Six years of collaboration between the Japan Consumers' Co-op Union and WWF: Behind the Scenes of Indonesia's Certification (Part 2)

Satoshi Matsumoto, Sustainability Strategy Office, Brand Strategy Headquarters, Japanese Consumers' Co-operative Union
Makoto Yoshida, Marine and Fisheries Group, World Wide Fund for Nature Japan (WWF Japan)

The 6th Japan Sustainable Seafood Awards (JSSA) - The Indonesia Shrimp Aquaculture Improvement Project (AIP) Phase 3 was selected for a special award in the collaboration category.Part 1We looked back on the eight years since the first phase began in 2018, including building relationships with local producers, improving the survival rate of shrimp from the time they are put into the farm ponds until they are harvested, and obtaining ASC certification.

The company says that some difficult decisions were made to obtain certification. What direction will it aim for in the future? In Part 2, we will hear about its mangrove planting activities and efforts to improve shrimp farming in Aceh.

Mangrove restoration efforts are tricky

--The ASC shrimp farming standard also requires mangrove reforestation. How are you working on this?

Mr. Matsumoto:ASC standards require that if any mangrove forest is lost when the target aquaculture site is opened, at least 50% of that forest must be restored. For this reason, mangrove restoration activities are being undertaken in the project areas. Restoration has been carried out on 25.4 hectares in South Sulawesi and Central Java, and of this, 16.2 hectares have been confirmed to have taken root. (As of March 2025)

Mangrove restoration activities taking place in South Sulawesi

Yoshida-sanMangrove restoration is a complex and difficult undertaking. In South Sulawesi, it was confirmed that an area of ​​nearly 16 hectares had been restored by the beginning of 2022, but subsequent monitoring revealed that more than half of the mangroves had not taken root and were ruined. This was mainly due to the fact that seedlings planted there were damaged by waves and other factors, or that the land had been used for new aquaculture ponds.

Learning from this experience, we created guidelines to determine whether a location is suitable for mangrove restoration from both natural and social environmental perspectives. Since 2023, we have been conducting restoration and regular monitoring based on these guidelines, and the survival rate has improved. Mangroves are important for protecting aquaculture sites from floods and high waves, and for protecting the livelihoods of the surrounding areas. This is why we want to continue this restoration activity in the future.

Improving wild broodstock shrimp fisheries for responsible shrimp aquaculture

--You are also working to improve wild shrimp fisheries in Aceh, Indonesia. Could you please give us an overview of this?

Yoshida-san: Improvements to wild parent shrimp fisheries in Aceh Province began in the second phase. Indonesia's black tiger prawn farming system involves catching wild black tiger prawns, spawning them in hatchery, and then raising the resulting baby shrimp in farm ponds. In other words, we felt that unless the sustainability of the parent shrimp fishery was ensured, the sustainability of the farming process could not be ensured either, so we proposed this to the Japan Consumers' Co-operative Union and decided to add it to our collaborative efforts.

First, since Aceh Province did not have a fisheries management system, we approached stakeholders, including the local government, to establish one. Through this approach, a working group was formed to formulate a fisheries management plan, and after repeated stakeholder discussions, the plan was completed in 2023 and officially approved as an Aceh Provincial Governor's Decree.

At the same time, we also worked with fishermen on the ground to make improvements. In Aceh Province, dealing with informal fishermen and improving bycatch management were particularly challenging. We therefore provided support for formal fishermen to obtain the necessary licenses and provided training on how to properly manage bycatch. As a result, the number of fishermen who obtained licenses and became formal fishermen has gradually increased. We are also working to collect catch data in order to understand the resource situation and use it for management.

We are also working to link these efforts to improve wild shrimp fisheries in Aceh with improvements to aquaculture in Central Java and South Sulawesi. The distribution process is complex and spans regions, with shrimp sent from fishermen via middlemen to hatcheries, and the juvenile shrimp produced there are then sold to aquaculture producers.

So, with the cooperation of a middleman in Aceh, we built a relationship with a hatchery, and it became possible to use baby shrimp derived from parent shrimp in Aceh in some farm ponds in South Sulawesi and Central Java. We have seen progress in each individual initiative, and we are seeing them linked together, which gives us a great sense of accomplishment.

--You are also continuing your efforts to improve aquaculture in South Sulawesi.

Matsumoto：Yes. However, we are currently considering whether to aim for ASC certification. Based on our experience of continuing this initiative over three periods, we feel that it is necessary to reassess whether continuing with the goal of clearing the strict certification standards will actually lead to improved livelihoods for local producers and improved conditions for the environment.

Collaborating with NGOs gave me new insights and perspectives

--From what you've said so far, I understand how difficult it has been to continue each of the initiatives you've undertaken up to now. Finally, could you tell us about your outlook for the future?

Matsumoto: As a person in charge, I would like to continue this initiative next fiscal year. It is not easy to further expand the number of ASC certified prawns, but the two are strongly connected in that black tiger prawn farming is an important means of livelihood for local producers and a strategic main product for JCU. JCU must continue to pursue its responsibilities to the environment and society while maintaining its procurement of black tiger prawns.

Black Tiger connects Indonesia and Japan. Local collaboration with the Japan Consumers' Co-op Union and WWF will continue.

Over the past eight years and three terms, we have learned about the issues occurring locally and considered what we can do as a consumer cooperative. By collaborating not only with our business partners but also with WWF, we have been able to gain new insights and perspectives. We believe it is important to look at the entire supply chain, not just one part, and to take steps to connect producers to consumers. We hope to make use of the lessons we have learned so far and propose initiatives for the fourth term.

Yoshida-sanFirst of all, given that we have been working in line with ASC standards and have actually obtained certification, we would like to consider how we can expand the scale of our improvements in the future.

Furthermore, this project was only able to achieve the result of obtaining ASC certification thanks to close cooperation with producers, under a collaborative framework involving local shrimp processing companies, the Japan Consumers' Co-op Union, and WWF. However, we believe that in the future, it will be necessary for those involved in the supply chain to be able to take the initiative in making improvements. In the next stage, we are currently examining from various angles what kind of support is possible to help them achieve this independence.

We also hope that collaborations like this one will spread to other Japanese companies. Improving small-scale aquaculture and fisheries can be complex and difficult, but WWF has offices all over the world and staff who are familiar with the field, so we hope to be able to utilize this network and knowledge to provide support from various angles.

Interviewed and written by: Shino Kawasaki

After planning and editing corporate advertisements at a design office, she became a freelance writer, copywriter, and food coordinator in 2016. She writes for a variety of media, including women's magazines published by major publishers, food and beverage magazines and websites, and medical information websites.