Between 2015 and the two first months of 2016, over 10% of farmed salmon production in Chile, or more than 100 thousand tons, has been certified according to the ASC standard, a certification and labeling scheme for responsibly farmed seafood which came off the ground with support of WWF and the Dutch Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH) in 2009.
At the break of dawn on a warm February day, I was travelling in a van heading south along the Peruvian coast to the small port town of Pucusana. This is a place rich in culture and tradition, and home to a mahi mahi fishery where the community is working to conserve and secure its fish stocks for future generations of family fishers.
My colleague Samuel Amorós, WWF Peru fisheries officer, and I were working together to build up WWF Peru’s newly reinstated marine program. This trip was a small window into our engagement with the community to help establish a fishery improvement project (FIP) for mahi mahi.
It’s like something from a spy novel. A caravan of seven cars moving illegal goods – the first car is a decoy with legal product and paperwork. As inspectors check that car, the others loaded with contraband pass without even slowing down. They aren’t moving jewels, stolen art or weapons. They’re moving fish.
That’s right. Black market fish.
