Guayaquil, Ecuador – Following a successful inaugural of the Shrimp Summit in July 2022, the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) and Sustainable Shrimp Partnership (SSP) are hosting another ASC Shrimp Summit on June 12-14, 2023. In 2022, ASC buyers and seafood suppliers from the United States and Canada such as Sysco, Alberton’s, Disney, Ahold Delhaize USA, Metro, and Loblaws joined the event. This year, shrimp buyers from all three major and promising export markets of Ecuador – North America, Europe, and Japan – have confirmed their participation.

“Connecting the marketplace to the producers is a vital part of our work at ASC in promoting ASC certified shrimp and demonstrating how responsible aquaculture production works. We are very excited to bring major retailers from Japan to Ecuador, which is an important supplier to this market for high-quality shrimp,” Koji Yamamoto, ASC General Manager in Japan, said.

“In the previous edition of the ASC Shrimp Summit, our esteemed North American guests explored the world of Ecuadorian shrimp. They experienced the commitments of SSP producers that embrace the best practices with the highest quality and social and environmental responsibility, complying with ASC label requirements, and with a special focus on zero use of antibiotics, neutral impact on water and full traceability. Their findings confirmed why Ecuador is the leading producer and exporter of shrimp in the world. This year, we are excited to expand this encounter to Europe and Asia, enabling more representatives from our three main markets to witness firsthand the exceptional efforts of our industry,” Pamela Nath, Director of the Sustainable Shrimp Partnership, said.

Close-up insights into Ecuador’s Shrimp Production

Ecuador is the world’s leading shrimp producer and exporter of Pacific white shrimp (P. Vannamei), supplying all major shrimp markets such as Europe, China and the US. In 2022, Ecuador exported more than 1 million MT of shrimp, reaching 66 countries, and adding $6.7 billion in exports. Ecuador also accounts for approximately 40% of available ASC certified shrimp in the world.

A packed and exciting agenda await the participants of the ASC Shrimp Summit in Guayaquil. During the visit, participants will tour ASC certified farms and processing plants to see firsthand what responsible aquaculture production looks like. The tour also includes a visit to a feed mill, an important aspect of responsible seafood farming, which is now covered by the ASC Feed Standard.

ASC’s global shrimp standard requires that all ASC labelled shrimp are free from antibiotics, aligning with Ecuador’s movement away from antibiotics in the production of responsibly farmed shrimp in order to preserve the country’s delicate natural ecology. Driving this change toward the wider market to ensure safe, transparent practices and a healthy final product requires the efforts of multiple stakeholders, underlining the importance of ASC’s ongoing work.

Meet us at SEG 2023

Are you interested in learning more about the upcoming ASC Shrimp Summit? If you will be at the Seafood Expo Global 2023 in Barcelona, grab the opportunity and drop by at the ASC Stand #4A401 or at the SSP Stand at #5B501-#5C501.

To know more about how the 2022 Inaugural ASC Shrimp Summit went, check out this article and video.

ABOUT SSP

The Sustainable Shrimp Partnership (SSP) is a group of leading companies who are committed to transforming the future of shrimp aquaculture. Pioneered in Ecuador, members of the SSP are committed to achieving, and promoting, the highest quality products, produced to the highest social and environmental standards, through greater collaboration and transparency.

About the ASC

The ASC is the world’s leading certification scheme for farmed seafood, from farm to fork. To drive our third party certification and labelling programme for seafood farming worldwide, we work with the environmental and scientific community and beyond. Together, we develop standards with other NGOs, academics, farmers, retailers and experts. And we keep developing more standards to meet changing market needs and demand.

ASC certified farms are independently assessed against every requirement in their species-specific ASC standard.  Our system has been evaluated against ISEAL’s Codes of Good Practice, a globally-recognised framework for effective, credible sustainability systems.