When you think CSI, don't think sunglasses and forensic scientists in Miami or LA. You should now be thinking about a new global standard in seafood certification.
Next week, thousands of seafood sellers and buyers will be gathered in Spain for the Barcelona Seafood Expo 2025. They will also have an opportunity to hear more about a newly developed standard for seafood certification.
What is it, why do we need it and what does it have to do with us in New Zealand?
CSI is Certified Seafood International. Its founders have one main purpose. Mike Kraft is CSI's Executive Director. He says that purpose is to create credible choice in wild capture seafood certification.
"Having our seafood backed up by reliable certification is now an access requirement in many markets. We want to provide a choice in the programmes fishing companies can use. That is already the case in aquaculture and we'd like it to be the case in wild capture seafood."
To be credible, the CSI team are using a GSSI benchmark. With apologies for all the acronyms, GSSI is Global Seafood Sustainable Initiative and its criteria are based on the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation's Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and Ecolabelling Guidelines. It's a mouthful, but it means that CSI is based on tested and independent international standards.
Mike says "FAO are not involved directly, but their carefully developed and proven Codes and Guidelines are the bedrock on which our program is built. Additionally, the benchmarking organization GSSI has worked in close partnership with UN FAO to share these instruments in the seafood sector."
So what does this mean for Aotearoa?
Two New Zealanders have been involved in the development of the standard and the work to understand how it might apply here.
Aaron Irving is the GM of Deepwater at Seafood New Zealand. He also acts as a member of the steering committee for CSI and sits on the Standard Technical Committee.
Aaron says, "for some 25 years, we have verified the performance of New Zealand's deepwater fisheries against robust, science-based seafood sustainability standards like the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Fisheries Certification Standard; and for 25 years we have ranked in the top 5% of the world's best managed fisheries.
"We are excited about the release of the novel CSI Fisheries Standard, which is a high-quality standard. We are already developing plans to assess some of our fisheries against the new standard and seek dual MSC / CSI certification."
Any seafood company hearing that may also want to know that CSI says a key focus is affordability. Their marketing material says that credible certification should not impose steep cost burdens on the sector.
What that means in practice for kiwi companies will have to be worked through, which is where Aaron and well-known New Zealand fishing expert Tom Birdsall come in. Tom is a member of the Global Governance Board for CSI.
He says "this new standard provides the global seafood market with another robust high quality sustainability standard. It provides seafood producers with an alternative, and means the global market has more choice."
Another thing that might be on the mind of our fishing businesses is what CSI will do when the pressure comes on from any negative news, which does happen. Mike says that telling the stories of our fishers and their seafood will be a focus. "I would like to think that if we find ourselves in circumstances where fishers in our programme are being criticised by outside stakeholders, that we would take a firm stand and stick up for their certified practices."
Mike says the work starts now, to get the word out about what CSI means and what it can do.
"Our focus will be at the customer level, more than at the individual consumer. We can say 'this is credible' because it meets a GSSI benchmark based on United Nations FAO labelling guidelines and principles."
So finally, what does Mike think about the first thing that many people will associate with CSI - the globally distributed show about forensic scientists solving crimes and mysteries.
"That's ok. We did discuss that when we were choosing the name. But the attraction of the name Certified Seafood International is that it simply and clearly says exactly what we do. When people see it in context, it makes complete sense."
So don't think cool cops in sunglasses. Think of some fairly serious, thoughtful but positive fishing experts, who want you to know that choice is good.
