Green collaboration nets fish farm certification milestone
Credit to Author: Randy Shore| Date: Sun, 26 Jan 2020 22:43:32 +0000
Every active Atlantic salmon farm in B.C. is either certified by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council or in the assessment process, putting the industry on the verge of meeting its pledge to certify every farm in the province.
The milestone is the result of a unique made-in-B.C. collaboration between the aquaculture industry, First Nations, and environmental organizations to create a standard that is being adopted worldwide.
ASC certification requires that each farm meet 150 criteria from sustainable feed composition and minimizing use of antibiotics and pesticides to preventing escapes and protecting the marine environment.
“We are heavily regulated, as we should be operating in a common property resource (the ocean), and these non-government regulations help us navigate that,” said John Paul Fraser, executive director of the B.C. Salmon Farmers Association.
Mowi Canada West is leading the way with 25 farms certified and their remaining four due to be assessed this spring. About 60 per cent of B.C.’s 70-odd active net-pen Atlantic salmon farms are certified, according to the Salmon Farmers Association.
The sustainable seafood advisory group Seafood Watch ranks B.C. farm-grown Atlantic salmon as a “good alternative” noting the local industry’s transparency, declining use of antibiotics, and pesticide use that is “low compared to other salmon farming regions.”
Farm operators have moved away from chemical treatments such as Slice for sea lice management, instead using hydrogen peroxide, fresh water treatments and most recently hydrolicers, ships equipped to dislodge sea lice from farmed salmon with water jets, said Fraser. Dislodged lice are collected and destroyed by the hydrolicer.
The push to achieve ASC certification came with the creation of the Global Salmon Initiative, a collaboration of global fish-farming firms, the World Wildlife Fund for Nature and the Food and Agricultural Association of the United Nations, said Diane Morrison, managing director of Mowi Canada West.
“We know that we have to collaborate and get along together to drive sustainability for our industry,” she said.
In the past six years, the use of medicinal treatments for sea lice by Global Salmon Initiative members is down 50 per cent, while non-medicinal treatments are up 120 per cent, according to a World Wildlife Fund report.
However, a competing sustainable seafood watchdog, SeaChoice, says some B.C. farms should not be considered “responsible aquaculture.” In particular, a 2018 report found that some salmon were certified for market with sea lice loads that exceeded ASC standards.
“We have actively engaged in the ASC process for 15 years,” SeaChoice said in a statement. “It is clear to us that in B.C., the ASC’s recent amendments prevent the ASC standard from functioning in the way it was originally written and intended to work.”
B.C. farms have been granted variances that allow them to adhere to sea lice standards set by Fisheries and Oceans Canada rather than thresholds typically applied by the ASC, according to SeaChoice.
“A variance can be sought by the certifying body if there is a real-life situation that differs from the Standard,” said Morrison. “If the ASC accepts that the local approach to that situation conforms to the original intent of the Standard, and is stringent enough, they will accept the use of that alternative approach in that region.”
The ASC standard was developed by the WWF and about 2,000 representatives of industry, government and environmental non-governmental organizations after a dispute between environmental groups and fish farmers in British Columbia led to a unique collaboration back in 2004.
The Aquaculture Dialogues identified key elements of environmental and social sustainability along with performance objectives that led to the certification standards applied today.
Member companies of the Global Salmon Initiative — including B.C.’s Mowi, Grieg and Cermaq operations — committed in 2013 to implementing the ASC standard at every farm by 2020.
“This is a B.C.-born aquaculture standard that we are adhering to now, so that’s a huge positive,” said Fraser.
The industry preparing a for a new standard of sustainability after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged to transition ocean-based salmon production away from open net-pen farms.
“There are trials going on in Norway with hybrid farm designs and we are bringing those possibilities up with our First Nations partners to pursue using those farms in their territories,” said Morrison. “About 80 per cent of our salmon is produced under agreements with local First Nations.”
The government is working with the industry to create a plan for the transition by 2025, said Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan.
“We recognize the value that new technologies can bring to help ensure aquaculture is done in the most environmentally sustainable and economically viable way,” she said.
An unreleased report to Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the B.C. ministry of agriculture lists floating closed-containment systems, off-shore open production systems, hybrid land and marine systems, and land-based recirculating farms as potential solutions.
“Along with new technologies, this will be informed by sound science — ensuring sustainable growth of this industry and the health of our waters,” Jordan said.