By: Usmawati Anggita Sakti (Seafood Savers Communication Assistant)

Together with several other companies, the Finna trademark under PT Sekar Laut started cooperation with Seafood Savers on April 3, 2017. Finna is a food manufacturer that has long been marketing food products in Indonesia. Its featured products include shrimp crackers, instant seasonings, cashew nuts, melinjo, rice and other grains, sauces, sardines, nut rolls, and sambal. The Finna trademark name is now one of the fastest growing marine processed product industries in Indonesia.

To maintain the quality of its products, PT Sekar Laut sources its seafood from the best fishermen. The company buys shrimp from traditional fishermen of Kota Baru, South Kalimantan who operate in the Java Sea with trammel net as the main raw material for shrimp crackers. Headquartered in Surabaya, the company produces its quality products for local and international markets, such as the UK, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and the Netherlands. With one of its missions being "To help cultivate Indonesia's abundant natural resources in order to provide nutritious and quality healthy food", PT Sekar Laut Tbk joined the Seafood Savers membership. This shrimp crackers producer registered shrimp as its commodity towards the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) ecolabel certification.

After undergoing stages in the Seafood Savers membership mechanism, PT Sekar Laut Tbk entered the stage of signing a Memorandum of Understanding and Member Cooperation Agreement. The signing was carried out simultaneously on March 3 at WWF-Indonesia Headquarters, which was prepared by the Seafood Savers Secretariat. The Memorandum of Understanding was signed by Welly Gunawan as Marketing Director of PT Sekar Laut Tbk and Benja Victor Mambai as Acting CEO of WWF-Indonesia, while the Cooperation Agreement was signed by Welly Gunaawan and Wawan Ridwan as Director of Coral Triangle Program. The signing was also attended by three other companies who also signed the cooperation agreement.

The signing signifies that the commitment of cooperation between WWF-Indonesia and PT Sekar Laut in improving shrimp fisheries activities for the production of Finna shrimp crackers has begun. In accordance with the Seafood Savers mechanism, in the near future PT Sekar Laut Tbk will undergo a series of Fisheries Improvement Program or fisheries improvement program. The program will be conducted in shrimp fishing locations, namely in the Java Sea Waters with traditional fishing using a three-layer net (trammel net). The entire series of programs will refer to the principles of MSC certification, Fisheries Standard 2.0.

Joining the Seafood Savers membership signifies that PT Sekar Laut is contributing to the stewardship of Indonesia's natural resources by implementing sustainable and responsible shrimp fishing practices in Indonesia for a sustainable ocean.