18/06/14: GSSI - Announcing 60 day consultation period on draft GSSI Global Benchmark Tool

Over the past year, the Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative (GSSI) has been working to develop a first draft of its Global Benchmark Tool for seafood certification schemes to ensure confidence in the supply and promotion of sustainable seafood to consumers worldwide as well as promote improvement in the schemes. 

Public Consultation Period 

GSSI will conduct an extensive consultation and pilot testing process in order to ensure the relevance, 

applicability and usability of its Global Benchmark Tool. As a start of this process, on June 16 2014, the initial draft of the GSSI Global Benchmark Tool has been released for a 60 day public consultation period. As part of the consultation period GSSI will host a series of webinars and workshops, please visit www.ourGSSI.org for an overview of the scheduled events and contact the GSSI Secretariat for more information on registration. 

In support of the draft GSSI Global Benchmark Tool an excel file is available to submit your comments. If you have not received the excel file, please contact the GSSI Secretariat and they will make sure you will be provided with a complete set of documents and files. 

Submit Comments 

To participate in the public consultation period: 

• Submit your comments by filling out the excel file. All comments must be submitted in English before August 16 2014 to comments@ourGSSI.org

• Visit the GSSI website (www.ourgssi.org) for more details on the scheduled webinars and workshops, and contact the GSSI Secretariat for information on the registration process 

Please note that this initial draft of the Benchmark Tool is a work in progress. In particular there are still areas where perspectives differ and the expert working groups are still seeking consensus. It is expected that the public input process will help to resolve some of these issues. 

Next Steps 

The public consultation period will be followed by a pilot testing program to test the Tool’s usability and help GSSI address any major issues from the consultation period. 

When the consultation period has ended, the Expert Working Groups and the Secretariat will review the 

comments and prepare a summary of the major issues that require specific attention during the pilot testing 

period. A list of all of the comments and this summary will be posted on the GSSI website at that time. 

More Information 

GSSI is looking forward to receive your comments, and please do not hesitate to contact the GSSI Secretariat with any further enquiries you might have. 

For more information about the process for developing the Tool, please visit www.ourgssi.org. 

  The Aquaculturists

This blog is maintained by The Aquaculturists staff and is supported by the magazine International Aquafeed which is published by Perendale Publishers Ltd.