Building the foundation for landscape-level improvements in shrimp farming in India

Through this joint project, ASC and SFP have identified key locations and sustainability issues, stakeholders, and improvement activities within the Andhra Pradesh shrimp farming sector that should form the basis of a subsequent landscape-level initiative.

We have produced a roadmap not only outlining these opportunities in this sector and geography, but also outlining several key steps to apply this approach in other geographies.

We invite you to review the roadmap and its findings and apply these learnings for shrimp farming in Andhra Pradesh, or apply the roadmap to scope a landscape-level aquaculture improvement in your commodity and geography of interest. 

Why are landscape approaches in aquaculture needed?

Aquaculture can offer a climate-friendly food source that delivers environmental and social benefits and contributes to food security.

However, only 58% of global aquaculture production (excluding aquatic plants) is certified or rated against recognized schemes, and sustainability progress in aquaculture continues to be limited. 

Meanwhile, individual farms are bearing the economic burdens of interventions such as certification, and of insufficient state, regional, and national management to limit the negative impact.

Current approaches to aquaculture management are often misaligned or don’t accommodate the unique challenges posed by a landscape of small-scale producers, nor do they embrace the opportunities delivered through local capacity and expertise to drive transformation.

A landscape approach to aquaculture recognizes these challenges and seeks to raise the environmental and social baseline across an entire shared area. It does not omit or disincentivize certification or independent projects. Instead, it aims to build on various approaches to work collectively to achieve measurable change.

The evolution of a collaboration between ASC and SFP

The Aquaculture Stewardship Council and Sustainable Fisheries Partnership are two science-based, nature, and people-focused NGOs that share the vision that 100% of seafood is sustainably and responsibly managed.

Building upon previous collaborations, and with a shared ambition of driving further aquaculture improvements at scale, we recognize the opportunity that landscape approaches, which are being increasingly adopted in terrestrial commodities, provide for aquaculture, particularly to:

• Achieve responsible sourcing areas;
• Protect and restore habitat;
• Create  aquaculture supply chains that are more productive, resilient, and environmentally and socially sustainable; and,
• Support farmers, other natural resource users, and communities that depend on shared resources such as land, water, and aquaculture feed ingredients.