Sep
30
BARCELONA, Spain– The Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA) is addressing local government authorities and farmers in Galicia, Spain, with the aim to get mussel farms certified by 2015, GAA’s consultant Marcos Moya told Undercurrent News.
The goal is challenging, for several reasons.
Farmers often do not see the purpose of certifications, said Moya. Mussels production in Galicia is also spread across numerous small family-owned farms, which makes individual certifications a complicated task.
“To make things easier, we are thinking of a certification by area, instead of certifying each farm separately,” Moya told Undercurrent, speaking during the Seafood Expo Southern Europe held in Barcelona last week.
Moya said GAA can learn from its experience in Vietnam, where it is carrying out a pilot project to implement its Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certification within an area of small-scale, family owned shrimp farmers.
Standards are expected to be implemented within three months with the aim to get the Vietnamese shrimp farming area BAP-certified.
“After this experience, we can transfer the certification by areas project to mussel farming in Vigo [Galicia],” said Moya.
Galician mussels farmers sold 183,000 metric tons worth €75 million in 2013, making up almost 90% of total mussel production in Spain, according to Galicia’s Conselleria do Mar (local fisheries department).
Local authorities regulate mussel farms and are in charge of approving farming concessions. GAA has approached the Xunta (Galicia’s government) to rise awareness about the benefits of certification.
“The Xunta has an important role in Galician mussel farming, I’m trying to motivate authorities, so they implement a certification,” Moya said.
“If I manage to convince them… it’s not only about implementing [BAP] certification, but also about getting authorities to issue tenders for mussels certification. I think the Xunta could do it, so mussel farms could be certified by 2015,” Moya said.
“[The goal] is feasible, since they have already certified other products like grapes or cheese. They are aware of the need to certify,” he added.
GAA has already approached the Xunta, but meetings are held at relatively long intervals.
“This is why I think negotiations are going to take a while,” said Moya.
Implementing the certification, he said, takes much less time. “Once the entity decides to certificate, in 45-60 days they can get certified.”
Differentiating from Chilean rivals
Vigo-based mussel farm producers’ closest competitors are Chilean farmers, which produced 243,900t of mussels in 2013 — so around 60,000t more than the Galicians –, according to Chile’s undersecretary of fisheries, Subpesca.
Although Chilean mussels (choritos) have a smaller size when compared with Galician mussels, the raw material works in practically the same when used for canning, said Moya.
“That is why Galician mussel farmers need to differentiate from Chilean farmers,” Moya said.
“Chilean mussels are smaller and, therefore, cheaper, but the Spanish farms are producing bigger sizes, a more premium, unique product, and I think this matches very well with the certification,” Moya said.
Another argument is pricing. With certified mussels, producers can negotiate prices better with different buyers, Moya said.
“In the UK, for example, buyers are highly aware of certified products,” Moya said.
For Moya, a successful mussel certification would involve “closing the sandwich” — producers and buyers need to team up to get the product certified.
“We need both, the producer, the buyer: if they work harmoniously towards certification, we will make it.”
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