GREEN LIGHT FOR IMPUNITY
SHRIMP BUSINESS CERTIFICATIONS
elaborated by Acción Ecológica
manglares@accionecologica.org
Quito-Ecuador
July 2004

Contents:
. Background
. Environmental Disaster vs. “Shrimp Business Crisis”
. “Lights” Certification
. You Should Trust Us
. What Are the Laws in Ecuador?
. Yellow Shirts and Beehives
. Green Businesses
. Conclusions

Background

In Ecuador, the rising popularity of the shrimp industry has resulted in grave environmental and social impacts. These negative impacts have arisen mainly because of the installation of large pools needed for shrimp production, which negatively affect populations who live nearby.

Some years ago, after the crisis of this productive activity first became apparent, a series of illnesses appeared in areas of shrimp production. These illnesses were a result of irrational management of the environmental space, especially the intensive aspect of shrimp farming. Due to these illnesses, a certification process was established.

The certification was implemented on a world-wide level, and was seen as a possibility to improve the environmental management of productive activities. However, it was more a marketing instrument that guaranteed environment quality of products and was designed to open new marketing niches around the world.

Environmental Disaster and the "Shrimp Business Crisis"

The installation of shrimp pools provoked the loss of more than 70% of all mangrove trees on the Ecuadorian coast. This loss therefore devastated the economic activities of nearby communities, who carried out the extractive activities of mangrove products. A large part of the population was forced to relocate. Additionally, there was a huge reduction in the number of species that previously lived in the mangrove system, which also affected rudimentary fishing.

In the River Chone estuary, where the first certified pools existed, 99% of the original mangrove were destroyed, even though the Ecuadorian government established the prohibition of the mangrove deforestation in 1981 and reiterated this legislation on repeated occasions. The natural flows of water in the estuary were further modified through the construction of walls and dams for the shrimp pools. Shrimp larvae were fished indiscriminately, eliminating other species. According to official figures, more than 70% of shrimp businesses were at some point illegal.

In the shrimp industry, substances, such as formol, cloranfenicol, sello rojo, timse, quaternary ammonium (pesticides, insecticides and antibiotics) were actually used to counteract “white spot” and other diseases. These chemicals were used in zones like Cojimies and the estuary of the Chone River in the province of Manabi (the Soledad Estuary in the province of Guayas, Balao in Muisne in the province of Esmeraldas, etc.).

In the province of Esmeraldas, in Olmedo-Muisne, in the province of Manabi, in Cojimies, in the estuary of the Chone River, the voices of the women who gather shells are the same: “There´s not as many shells as there used to be” because “in the mangrove, hundreds of these species die daily and the cause is still unknown.” According to an interview with the directors of the Community Association of the Chone River, “We used to gather 50 to 60 pounds of shrimp in 2 or 3 hours, and now we can get only 2 pounds in 10 hours’ time.”

500 families in the counties of Tosagua, Sucre, San Vicente and Chone live off of the resources that the Chone River provides. There, they fish corvina, and sea bass and capture crabs and oysters. Products are cultivated in short cycles in the river zones. The political lieutenant of Chone affirms that 600 families that gather shells are now unemployed.

The access of the coastal communities to sources of protein has sharply decreased because of the reduction of rudimentary fishing. Fishermen claim that the diversity is much less and various species they used to fish have disappeared. Many people emigrated because of the lack of employment, because the large number of shrimp businesses that located in the lagoons impeded fishermen’s passage.

The production of shrimp is associated with other negative externalities, like the reduction of necessary environmental functions of mangroves. The regulation of ecosystemic variety, maintenance of biodiversity, water cycle regulations, and carbon absorption are important functions that were greatly impeded, not to mention the negative economic impacts of decreased fishing and shell collection. Many negative cultural and social impacts have resulted as well.

The shrimp industry experienced its golden years in the 1980’s and 90’s. According to the bulletin Lideres, “The attraction of the business inclined hundreds of businesses to invest in obtaining land next to the coast. They destroyed, in some cases, ancient mangroves to build the giant pools used for the cultivation of crustaceans.”

The Undersecretary of Fishing Resources, remarked that in while in 1984, 84,000 hectares of shrimp industries existed, in 1999, it had grown to 172,000 hectares. In 1997, shrimp was Ecuador’s third largest export, including petroleum. Annual income from shrimp production was approximately 900 million dollars in 1998.

In 1998, 115,000 tons were exported. Throughout the “white spot” crisis in the year 2000, Ecuador exported 35,000 tons of shrimp. The United States imported close to 43 million pounds (52.2%) converting itself in the Ecuador’s top export market. In second place, the European Union imported 29.3%, directed principally to Italy (9.1%) and Spain (7.7%), while the remaining countries of the European Union imported a total of 13%. The third place importer was Asia (15.8%), with a high percentage going to Taiwan (9%) and Japan (5.8%), as well as the rest of the countries of the Asian continent (1.1%). Remaining exports went to Chile (1.1%) and Canada (1%).

In September of 2000, the industry was declared in a state of emergency by presidential decree. Until February of 2002, thousands of farms were paralyzed or temporarily functioning; these farms comprised 175,000 hectares of land.

However, lately shrimp exports have been recuperating. In the first two months of 2004 they reached 25 million pounds. In February of this year, the quantity reached 15.3 million pounds; in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003 sales never passed 9 million pounds. In 2002, according to the National Chamber of Aquaculture, out of national production, 3% was exported to America (excluding the USA), 9% to Asia, 29% to Europe and 59% to the USA.

The shrimp business, their representatives agreed, entered into the crisis because of illnesses like the white spot virus, which appeared in 1998. In 2001, imports of nauplios and of larvae were not permitted from Central America.

In 1998, 300 larva laboratories existed; in 2002, 100 or so remained on a national level. Now, in El Oro, 15 laboratories exist, double the amount there were during the shrimp industry crisis. In 2002, 25 processors existed; in 1999 there were only 50. Between 1994 and 1998, revenues registered 875 million dollars. In 2001, a pound of shrimp cost $2.82, in 1994, $3.29, and in 1998, $3.46.

There are diverse strategies for the shrimp businesses to confront the challenges of the industry. One of them is to diversify production, industrialize fresh fish or frozen and tilapiaoo, but the principal strategy has been to merge with larger businesses. In the past, a strategy they employed was to establish or construct shrimp businesses on higher lands with more agricultural potential, which is prohibited by a Constitutional Resolution in a Constitutional Court. Another strategy has been to cultivate organic shrimp.

In 1998, the National Chamber of Aquaculture stated that the shrimp industry had 248,000 direct employees in the country that depended on the industry. In 2001, there were 126,000. The number of direct employees reduced near 50% in the sector. After the crisis, hundreds of released of employees entered the labor forces in Muisne, Guayaquil, etc.

Lights Certifications

Certifications have been granted in the country for several years, due to pressure and cooperation by different agencies to gain the Green Light approval that allows Ecuadorian products to enter markets with more favorable prices and quality standards.

The industry is seen by some environmental specialists as a space to promote multisectorial participation (non-governmental organizations, private sector and governmental sector), even though the participation of the involved communities in the process seems like a secondary factor.

Environmental organizations see potential benefits in the environmental certification in Ecuador, because it could protect the environment as well as increase the competitiveness of Ecuadorian products in the following ways: increase access to markets, reduce costs, increase social benefits and achieve a higher level of employment. However, the following analysis shows the many hidden costs behind the supposed benefits of certification and the shrimp industry.

Access to Markets, “aspire to attract green consumers that would pay higher prices for products that guarantee less environmental impacts in production processes.” For instance, the majority of German consumers buy products by Deutsche See, which has sold “ecological” shrimp since 2003 to shrimp farms certified by Naturland. Deutsche See is the largest fish provider in Germany, the consumers aren’t even aware that 40% of the products were grown in aquacultures. They believe that they are buying unaltered fish and believe that not only are their choices having a positive ecological aspect, but that they are encouraging respect toward the communities and laws of the country of Ecuador, which in truth is completely incorrect.

Reduced Costs by saving money by not buying agrochemicals and from benefits resulting from “less conflicting relationships with the workers, local communities and environmental activist groups, reduction of erosion and other environmental and economical benefits,” the cost advantages of producing in the south are also lower: there are less environmental regulations, cheaper labor and the costs of environmental destruction of the mangrove, are not internalized in terms of the huge ecological debt generated by this exporting activity.

Social Benefits, “The reduction of toxic chemicals, provisions of basic work equipment for the laborers, the construction of a basic sanitary infrastructure and the provision of recreational areas and social services has improved the well-being and the productivity of the workers. These benefits are enjoyed in the local communities.” The shrimp pools do not demonstrate evidence an improvement for the local communities that confront more and more difficulties as time passes.

More Employment, “The growth of exports has generated more work.” This type of comment shows that shrimp industry statistics do not reflect reality. The number of employees and local population has lowered drastically as a result of the sectarian crisis, and the level of employment of shrimp pools is very low. Employment possibilities are low, workers from the same zone are generally not hired and job conditions are not optimal. If we confront this statement with the number of lost jobs due to mangrove destruction and to the effects caused on traditional fishing, activities that were formerly performed, the total is a negative for the shrimp industry. It is necessary to clarify that one hectare of standing mangrove fed 10 entire families, yet 100 hectares of shrimp pools employ the equivalent of 1 family.

This vision of potential benefits of certification doesn’t consider that encouraging shrimp production for exportation and betting on this economic model overrides the national nutritional sovereignty because it has demonstrated its negative effects on the country, just as palm cultivators, banana cultivators, flower cultivators, etc. have.

It is important to support organic production on a national level, production that existed before the model of the Green Revolution was created with its “improved” logic, along with the technological package of substances (pesticides, herbicides, etc.) and the dependency that accompanies these. However, this should have its proper priorities, just as the organized producers of Intag did when they decided to reorient organic coffee production to consumption in the national market and have suspended exportations to Japan.

Actually, the principal products that are certified and destined for exportation are vegetables, bananas, shrimp, sugarcane, coffee, plantains, panela, quinoa, and cocoa. The principal markets are the United States, Europe and Asia.

It should be pointed out that in Ecuador that are around 24,000 existing certified hectares of alternative cultivations and around 21,000 hectares of forest plantations that are certified. That number includes Naturland, the German certifier that began the process of certifying the shrimp businesses in Ecuador in 1996. Part of this certification process required the fulfillment of Naturland regulations, of the national legislation and also a contemplation of the social benefits in the execution of business activities.

You Should Trust Us

Naturland norms about aquaculture, after 6 years in which they have certified various organic shrimp businesses in Ecuador, are available only in English. This limits information to those who participate in the businesses and even more in the communities, organizations and institutions who are in charge of implementing it.

The norms were created with support from the GTZ, who participated as shrimp businessmen interlocutors and were later certified. The norms are very general and every producer may interpret them as they wish. They are based on requirements for organic production, but there are no existing norms used for verification. The norms established by the national Ecuadorian legislation concerning the environment, for the communities and the organizations and institutions whose job it is to intervene in these matters, have been ignored.

To prove this, we confirm that the norms that are employed in this country were created in consultation with national organizations, non-governmental organizations, local communities or other entities; neither were the verification protocols. In the information workshop held by representatives of Naturland in the shrimp business Barquero-Vergel on March 25, 2004, the people who assisted were petitioned to offer elements about legislation that should be considered to incorporate verification protocols. This should have been performed prior to certification and should have taken into account the opinion the local communities, organizations and authorities.

There is no access to information, as public reports do not exist, nor do reports about the certification of the businesses. We, the citizens and ecological organizations interested in getting information about the process, have no access and so it is difficult to verify and contrast what is certified. We cannot base our studies on any other data except the testimonies of businessmen, representatives of Naturland. They have told us about the procedures that are employed, and have assured us in interviews that we must trust them (Naturland).

It’s necessary to bring to attention that the process of certification is founded on technical factors of production and barely considers social, environmental and legal factors.

We experienced many obstacles in being able to visit the certified shrimp businesses; in some cases we were denied access and in others the procedures were difficult due to the fact that we had to employ different strategies to become aware of what was happening.

For example, one of the norms that apparently is the most environmental friendly has to do with the recuperation of the mangroves. Naturland’s regulations establish that if a shrimp business was constructed in a mangrove zone and if the mangroves were deforested up to 50%, they can opt for certification. One of the requirements for receiving certification is to replant this 50%, even though Ecuadorian legislation established a higher percentage. Another important detail is that a consolidated area that integrates the mangrove ecosystem does not have to be reforested, but that reforesting dams and channels, the ones that were isolated from the ecosystem, is considered efficient.

The utilization of a great amount of water without control and its deviation from other local uses has affected the natural cycles of the ecosystems- aquifers, estuaries, local rivers- where the shrimp pools were installed. This intensive utilization of water (for example, the River Chone Estuary) is undervalued. The companies only are interested in reducing the consumption of energy or the loss of nutrients in the pools. “The more the water is circulated, the better the shrimp grow,” said the Poseidon Shrimp Administrator. No one can confirm that the water doesn’t contain chemical elements eliminated by other conventional shrimp businesses further up the river or utilized in the agriculture. The laboratories use a great deal of water for the production process as well.

Normally, in the industrial breeding of shrimp, an enormous volume of shrimp is produced in the pools. When they accumulate, bacteria grow that consumes available oxygen, which can suffocate the shrimp and limit their development. The waste products released by the shrimp and microbes, such as ammonium and nitrous, are toxic to the shrimp, fish and other animals. To avoid sickness, the water of the tanks is removed and replaced with fresh water. Organic shrimp farmers say that the shrimp feed off of the bacteria in the tank and furthermore that it protects them from sickness, improves the quality of the water and solves the problem of the waste products by consuming the nutrients off of them and transforming them into a useful substance for the shrimp. If that were true, then, how many times would you need to change the water in the organic shrimp tanks?

All of the shrimp businessmen claim that there is no need to examine the water before changing it because they are not using chemicals; the water that is thrown away is not contaminated. The elimination of nutrients and waste are not controlled because they assure that “They are thrown into the sea and are eaten by other fish because it is composed of shrimp, poliqueto and crustaceans." But shrimp are susceptible to diseases that can be transmitted to other species.

The certified businesses in the Chone River Estuary belongs to medium-size producers with around 200 hectares per producing business. Among the certified shrimp producers, we can name Expalsa, a huge business and the third largest in Ecuador that has various shrimp producing companies. They have a packaging company, a laboratory, a factory that balances nutrients and an exporting company that works with the output of more than 50,000 hectares of shrimp pools and is the seventh most important exporter in Ecuador. Expalsa is one of the three Ecuadorian shrimp companies that have been denounced by the Shrimp Gatherers’ Association of Lousiana (USA) for dumping.

Some certified businesses manage the production of organic and conventional shrimp, to name a few: GreenAqua and Expalsa. Despite Naturland’s regulation of organic agriculture with one single person responsible for administering all organic and conventional production, this norm is an exception for shrimp production.

What Are the Laws in Ecuador?

Naturland validates that they operate on the foundations of existing norms and legislation. Although in the meetings the representatives of Naturland agreed that they have not accepted certification of shrimp producers located in mangrove territory since 1994, the Ecuadorian norms that directly prohibit the cutting down of mangrove were applied in former years. More specifically, in 1978 the construction of shrimp pools in mangrove zones was prohibited. Later this norm was ratified in 1985, 1987 and on other later dates chosen as the base date for Naturland for certification. We are not aware of the criteria that were used to choose that date. They excluded the previously existing norms.

The certifiers do not use any procedure to establish the existence of mangroves or the dates they were cut down by the certified shrimp industries. The populations that live near the shrimp industries testify that these were constructed on mangrove. Such is the case of the Chone River Estuary, where three shrimp businesses that were uncertified are located in mangrove areas. There are no multi-temporal studies performed on the location sites of the shrimp businesses, they base all knowledge on the testimonies given by shrimp companies and exclude testimonies of the population. But, the testimonies and maps of the Military Geographic Institution and of the Resource Management Program of the Coast demonstrate that the shrimp companies were built on mangroves and salt works.

Verification norms in the attainment of environmental licenses are disregarded in the visited areas in certification processes, a requirement demanded by Ecuadorian legislation after the findings of environmental impact studies. There is no way to determine the legal status of the pools or how they relate to the mangrove destruction. Environmental Legislation is not respected in terms of the elaboration of reference terms and the elaboration of the Environmental Impact Studies. Articles 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17, Chapter 3, Book 6 of Environmental Quality, Unified Text of Environment Legislation.

Adequate consulting processes of the community and the affected population were not performed. Article 20, Chapter 3, Book 6 of Environmental Quality; Article 23, Chapter 4 of Evaluation Processes of Environmental Impacts, Unified Text of Environmental Legislation.

During the interview with the representative of Naturland, Dr. Stefan Bergleiter, he said that “We really don’t know of a process, or how a legal process or stipulations in Ecuadorian law to incorporate these communities would function... That would be interesting, it is a question that we have for you; how are the laws in Ecuador?”

Concerning labor aspects, Naturland representatives and the certified shrimp business owners assure us that they comply with the country’s labor laws. There are no existing verification mechanisms of this by Naturland and the shrimp pool workers say that they are not affiliated in the National Institute of Social Security.

Informants of the community testify that they have no knowledge of certification, that there are obstacles to obtaining access to the mangrove areas, and that they do not know who the shrimp businessmen are.

Yellow Shirts and Beehives

In general, the community has no knowledge of certification processes. A great majority of fishers and people in the neighboring communities of the shrimp companies do not know about certification processes and no one performed consulting processes with the communities.

The authorities of the zone or other institutions have not participated in the certification processes, according to Xavier Alvarado, designated representative of the Coastal Resource Management Program in CMRP in Bahia, Manabi. No one has consulted the appropriate organizations in charge, or the communities, about certification.

The fisherman and gatherers of neighboring communities of certified shrimp companies say that they are not allowed to pass the boundaries. According to the administrator of the Poseidon Shrimp Company, the shrimp company owner did not let people from the communities enter, although the administrator occasionally let the people pass through to avoid creating enemies.

The businesses claim to employ different strategies that guarantee that the communities can pass. One of the strategies is to give them bright colored shirts to be able enter and be easily identified, but the neighbors of the pools said that this is not true. Another strategy is to hang beehives on the mangrove trees that grow on the banks to frighten off the people that use the mangroves: fishermen and gatherers, among whom are also working children. They are afraid to get near the mangroves, making it impossible to take advantage of the resources that have been the basis of their diet and their income. The neighboring families of the communities mentioned that when animals roam into the pool areas, they are harassed and threatened that the animals will be killed if they enter shrimp property again.

Other cases warrant the belief that the shrimp companies do not allow the communities to take water from the channels for the use of the neighboring families. Channels that were constructed by the government where they used to fish and carry out activities have been closed by the shrimp businesses.

Locals do not benefit in any way and employment opportunities in the shrimp companies are few and occasional; a shrimp business the size of 120 hectares of production only employs seven people.

We established contact with the communities dedicated to rudimentary fishing and extractive activities of the mangrove in the Chone River estuary. During the shrimp industry boom, they started to fish larva and to work for the shrimp companies, activities that declined when the crisis began due to the white spot virus.

On the other hand, the environmental destruction of the Chone River estuary brought, as a consequence, the loss of around 95% of the mangroves and in effect reduced the number of species that they used to fish in the zone. The construction of walls, the modification of water courses inside the Chone River estuary and the permanent waste contamination dumping (organic and chemical elements) provoked a severe eutrification and worsened the degradation of the ecosystem.

The building of shrimp pools implied the procurement and destruction of areas that were collectively managed by the population situated in the estuary. The impediment to transit to the remaining mangrove areas still stands today. The shrimp companies that occupy the estuary, because of the construction of pools, now occupy the navigable channels that are essential for fishing activities and gathering of mussels.

The most serious efforts to reforest the mangroves are by organized fishers' groups.

Many unanswered questions regarding the shrimp business’ certifications are made by the National Coordinator of the Mangrove Defense C-CONDEM and by organizations like the Ecological Defense Foundation FUNDECOL, Office of Social Investigations OFSI and by the International Mangrove Net. These organizations state their disapproval of the shrimp industries’ certification because they legitimize the impunity of an “illegal industry, unorganized and contaminating, that misuses public funds for private benefits, that does not reinvest money in the development of the country and does not guarantee the nutritional protection of the communities; it even excludes them.” They demand a limited period of time for the certification of the shrimp industry’s activities because they do not offer guarantees that the ecological and social activities will be carried out in a responsible fashion.

Green Businesses in Ecuador

In January of 2004, in an internet search, we found the following list of shrimp company certificates:

Ute Wiedenlubbert, the representative of Naturland, says that there should have been a total of about 1,000 hectares of certified shrimp. To perform inspection and the briefs (that are confidential), they hire companies such as IMO, BSC and BIOLATINA.

The following list of certified businesses was delivered by the representative of Naturland in the country in May of 2004.

*Visited Businesses.

In the Province of Manabi

The Shrimp Company Barquero/Vergel (Bahia de Caraquez-Manabi)

The Barquero Shrimp Company has 177.64 hectares and Vergel covers 57 hectares. It has a pump station that takes water undeviatingly from the lagoons and it is pumped only once a day. The company obtained certification in 2003. It has its own laboratory where it produces 36,000 larvae every month. The bacteria are the basis of food for shrimp. The bacteria also protect the shrimp against viruses and sicknesses and they feed off of the sediments. Due to the fact that they do not use chemicals, there is no need to treat the water before it is removed from the pools. They produce shrimp that weighs 20 grams.

Shrimp Company Greenaqua (close to Bahia de Caraquez- Manabi)

In 2000, “they were able to produce the first organic shrimp in the world.” In 2002, they needed 3 million dollars to finance the 7 years of the fertilizer investigations, preservatives, balances and natural and biodegradable disinfectants. Actually, according to the representative of Naturland in Ecuador, they do not possess the funds to pay inspections, and therefore, they are not certified.

Costapac Laboratory (near Manta-Manabi)

They used to be a commercial laboratory and sold larvae. Now, after the white spot virus hit, they sell nauplios and larvae. They have 3 organic clients that represent 20% of the marketing demand. Costapac uses a large volume of water in its production process. There are 12 tanks for that hold 30 tons of water. The water is changed four times a day. The Costapac Laboratory in Manta quotes, “If Naturland tells us to stop removing the eyes of the female shrimp, we will surely leave the program.”

Shrimp Business Poseidon (near Bahia de Caraquez-Manabi)

The Shrimp business Poseidon, according to information given by the owner, is no longer certified because of the high cost that maintaining the process requires and because of the scarcity of markets. It was certified until last year and has a Naturland patent, but did not pay the $2,000 for control, so cannot use the Naturland label. They hold an extension of 132 hectares and out of those 120 are producing. They buy larvae from the Costapac Laboratory. The production was lowered on an enormous scale when they began to produce organically; all of the elements must be organic and they are expensive. They buy bacteria from Costa Rica to feed and protect their shrimp from sicknesses. By working with bacteria, they were able to raise production to 900 pounds per hectare. 7 people work in the company. The administrator says that the prices for organic shrimp are more costly, almost 3 times as much as their price.

In the Provinces of Guayas and El Oro

Shrimp Business Expalsa (in Guayas and El Oro)

DOMINIOLIT (100 hectares), CAHUSA (200 hectares), PLUMONT (200 hectares) and Biosuisse are certified by Naturland since 2002. LIMASSOL (209 hectares) and PANACORP (110 hectares) are not certified.

Packaging Company Expalsa (in Guayaquil)

This company has been working since 1983, packing organic shrimp as well as inorganic produced by Expalsa. It also has a provision of more than 50,000 hectares of pools of other shrimp businesses. 300 people work in its installations. Its line of organic shrimp, “Organic Wonder,” is sold frozen without the head, in rings or in buffet style and in sizes of 36/40 up to 90/110. Organic Wonder is sold in Germany, Switzerland, France and the United Kingdom. Their plan in 2003 was to grow a crop of more than 3000 metric tons. Their goal for 2004 was established at 400 metric tons.

Expalsa Laboratory- Macrobio (in Ayanque)

They obtained certification in 2003. The company produces between 45 to 50 million larvae monthly, 550 million certified per month. 50 people work in their installations and it took 4 years’ time to get certification. In Expalsa’s Macrobio Laboratory, the eye is cut from 80% of the shrimp because Naturland’s established norms say that you shouldn’t remove the eyes in 10% of the shrimp.

Biocentinela Shrimp Business **

It is the third company in Ecuador and the fifth in the world to be certified. It possesses 300 hectares of cultivates and exports 700,000 pounds annually. It took 3 years for the company to get certification and has been certified since 2002. According to its owner, this production is not more expensive because it doesn’t have to buy chemicals. The cost radiates from low production during the transition, the $3,000 for inscription paid to Naturland and the $5,000 of each auditory cost, as well as the 1% fee of sales that must be paid to the entity each year.

** Information obtained from the national press.

Conclusions

1.- The certifications of shrimp pools do not offer any social or environmental benefits. Companies have not invested in the reforestation of the mangrove area to the previous ecosystem and there are still problems with the neighboring communities that do not have free access to the mangrove areas that still exist.

2.- The norms and procedures that are employed in the certification processes are not transparent, other organizations and groups have not been consulted and they do not carry out the laws of national legislation.

3.- In practice, large businesses benefit from the green discussions, but that does not correspond to what is occurring on the ground. They businesses don’t even fulfill the norms that they are obligated to follow in order to get certified. They are more worried about cleaning up their image.

4.- Certification responds exclusively to consumers in the north to assure a “cleaner” food more than improving conditions of the mangrove ecosystem or the conditions of the local communities.

5.- There is an additional problem Because the Ecuadorian government supports a model of development that privileges exports of products to satisfy the consumption demands in more industrialized countries, instead of improving the production for a better national market, even if the costs are the destruction of ecosystems, the relocation of populations, and putting the local populations’ survival at risk.

Biography

1.- Semanario Lideres (Weekly Leaders), 02/25/2002. Brief: Shrimp, 3 years in a critical state and the sector doesn’t lift its head up.
2.- Semanario Lideres (Weekly Leaders), 05/31/04.
3.- El Comercio (The Commerce), 01-14-04. A Sanctuary for marine birds is in Manabi. C8
4.- El Comercio (The Commerce), 03-13-04. The country in search of organic accreditation. B3
5.- El Comercio (The Commerce), 04-03-04. Shell gatherers don’t do it like they use to. D8.
6.- El Comercio (The Commerce), 04-12-04. Prosecutors fro the USA visited shrimp companies. B4.
7.- El Expreso (The Express), 04-22-04. Shrimp exports reached a record.
8.- Accion Ecologica (Ecological Action). Files: Interviews. 2003/2004.
9.- Informe Mesa Rodonda (The Round Table Brief). C-CONDEM - REDMANGROVE INTERNATIONAL.
10.- Resolution on Certificates. REDMANGROVE. 17-05-03.
11.- Anton Grokinsky, “Deutche See raises the bio flag.” Bio Press No. 38/04 Translated by Martina Moller.
12.- La Certificacion Ambiental (Environmental Certifications): A Challenge for Ecuadorian products to be exported; Ecuadorian Center of Environmental Rights (CEDA), Quito-Ecuador, August 2001.