Fisheries Certification Program Announces Global Expansion

The Responsible Fisheries Management (RFM) Certification program owned by the Certified Seafood Collaborative (CSC) has expanded its fishery standard to include fisheries worldwide, CSC officials said in an Oct. 8 statement.

The global expansion, according to the CSC, will go further to provide choice in wild capture sustainable fishery certification.

The collaborative has said that it’s committed to supporting global fisheries in enhancing transparency for their customers, and the RFM aims to provide accessibility without the burden of logo licensing fees.

The goal is to ensure that everyone in the supply chain with chain of custody can showcase their commitment to sustainability and responsible practices without financial strain.

“As our program grows, we remain dedicated to prioritizing origin on our label at no cost,” RFM program manager Jeff Regnart said.

“We ensure the RFM logo is customizable per the fishery origin,” he explained. “Alaska fisheries use our Alaska version. As global fisheries are assessed and determined well-managed, we will customize our logo to accommodate their regional call-out.”

CSC officials said that any well-regulated wild capture fishery from anywhere in the world that would like to be assessed against the RFM fishery standard can contact the RFM program at [email protected] or one of the accredited certifying bodies to get started on a pre-assessment.

CSC is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit foundation made up of a board of seafood and sustainability experts operating online and chaired by seafood industry veteran Mark Fina. RFM was the first sustainability eco-certification program to be benchmarked and recognized by the Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative (GSSI).

More about the RFM program is available at https://rfmcertification.org.

Source: https://fishermensnews.com/fisheries-certification-program-announces-global-expansion/