A South American squid production industry group has offered its support to the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) Target 75 initiative, which has the goal of having 75 percent of the world’s seafood produced in a manner that is sustainable or improving toward sustainability by 2020.
The Committee for the Sustainable Management of the Southern Pacific Jumbo Flying Squid (CALAMASUR) voiced its support of SFP’s initiative in a joint presentation Tuesday at the Peruvian pavilion at Seafood Expo Global in Brussels.
Alfonso Miranda, president of CALAMASUR, said giant squid is the species that sustains artisanal fishing in Peru and has great importance in Chile, Ecuador, and Mexico. “Therefore, we must exhaust all efforts to ensure its sustainable exploitation, as well as an adequate study of its biology and strict control over fleets from distant-water countries that could adversely affect the balance of the giant squid population with activities contrary to what the FAO Responsible Fisheries Code of Conduct advises,” he added.
Earlier this year, SFP released a global sector report for squid which said that less than 1 percent of global squid production could be classified as sustainable or improving toward sustainable. SFP Founder and CEO Jim Cannon called CALAMASUR’s commitment to the Target 75 goal significant, since it represents producers in Peru, Chile, and Ecuador, whose fisheries comprise more than 20 percent of global squid production alone.
“CALAMASUR’s support represents a significant piece of global squid production,” Cannon said. “We hope that the remainder of the global squid industry will take note of and follow the fine example CALAMASUR is setting here.”
ENDS
About SFP:
Founded in 2006, the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Foundation – known as Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) – is a nonprofit organization dedicated to rebuilding depleted fish stocks and reducing the environmental and social impacts of fishing and fish farming through engaging fishery stakeholders (communities, NGOs, government, etc.) and seafood businesses in every part of the supply chain. The organization works to improve fisheries through fishery improvement projects (FIPs) and aquaculture improvement projects (AIPs), which are multi-stakeholder bodies that seek to advance the sustainability of fishing and fish farming operations. SFP also supports Supply Chain Roundtables, which allow seafood suppliers to work in a pre-competitive environment to promote improvement throughout the supply chain. Visit us at www.sustainablefish.org.
About CALAMASUR:
Established in January 2018, the Committee for the Sustainable Management of the Southern Pacific Jumbo Flying Squid (CALAMASUR) is an independent industry association made up of representatives of the artisanal and industrial fishing sector, the processing sector, and academia from Peru, Chile, and Ecuador, representing more than 20 percent of global squid production. The group is dedicated to sustainable squid production.
Contact: Sean Murphy, Communications Director