Since July 2024, under the leadership of the American Shrimp Processors Association (ASPA), the US Gulf shrimp fishery has been proudly certified against the Certified Seafood International (CSI) Responsible Fisheries Management (RFM) standard. This third-party certification program assesses environmentally responsibly fishery management and includes a robust chain of custody requirement with the ability to identify harvest origin on the ecolabel.
While the entire Gulf shrimp fishery is RFM certified, the American Shrimp Processors Association serves as the Client Group and only ASPA Member Shrimp Processors may use the CSI ecolabel or certification claim on packaging or with consumers (including on websites or in other communications). Any entity harvesting or processing US Gulf shrimp is eligible to join ASPA as an associate member for the purposes of utilizing the certification and contributing financially to the ongoing maintenance of the certification, according to the guidelines below.
CSI Certificate Use for 2026
ASPA Member Shrimp Processors are authorized to use the Certified Seafood Initiative sustainability certification (herein the “Fisheries Certification” and/or the “RFM Certification”), subject to payment of a “Fisheries Certification Fee” (the “Fee”). The Fee is calculated according to sliding scale and is commensurate with company size. Fees will be paid annually, and funds will be escrowed by ASPA to pay for annual maintenance costs of such Fisheries Certification (whether through RFM, CSI or other such entity). Other entities that wish to join ASPA for the sustainability certification purposes are invited to join as ASPA Associate Members and will also be required to pay the appropriate “Fisheries Certification Fee”. The annual fees, for utilization of such Fisheries Certification, have been set by ASPA’s Board in amounts anticipated to simply cover the costs of the studies and services to ensure such sustainability certification remains available for all participating interested parties. In some cases (e.g. for companies comparable to ASPA Member Shrimp Processors) new associate members may be asked to provide a one-time contribution to retroactively defray the substantial costs originally incurred by ASPA to obtain this certification.
Application Process
In order to request inclusion within the approved “Client Group”, defined as parties authorized to utilize the RFM Certification, an applicant, that is NOT currently an ASPA member, must provide a written request to ASPA, forwarded to the attention of Trey Pearson, President of the ASPA Board, and copied to Megan Westmeyer, ASPA Sustainability Advisor. Upon receipt of such request, ASPA will respond within ten (10) business days.
If you have any questions, please contact either the following Board members: Trey Pearson, 409-719-7090; Dominick Ficarino, 251-454-7816, or you may contact ASPA’s counsel, James Wimberley, at 409-853-4095. Inquiries may also be made to Megan Westmeyer, Director of Supply Chain Roundtables of the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership who serves as ASPA Sustainability Advisor, although Ms. Westmeyer does not have authority to act on behalf of ASPA as to approvals of pending request for Client Group inclusion.