The aquaculture industry manages its impacts with RTRS Credits
Since 2017, organizations from the aquaculture industry purchased more than 190,000 RTRS Credits as part of their commitment to sustainable management and to meet the requirements of the fish farms they supply.
Soy is a fundamental ingredient in farmed fish feed. By-products such as lecithin, soy meal and protein concentrate are used in aquafeed. This is why a growing number of players in the aquaculture supply chain are working to obtain products from responsible sources. This trend is reflected in the growing number of RTRS material buyers in this sector of the industry, mainly in Central America. So far in 2020, thirteen new organizations acquired 135,000 RTRS Credits.
The increased number of buyers in the aquaculture industry is largely the result of the development of best practices in social and environmental impact management promoted by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council – ASC. The ASC certification scheme, which requires fish farms to source from suppliers that guarantee a sustainable supply policy in food production, has incorporated since 2017 the requirements to use certified soy (soy by-products or its equivalent in RTRS Credits), as established by RTRS Standard for Responsible Soy Production, deemed by the Council to be the most robust in environmental terms.
The organizations that added RTRS Credits to their value chains are Latin American feed suppliers that service primarily salmon and shrimp farms, certified against ACS standards. Companies included in this sector are: Inbalnor S.A., GISIS S.A, Vitapro Honduras S.A. de C.F., Cargill Honduras S. de RL., AquaFeed S.A. de C.V., Cargill Nicaragua S.A., Vitapro S.A., Salmones Antártica SA (Nissui Group of Japan) and Ewos Chile Alimentos Limitada.
“Our clients require solutions and support that impact on their breeds and farming performance in a sustainable manner, as they directly influence their profitability, said Kathya Tennison Padovani, Quality Manager at Vitapro S.A. With operations in Peru, Ecuador, Chile and Honduras, the company develops and provides nutritional solutions for the aquaculture sector.
Fernando Ortega Nevárez, Procurement Manager at GISIS SA, stated that, “shrimp production mainly comes from Central America and is exported to Europe, where companies require products to comply with a sustainable supply policy throughout their production chain, the same as in Ecuador where customers’ demand for sustainable soybean is increasingly growing”. GISIS S.A. manufactures shrimp feed under the Norwegian brand names Skretting del Grupo Nutreco. They supply Ecuador and Peru, and their subsidiary AquaFeed in Honduras supplies fish feed to Central America.
Mauricio Maldonado, Supply Chain Manager at AquaFeed S.A., manufacturer of feed for shrimp and tilapia in Honduras, added that “the increased demand for RTRS certified material in Central America is due to the requirements of shrimp feed buyers and consumers of the end product, shrimp tails”.
RTRS celebrates the increasingly active participation of the aquaculture sector and the work of organizations such as the ASC, that promote collaborative synergies contributing to sustainable production and commercial practices.
Find more information on sustainability in the aquaculture industry here.
