International Aquafeed's Alice Neal spoke to Chris Ninnes, chief executive of the Aquaculture Stewardship Council about the organisation's involvement with the Global Salmon Initiative.
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Why did you choose to get involved with the GSI?
Salmon is farmed worldwide with nearly two thirds of the salmon that we eat coming from farms. Industry, government, NGOs etc need to work together if we are to reduce the impacts the sector has. It’s through cooperation that we can make a difference and have a positive impact.
GSI’s commitment to significantly improving the sustainability of salmon farming mirrors ASC’s aim to transform aquaculture towards environmental sustainability and social responsibility. That GSI chose the ASC as its benchmarking tool to chart progress and ultimately as their certification target is an exciting development. A commitment at this scale presents an unprecedented opportunity to realise a meaningful reduction in the environmental and social impact of the sector. It is a huge statement of leadership intent to tackle these issues.
With around 70 percent of the global salmon farming industry pledged to meet the ASC Salmon Standard and achieve ASC certification by 2020, this amounts to a big commitment that will make a big difference.
Working with GSI is a step closer towards ASC achieving its vision of aquaculture playing a major role in supplying food and social benefits for mankind whilst minimising negative impacts on the environment.
To what extent is the GSI taking the lead on sustainability issues?
GSI has recognised that the full potential of the salmon farming industry can only be met if there are significant improvements in its sustainability. As a result they’ve taken the initiative to be proactive and do something about it. And I’m pleased that they recognise ASC certification as an important part of that journey.
GSI’s decision to work collaboratively with each other, with the FAO and with the ASC, WWF and other partners has set out an approach that has every chance to deliver on our shared objectives. There is much hard work to conclude and I’m sure difficult decisions to make but through collaboration they are achievable.
We will all realise the benefits of this collective approach and reach the point where salmon farming is more environmentally sustainable and socially responsible much sooner than if each farm took the decision to engage on this journey independently.
What’sthe advantage of an industry-led initiative?
I consider it extremely positive that a major proportion of the salmon farming industry is voluntarily seeking to become environmentally responsible and to do this in a transparent way so that all can see the reduction of industry impact.
Transparency is one of the cornerstones of ASC. The standards require an unprecedented amount of public disclosure of farm-level data from certified farms that are currently not publicly available in most cases. GSI members are aware of these requirements. However, as an industry-led initiative and by working together are well placed to meet them as they achieve certification.
Can salmon farming ever be truly sustainable?
Of course! At present ASC uses the phrase ‘responsible’ and a strap line of ‘moving towards sustainability’. This is deliberate. There are two challenges that will be addressed as an increasing proportion of the sector become certified and these relate to the sustainability of the major ingredients used in feed and the ability of the environment to support farming only at certain densities of production. For farms to meet the ASC standard they must adopt best practice in feed use and in area based management practices.
Farmers of ASC certified salmon have to work actively on reducing the use of fish in their farmed salmon feed. A farm may not exceed a fixed amount of feed per kg of salmon produced. The fishmeal / fish oil content of the feed must be reduced as much as possible and come from sustainable sources that are traceable. In addition, fisheries that supply fish for salmon feed will have to be MSC certified by June 2017.
ASC is now working on a globally applicable feed standard to address the issue of responsible feed use in aquaculture. The ASC Feed Standard is expected to be completed by the end of 2015. The standard will set out requirements and introduce consistency for the aquaculture feed industry to operate on a more environmentally sound and socially responsible basis.
This will make a big difference towards salmon farming becoming truly sustainable.
Can you give an update on the certified salmon standard. When can we expect to see it come into effect?
Two farms have been assessed in Norway and one more farm is lined up to be audited in September 2013. We expect to see ASC certified salmon in the market in the months to come. Whilst the certification process is on going, it is hard to estimate exact timelines.
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| Chris Ninnes, chief executive, Aquaculture Stewardship Council |
