In April 2004, the federation of fishing cooperatives, FEDECOOP, on the Pacific coast of Mexico made history by becoming the first community-based, developing world fishery to be certified under the MSC programme.

The fishery is composed of nine fishing cooperatives distributed over 10 villages along the central Pacific coast of Baja California in Northwestern Mexico. The Baja California red rock lobsters are caught in traps by 500 fishermen. 

“Generation after generation, our community has made its living from the lobster fishery,” said . “We have always been interested in sustainable fisheries and the results of the culture of cooperation and care for the marine resources by many generations are now evident in this sustainable lobster fishery.  The fishing cooperatives have maintained a close collaborative relationship with the management authorities which has resulted in a consensus based co-management system.”

Jesus Camacho
President, FEDECOOP

“The spiny lobster fishery between Isla Cedros and Punta Abreojos in the North Pacific region, now certified as sustainable, can teach us how to capitalize on globalization,” Luis Bourillon, executive president of Comunidad y Biodiversidad, said in a 2004 World Wildlife Fund press release.  “These organized fisheries will demonstrate to the rest of Mexico, Latin American and the world how a small business can benefit from global markets while supporting community development.”

Commercial success

The certification has provided FEDECOOP with an opportunity to access buyers in Europe, Asia and the United States, competing in an increasingly globalized market while maintaining the traditional livelihoods and lifestyle of their members.

For more information, visit the FEDECOOP website.

The  fishery scored as follows in assessment against the MSC standard for sustainable fishing. The highest possible score for each principle is 100 and a fishery must score at least 80 against each principle to get certified:

Sustainability strengths

Some of the points on which the fishery scored over 90 are outlined below. 

Principle 1: the state of the fish stock

• The red lobster fishery of Baja California is a community-based fishery operating with small boats over short distances from port and generally run as a family or small community operation organized in cooperatives. There are control rules to limit the fishing effort by total number of traps, by fishing season and by zone. All of the fishers in the cooperatives fishing the central zone follow the harvest strategy without exception. Statistics of catch and fishing effort are carefully recorded daily.

Principle 2: the impact of the fishery on the marine environment

• There is a well-defined and effective strategy to ensure that ecological impacts of the fishery are monitored, and restrained to minimize impacts on endangered, threatened, protected or icon species. Impact of the fishery on such species is found to be rare.

Principle 3: the fishery management systems

• The fishery is managed and conducted in a manner that respects international conventions and agreements and not under any controversial unilateral exemption to an international agreement. 

Challenges

In order to ensure its continuing sustainable operation this fishery made a commitment to improving its performance where it scored between 60-80. Some of the actions the fishery has committed to are: 

• A specific strategy must be developed and incorporated into the management system (at any level) that provides for understanding the importance of ecosystem impacts from fishing and details how potential impacts will be identified, monitored, and managed, and what timeframes (yearly, every 5 years, etc.) will be used to review this information.

The fishery: Unit of certification

The certified Mexico Baja California red rock lobster fishery is defined as:

Surveillance audits: First certification period 2004-2009

Surveillance 4: Completed 10th October 2008

Surveillance report no.4 - 10th October 2008

Announcement: Annual surveillance audit - 13 June 2008

Surveillance 3: Completed 16 July 2007

Surveillance report no.3 - 16 July 2007

Announcement: Annual surveillance audit - 22 March 2007

Surveillance 2: Completed 19 June 2006

Surveillance report no.2 - 19 June 2006

Surveillance 1: Completed 26 July 2005

Surveillance report no.1 - 26 July 2005

Initial assessment: Certified April 2004

Reassessment: Certified June 2011

Stage 7: Objections procedure/public certification report and certificate issue

No objections received

Public Certification Report - 30th June 2011

Stakeholder Notification: Public Certification Report - 30th June 2011

Stage 6: Final report and determination

Final report and determination - 24 May 2011

Stakeholder Notification: Final report and determination - 24 May 2011

Stage 5: Public review of the draft assessment report

Public comment draft report - 8th February 2011

Stakeholder Notification: Public comment on the draft report released - 8th February 2011

Stage 4: Client and peer review

Stakeholder Notification: Revised peer reviewers proposed - 30th September 2010

Stakeholder Notification: Peer reviewers proposed - 10th September 2010

Revised reassessment timeline - 3rd September 2010

Stage 3: Information Gathering, Stakeholder Meetings and Scoring

Stakeholder Notification: Site visits scheduled - 19th February 2010

Stakeholder Notification: Clarification on the unit of certification - 19th February 2010

Stakeholder Notification: Site visits scheduled - 24th December 2009

Stage 2: Building the Assessment Tree

Stakeholder Notification: Multiple announcements - 5th November 2009:

Stage 1: Fishery announcement and assessment team formation

Stakeholder Notification: Multiple announcements - 5th November 2009:

           -Change in CB
           -Confirmation of assessment team
           -Use of FAM v2.

Stakeholder Notification: Cancellation of contract with the certification body, SGS - 5th November 2009

Baja California Regional Federation of the Fishing co-operative Societies

Federacion Regional de Sociedades Cooperativas de la Industria Pesquera (FEDCOOP)
Baja California, SCL
Av. Soto 283
Apartado Postal 114
Ensenada Baja California
Mexico
Tel: +52 (646) 176 1591
Fax: +52 (646) 176 2376

Contact: Mario Ramade Villanueva
fedecoopbc@prodigy.net.mx

Certification Body

Scientific Certification Systems, Inc.

2200 Powell Street, Suite 600
Emeryville,
California 94608,
USA

Tel: +1 650 969 1366
Fax: +1 650 969 4731

Contact: Jason Swecker
Email:jswecker@scscertified.com

Contact: Sabine Daume
Email: sdaume@scscertified.com

www.scscertified.com

Certified as sustainable in April 2004.  The first 5-year certificate for the fishery expired on 27 July 2009.  The fishery completed reassessment in June 2011.

Summary

Species: Red rock lobster (Panulirus interuptus)
Location: From Cedros Island through Punta Abreojos, Baja California Sur, Pacific coast of Northwest Mexico.
Fishing methods: Baited wire traps
Vessels: Fiberglass boats 5-7 metres in length and propelled by outboard motors are used.
Number of fisheries:  1

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More about red rock lobster

Red rock lobster occurs in rocky areas from the low intertidal zone to depths of around 100 metres. Females have one brood per year. Breeding and hatching occur in shallow areas, up to 20 metres deep, into which adults move in the spring. Lobsters return to deeper waters in the autumn.

More about the fishing methods

Red rock lobster are caught with traps. The traps are rectangular and covered with galvanized, plastic-sheathed wire mesh. Traps are baited with fish or molluscs. Traps are fitted with escape gaps. These are gaps in the sides of the trap to allow small lobster, less than legal size, to escape. This increases the protection for small lobsters.

Fishery tonnage

1,300 metric tonnes

Commercial market

90% of product targets export markets (Asia, France and the US). 10% is sold domestically, mainly to restaurants.