The expert workshop on guidelines for aquaculture certification has been organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in collaboration with the Seafood Choices Alliance, and the Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific (NACA) together with the kind support of the Department for International Development (DFID), in response to the recommendations of the Aquaculture Subcommittee (ASC) of the FAO Committee on Fisheries.

The workshop is the fourth in a series of stakeholder meetings to assist the preparation of international guidelines for aquaculture certification. The three previous aquaculture certification expert workshops have, to date, focussed largely on Asia and Latin America as major producing regions of the world. However, attention is now focused on the major buying regions of the world, namely Europe and the USA. The London workshop will provide the opportunity for dialogue between the guidelines
developers, producing country representatives and stakeholders in Europe, predominantly the major retail buyers and processors. The workshop partners will seek views, provide input and hold discussions on the current draft guidelines from a major buyers/retailers perspective and, through the inclusion of representatives of the major producing countries, will seek to explore suitability and across supply chains. A followup workshop, similar to this event, will be held in Washington DC in late April 2008.

The workshop will also explore the status, opportunities and mechanisms for enhanced supply chain partnerships to support change, as maybe necessary, to achieve aquaculture certification in producing countries and market access for aquaculture
products on the European market.

Additional background information regarding the programme is provided in a separate Concept Note and the latest draft of the International Guidelines for Aquaculture Certification is available at www.enaca.org/certification . The guidelines will be submitted, by FAO to its member governments, for approval in October 2008.