The Pacific nation of Papua New Guinea (PNG) is continuing to drive its fishing industry to be at the forefront of global sustainability.
The Papua New Guinea Fishing Industry Association (FIA) set a number of sustainability, traceability, and sourcing goals in 2018, FIA Sustainability Director Marcelo Hidalgo told SeafoodSource. Since then, the industry has met every one of those commitments.
In 2020, the FIA received Marine Stewardship Council certification for its purse-seine tuna fishery (https://www.seafoodsource.com/news/environment-sustainability/papua-new-guinea-s-fishing-industry-association-receives-msc-certification-for-purse-seine-tuna-fishery) – meeting its main goal of certifying its tuna industry – and in 2022, the FIA told SeafoodSource it was pursuing MSC certification for its lobster fishery. (https://www.seafoodsource.com/news/environment-sustainability/papua-new-guinea- striving-to-be-at-forefront-of-seafood-sustainability) During the 2024 Seafood Expo Global, which ran from 23 to 25 April in Barcelona Spain, Hidalgo said that it has achieved that goal.
“We are the first country in the Pacific to certify the first non-tuna fishery and the first small scale fishery in this area, ”Hidalgo said.
The company is now setting its sights on the next small-scale fishery on its list: its mud crab fishery. Hidalgo said the FIA started its certification process in April 2024.
Another big goal of the FIA is enhanced traceability, and like with its certification goals, work has already been done to push forward on this objective. In 2023, the country’s traceability systems passed the interoperability test for the Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST), which recognized that the company’s traceability platform was capable of transferring key data elements – aligning it with U.S., European, and Japanese regulations.
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Author: Chris Chase
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