In 3 days, from 28th to 30th of May 2014, Accreditation Services International (ASI) is performing witness assessment to the competence of VinaCert auditors in certifying products and services activities to ISO 17065 standard requirements. This is the final assessment stage of ASI to officially accredit VinaCert meeting the requirements for a certification body that provides certification services for responsible aquaculture standards ASC, and chain of custody and seafood traceability standard MSC-CoC in Vietnam; and VinaCert will be the first Vietnamese certification body accredited adequate competence in certification audit to these standards.
Accreditation Services International (ASI) is designated by Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) and Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) to accredit for both ASC and MSC-CoC standards. ASI assessor _ Mr. Boris Sulzberger will witness assess the audit skills of VinaCert auditors in the certification audit process of Pangasius farm of Phuoc Anh Co., Ltd conforming with responsible aquaculture standard ASC.
Today, auditors of VinaCert are auditing Pangasius aquaculture facility conditions of Phuoc Anh Company and aquaculture process records according to ASC standard. During the assessment process, reporters of VinaCert interviewed Mr. Boris Sulzberger for related contents:
Reporter: What is your opinion about the necessity to apply ASC to companies operating in the fisheris sector?
Mr. Boris Sulzberger: What is important when applying ASC, MSC CoC is to maintain sustainable aquaculture and fishing. Some farms have been able to maintain sustainability arealdy but they do not know how to show that to the public, some others do not yet have the technial capacity to develop sustainable aquaculture and fishing. That’s where ASC and MSC CoC come into play. They help companies operating in the fisheries sector show to the public that they commit to develop and maintain sustainability in aquaculture and fishing. There are various certification schemes/programs for the fisheries sector and of those programs; ASC and MSC CoC are among leading ones. What make ASC and MSC CoC different from other programs is that they bring the message to the consumer rather than to business entities.
Reporter: What is your view of the infrastructure of the farms which you have been auditing in general and Phuoc Anh’s farm in particular in regard to their capacity to meet requirements of the standard?
Mr. Boris Sulzberger: I have not been to all the farms, but from what I have been to I can say that the biggest farms are better equipped with tools and more generous finance resources to meet the requirements of the standard while other smaller farms encounter more difficulties. For example, the requirement to prove that the land used for aquaculture production had been allocated for agriculture or aquaculture purpose at least 10 years before started using to grow pangasius. Luckily, there are technical groups working hard to develop scheme(s) for smaller farms. Hopefully, in the near future we will be able to encourage smaller farms to join the sustainable aquaculture group. The Vietnam economy is blooming creating more opportunities for the aquaculture sector to develop both on environmental side and social side. Regarding the Phuoc Anh farm VinaCert is auditing, the audit is not yet finished but I view that we are on the right track. With a few improvements and changes the farm can get certified in a short term. That’s my general impression so far, however it is VinaCert’s audit report which makes the final decision on this certification.
Reporter: After a witness assessment, how long does it usually take a CB to be fully accredited?
Mr. Boris Sulzberger: The answer is that it depends. There are many contributing factors to the final accreditation decision such as accreditation scope, when the farms can close the NCs or show the corrective action plan…. Usually it takes one month to make the draft report, then the period for interested parties/individuals to make any comments. After that we have the final report. Assuming that the farm has closed all the NCs, ASI will make its report to present to an external Accreditation Recommendation Committee whose recommendation on the accreditation is of grave importance and it usually takes the committee 2-3 weeks to make the recommendation. I can say that after the witness assessment, the shortest time to be fully accredited is about 2 months.
Reporter: Do you have any comments on the fisheries market in Vietnam?
Mr. Boris Sulzberger: I think that fisheries make a big share of the Vietnam total income and Vietnam has started to initiate steps to help the farms stay in the market in order to supply its products to other countries, for example the US, Japan and some European countries. Also, Vietnam economy is growing fast. This means people are having more money to pay for better seafood. Thus, sustainable aquaculture and fishing are essential to serve the local and international markets well.
Thank you for this interview!
Mr. Boris Sulzberger is following and recording audit activities of VinaCert auditors
Harvesting Pangasius in Phuoc Anh aquaculture farms on 28 May 2014
Pangasius in the pound
ASC Auditors of VinaCert assess Pangasius
Hoai Anh IRC