Fishing & Aquaculture

India urges seafood exporters to comply with certification scheme

Baird Maritime

India: The Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) has called on fishing boat operators and seafood exporters to cooperate in the implementation of a catch certificate validation scheme which came into effect in the New Year.

The regulation, initiated by the European Commission, insists on the validated catch certificate for consignments of fish and another seafood being exported to the EU. The compulsory measure has been imposed on all catches from the sea landed on or before January 1, 2010.

The measure is aimed at reducing and preventing illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. It is applicable to consignment exported directly or via third countries.

India exports over US$600 million of seafood a year, some of which is imported by the EU.

MPEDA has made arrangements to monitor each catch supply for export to the EU by providing log sheets to boats to indicate the supply of catch to exporters. A computerised system has also been set up to log catch data entry and to expedite the validation of catch certificates.