing community and the people from the city, they don’t work with restaurants, they deliver the fish directly to the household. We are taking into account the possibility of selling fresh fish to friends and family, and to restaurants.

We have been in touch with some restaurants from Bogota, with the purpose of telling them the idea and offer them to be part of the project once it´s organized; the restaurants have shown interest in the project.

The Earth Charter Initiative

Our Project is inspired on the Earth Charter:

The Earth Charter is a declaration of fundamental ethical principles for building a just, sustainable and peaceful global society in the 21st century. It seeks to inspire in all people a new sense of global interdependence and shared responsibility for the well-being of the whole human family, the greater community of life, and future generations. It is a product of a decade-long, worldwide, cross cultural dialogue on common goals and shared values.

The project is based on the development of a fishing community in the Uraba Golf (Choco, Colombia) through education and training in the importance of environmentally responsible fishing with the collaboration of restaurants from cities all around the country.