The CMFRI has prepared a draft of India’s National Guidelines for Marine Ecolabelling, proposing a comprehensive framework to regulate seafood sustainability certification programmes and enhance the global competitiveness of the country’s marine products.
The draft, released as a discussion paper, comes amid growing demand for internationally recognised sustainability certification for Indian seafood and increasing interest from global certification agencies in the country, the ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) said in a statement.
A key feature of the proposed guidelines is the protection of the interests of the country’s fishing community while promoting environmental sustainability and facilitating premium market access for Indian seafood products, it said.
The draft recognises that although ecolabelling can help fisheries gain access to high-value international markets and improve returns for fishers, market-driven certification systems may create barriers for small-scale and traditional fishing communities.
To address this, the proposed framework calls for equitable participation of traditional and artisanal fishers in certification processes, ensuring that legitimate stakeholders are not excluded from the benefits of ecolabelling.
Ecolabel certification verifies that fish and fishery products originate from sustainable and responsibly managed fisheries.
India currently does not have a national mechanism to govern such certification processes, even as several international agencies have shown interest in operating in the country, it said.
According to CMFRI, the proposed guidelines seek to ensure that certification schemes function in alignment with India’s fisheries laws, sustainability priorities and socio-economic realities.
The draft also reaffirms the country’s sovereign rights over marine fisheries resources within its Exclusive Economic Zone and stipulates that all certification activities must comply with national and state fisheries regulations, biodiversity conservation laws, seafood safety standards and coastal aquaculture norms.
It further emphasises traceability across the seafood value chain and explores the possibility of developing an indigenous Indian marine eco-label that could complement globally recognised certification systems, the statement added.
