Saving Seafood

Famed music festival South by Southwest features panel on aquaculture for first time

March 12, 2019 — For the first time, famed music and culture festival South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas, featured a panel on aquaculture dubbed “The Future of Food: Aquaculture” on 11 March.

The panel was led by Andrew Zimmern, host of The Travel Channel’s “Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern,” who is also a restaurant operator. In addition to Zimmern, the panel included Rod Fujita, co-founder of the Environmental Defense Fund’s Oceans Program; Fiona Lewis, owner and operator of retail market The District Fishwife; and James Wright, editor of the Global Aquaculture Alliance’s “Global Aquaculture Advocate” magazine.

The need for more farmed fish is incredibly apparent, Zimmern noted during the panel. The health of the oceans is suffering, due to climate change, marine pollution, and other factors. While demand for seafood continues to grow with the global population, 60 percent of major fish species are fished at sustainable levels, 33 percent of fish species are fished at unsustainable levels, and just 7 percent of fish are under-fished, Zimmern said.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

“Humane aquaculture” could boost US seafood consumption, study finds

September 27, 2018 — Humane production practices could have a huge impact on market expansion for farmed seafood in the United States, according to a new study from surveying firms Changing Tastes and Datassential.

Previewed this week in Ecuador at the Global Aquaculture Alliance’s annual GOAL conference, the study – titled “Humane Aquaculture: Opportunities on the Plate” – assesses the influence that humane production practices have on both American consumers and foodservice purchasers when it comes to buying seafood.

Half of the American consumers and foodservice purchasing decision-makers polled for the study said they were more likely to buy fish and seafood that is humanely harvested, with more than half of the survey participants in both groups also subscribing to the belief that humanely produced fish and seafood is likely to be higher quality, taste better, and have better texture.

“Humane production practices may increase the attractiveness of farmed fish and seafood both to U.S. consumers and to the businesses that purchase it and offer or serve it to them,” said Arlin Wasserman of Changing Tastes in a statement detailing the study’s findings. “Increasing the attractiveness of farmed fish and seafood can create meaningful opportunities over the next several years.”

Farmed seafood, if positioned right, could become a viable replacement for beef on many American consumers’ plates, especially if an earlier study conducted by Changing Tastes pans out, the research firms said. According to that study, U.S. consumers were on-trend to reduce their beef consumption by 20 percent by 2025.

Several recent studies from Datassential also show that more Americans are planning on reducing the amount of time red meat hits their plates.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

The Future of Fish Farming May Be Indoors

September 25, 2018 — On a projection screen in front of a packed room in a coastal Maine town, computer-animated salmon swim energetically through a massive oval tank. A narrator’s voice soothingly points out water currents that promote fish exercise and ideal meat texture, along with vertical mesh screens that “optimize fish densities and tank volume.” The screens also make dead fish easy to remove, the narrator cheerily adds.

The video is part of a pitch made earlier this year for an ambitious $500-million salmon farm that Norway-based firm, Nordic Aquafarms, plans to build in Belfast, Maine, complete with what Nordic says will be among the world’s largest aquaculture tanks. It is one of a handful of projects in the works by companies hoping these highly mechanized systems will change the face fish farming—by moving it indoors.

If it catches on, indoor aquaculture could play a critical role in meeting the needs of a swelling human population, Nordic CEO Erik Heim says. He believes it could do so without the pollution and other potential threats to wild fish that can accompany traditional aquaculture—although the indoor approach does face environmental challenges of its own. “There’s always some risk, but the risk of the land-based system is a small percentage of the risk of an outdoor system,” says Michael Timmons, an environmental engineer at Cornell University who has studied aquaculture for more than 20 years and is not involved in the Nordic project.

Fish farming has often been touted as an extremely efficient way to produce animal protein: the Global Aquaculture Alliance claims 100 kilograms of fish feed can deliver up to 15 times more meat than an equivalent amount fed to cows. The industry has gained international traction, with farmed fish surpassing wild-caught ones (pdf) in the global food supply in 2014. But traditional fish-farming methods come with significant environmental drawbacks. For example, salmon farmers in Norway and Chile—the world leaders in salmon production—typically use open-ocean cages that corral fish in suspended netting or pens. This setup allows waste to flow directly into the environment, along with pathogens and parasites that can infect wild populations. Open-air pond farms—found worldwide and representing the most common type of aquaculture in China, the top global producer of farmed fish—also have a track record of polluting local waterways with fish effluent and veterinary medicines that are used to keep disease at bay.

Read the full story at Scientific American

‘Extracting Value from the Right Amount of Fish’: Saving Seafood Looks at Aquaculture Efficiency

June 6, 2018 — WASHINGTON — Through new techniques and technologies, farming fish is becoming increasingly efficient, leading aquaculture experts tell Saving Seafood in a new video.

“With a whole range of factors – improved nutritional knowledge, better management techniques of feeding on the farm, and all of that – [the fish in–fish out] ratio has gone down,” says Andrew Jackson, Chairman of IFFO RS.

“For every 0.7 kilos of fish in, you get a kilo of fish out,” says Dan Lee, Standards Coordinator for the Global Aquaculture Alliance’s Best Aquaculture Practices Program. “So that’s becoming very favorable towards aquaculture productivity.”

In the case of salmon farming, nutritionists are using alternative ingredients, including plant proteins like soy, and mixing canola and other vegetable oils in with pure fish oil. This has helped lowered the percentage of marine ingredients in fish feed to about 25 percent of farmed salmon diets, and projections are that this will drop below 10 percent by 2025.

“They’ve figured out that the key to being successful and profitable and sustainable is not necessarily to catch more fish, it’s to extract as much value as possible out of the right amount of fish,” says Tim Fitzgerald, Director of the Environmental Defense Fund’s Impact Division.

These improvements have made farming fish one of the most sustainable forms of protein production, experts tell Saving Seafood.

“When you’re growing chickens or pigs or cattle, the transformation between the feed and the [farmed product] is much more inefficient than with fish,” says Manuel Barange, Director of Fisheries and Aquaculture at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. “So if we have to feed any animal for us to eat, it makes sense to do that with fish. It’s more efficient.”

The video is the second in a series, Aquaculture Today, in which Saving Seafood interviews leading aquaculture experts on the latest advances in farmed fish, and its role in the world. Saving Seafood released a video yesterday on aquaculture’s role in feeding the world’s growing population.

In addition to Mr. Jackson, Mr. Lee, Mr. Fitzgerald, and Mr. Barange, the video also features Julien Stevens, Researcher at Kampachi Farms, and Neil Auchterlonie, Technical Director at IFFO.

Interviews for Aquaculture Today were conducted by Saving Seafood at the 2017 SeaWeb Seafood Summit in Seattle, Washington.

 

How Aquaculture is Feeding a Growing World: Saving Seafood Takes a Closer Look

June 5, 2018 — WASHINGTON — Global poverty and malnutrition are falling worldwide, and the availability of affordable, healthy protein is a key reason why. Aquaculture, as one of the world’s fastest growing sources of food production, has been an essential part of this development.

Saving Seafood is taking a closer look at the role that aquaculture plays as a source of food, nutrition, and employment for millions of people around the world in a new series, Aquaculture Today. We interview leading aquaculture experts on the latest breakthroughs and developments in farmed seafood, and the role it plays in the future of human health and the global food supply. 

Worldwide, protein consumption has more than doubled in the past 50 years, going from 9 kg per person per year to nearly 20 kg per person per year. Fish, as a cheap and readily accessible food source, has made up a large share of global protein consumption. As the demand for affordable sources of protein grows along with the world’s population, these fish are increasingly being produced through aquaculture.

“Aquaculture has been the fastest [growing] food production industry in the world for the last four decades,” says Manuel Barange, Director of Fisheries and Aquaculture at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. “We need to make sure that is maintained, perhaps not at the same growth, but that it is maintained because it provides not just nutrition, but actually livelihoods and economic opportunities in places where there are not many other opportunities for economic development.”

The importance of aquaculture to global seafood production is only expected to increase, with the production of farmed seafood expected to dwarf that of wild-caught seafood in the next 15 years.

“The projections are that we’ll reach 62 percent of food fish coming from aquaculture by around 2030,” says Dan Lee, Standards Coordinator for the Global Aquaculture Alliance’s Best Aquaculture Practices Program.

This growth presents an opportunity for fishing communities, which have a chance to diversify to meet the needs of the global seafood market.

“One thing that I would really like to see the industry support [NOAA] stepping up with is dealing with this sort of issue, trying to help these communities start to either diversify their fisheries or thinking more about how they can move into aquaculture,” says Richard Merrick, former Chief Scientist at NOAA Fisheries.

Aquaculture Today comes from interviews conducted by Saving Seafood at the 2017 SeaWeb Seafood Summit in Seattle, Washington.

View the video here.

 

Walmart recognizes suppliers’ efforts at sustainability-focused meeting

February 7, 2018 — To help Walmart continue expanding its sustainable seafood supply, the largest global retailer recently met with several large United States seafood suppliers, along with sustainability certifiers and other groups.

The retailer, which operates more than 5,400 Walmart and Sam’s Club stores in the U.S., also recognized three suppliers at the 1 February “Sustainability Summit” at Walmart’s headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas.

Munhall, Pennsylvania-based The Fishin’ Company was recognized for partnering with Walmart to source its first four-star BAP certified tilapia, Mark Eastham, Walmart’s senior manager for sustainability, told SeafoodSource.

Meanwhile, Jacksonville, Florida-based wholesaler Beaver Street Fisheries was recognized for “its work with Walmart to support a more sustainable shrimp supply chain,” Eastham said.

Frozen seafood supplier North Atlantic Inc., based in Portland, Maine, was recognized for its engagement in Fishery Improvement Projects across the globe.

“They were also the first supplier to sign up for the Ocean Disclosure Project,” Eastham said. North Atlantic also operates Bali Seafood International, which is building a commercially sponsored fishery management model for small-boat fisheries in Indonesia.

Around 75 suppliers in total attended the sustainability summit, along with representatives of the Global Aquaculture Alliance’s Best Aquaculture Practices program, the Marine Stewardship Council, the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, the Aquaculture Stewardship Council, and the Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative.

“This forum provides us with the opportunity to reflect on what we have accomplished and what we can do to accelerate progress toward sustainability – so that we can enjoy not only a vibrant seafood industry but vibrant oceans,” Eastham said.

By 2025, Walmart will expand and enhance sustainable sourcing to cover 20 key commodities.

“This is an important issue for Walmart, as seafood is one of the commodities we have pledged to be a part of our long-term sustainability commitments,” Eastham said.

Walmart is working with sustainable seafood suppliers that share the retailer’s commitment to providing sustainable seafood to its customers, he said.

“Our goal is to build transparency and continuous improvement with the seafood supply chain, so that we can build confidence and provide for our customers now and in the future,” Eastham said.

At the meeting, Walmart executives highlighted the retailer’s progress in sourcing sustainable seafood to date and discussed the company’s future goals. Eastman said by 2025, “based on certain factors including price and demand,” Walmart U.S., Sam’s Club, and Walmart Canada will require all canned light and white tuna suppliers to source from fisheries that are either third-party certified or engaged in fishery improvement projects (FIPs). The company has also committed to carrying FAD-free and pole and line canned tuna in its U.S., Canadian, and ASDA-brand stores, Eastham said.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

GAA and IFFO join forces to improve responsible fishmeal supplies in SE Asia

June 5, 2017 — The following was released by The Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA) and IFFO, the Marine Ingredients Organisation: 

The Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA) and IFFO, the Marine Ingredients Organisation, have joined forces and funding on a project to improve the understanding of the fisheries of South East Asia supplying raw material for fishmeal production. The study will look at the issues from the perspective of social, economic and environmental sustainability with the aim of identifying where improvements can be prioritised and targeted to enable increasingly responsible supplies of fishmeal. This will support change in fisheries management in the region, driving the adoption of certification in the supply chain, which will ultimately support the development of best practice in aquaculture. A variety of relevant and critical stakeholders from NGOs to Governments and feed companies to standards holders will be invited to participate. Duncan Leadbitter (Fish Matter Pty) has been retained to lead the project on behalf of the two organisations. The project will begin in July 2017 and is expected to run for 18 months.

“Although the raw material supply for fishmeal production globally comes in the main from well managed fisheries and byproduct, it is recognised that there are some environmental and social challenges with the sourcing of raw material in South East Asia. As demand for responsibly produced fishmeal in this region is increasing, IFFO welcomes the opportunity to work with the GAA in addressing where the constraints to responsible production lie, and look at how these may be addressed to promote change in the region” noted Andrew Mallison, IFFO’s Director General.

The fisheries of South East Asia provide a large volume of raw material for fishmeal and fish oil production, which is a primary ingredient supplied into the aquafeed markets in the region for manufacture of feed for the aquaculture industry. End users of aquaculture are increasingly recognising the need to ensure fish is produced responsibly. The development of certification standards for aquaculture and aquafeeds has placed additional emphasis on the importance of sourcing responsibly-produced feed ingredients. If aquaculture facilities are to be able to meet the market demands, then improvements need to be made in this region in order to fill the gap between available, certifiable, fish feed inputs and demand.

The focus of effort will be on the countries of Thailand and Vietnam given their importance in fishmeal and fish oil manufacture and supply. A knowledge base will be established covering issues, actors, data pertaining to economic, environmental and social sustainability through the supply chain, allowing for the identification of priorities and recommendations for further work.

“It is critical we better understand where to target improvement efforts and how best to support the region in meeting the increasing demand for fish meal inputs; both the welfare of the fisheries and the associated communities, as well as the development of responsible aquaculture to meet global demand, relies upon truly sustainable supplies – this is the juxta position between wild and farmed seafood” commented Melanie Siggs, Director of Strategic Engagement, GAA.

Vulnerability and the level of risk associated with farmed and wild seafood in the region will be reduced over time as additional information feeds into a process that facilitates change. This will be the first phase of work to build a base of information for further projects. Progress is likely to occur continually over time as information is provided.

For further information contact GAA: Steven Hedlund E: steven.hedlund@aquaculturealliance.org T: +1-603-317-5085

IFFO: Dr Neil Auchterlonie, Technical Director E: secretariat@iffo.net T: +44 (0)2030 539 195

About IFFO

IFFO represents the marine ingredients industry worldwide. IFFO’s members reside in more than 50 countries, account for over 50% of world production and 75% of the fishmeal and fish oil traded worldwide. Approximately 5 million tonnes of fishmeal are produced each year globally, together with 1 million tonnes of fish oil. IFFO’s headquarters are located in London in the United Kingdom and it also has offices in Lima, Peru, and in Beijing, China. IFFO is an accredited Observer to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). To find out more, visit www.iffo.net.

About GAA

The Global Aquaculture Alliance is an international, non-profit trade association dedicated to advancing environmentally and socially responsible aquaculture. Through the development of its Best Aquaculture Practices certification standards, GAA has become the leading standards-setting organization for aquaculture seafood.

Read the full release here 

Lidl commits to full sustainability for fresh and frozen seafood in the US

May 18, 2017 — Lidl supermarket locations within the United States will sell only certified sustainable fresh and frozen seafood as part of its daily fish counter assortments,  the company announced on 17 May.

The decision is supported by a partnership recently established between Lidl US, the Marine Stewardship Council, the Global Aquaculture Alliance’s Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) program and the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC).

“We are pleased to announce that our entire everyday fresh and frozen seafood assortment will be certified sustainable,” Lidl US Chief Commercial Officer Boudewijn Tiktak said. “We are proud to work closely with the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) and the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) in this step to ensure suppliers meet our high-quality standards. As a company, we are always working to make better and more sustainable choices attainable to all customers and this is an important part of that promise.”

“Lidl’s commitment to certified sustainable sourcing for all fresh and frozen seafood in its core assortment will indeed set a new standard in the U.S. market,” added Brian Perkins, MSC’s regional director for the Americas. “When people purchase MSC-certified seafood, their choice supports fishermen around the world who are working hard to meet the world’s most rigorous standard for environmental sustainability of wild capture fishing.”

Chris Keller, BAP’s Director of North American Market Development, noted the broad scope that such a commitment encompasses.

“This is a tremendous step by Lidl to ensure that its entire core assortment of fresh and frozen seafood is third party certified,” Keller said. “This important commitment helps address issues such as disease, antibiotic use and social welfare in the supply chain. Lidl clearly sees how this is the next frontier in responsible and sustainable sourcing. We applaud the vision and commitment of Lidle as they join with BAP to drive true change in the market place and the industry.”

Read the full story at SeafoodSource.com

SeaWeb announces finalists for 2017 Seafood Champion Awards

March 20, 2017 — The 16 finalists have been announced for the 2017 Seafood Champion Awards, the seafood community’s premier honor recognizing outstanding leadership in promoting environmentally responsible seafood.

The Seafood Champion Awards are presented by SeaWeb, a program of The Ocean Foundation. SeaWeb serves the sustainable seafood community by supporting a coordinated infrastructure of people and knowledge to guide, inspire and reward the seafood industry’s uptake of sustainable practices. The awards have been given annually since 2006 to world leaders who have demonstrated outstanding commitment to advancing seafood sustainability.

This year, the Seafood Champion Awards will be awarded at the SeaWeb Seafood Summit, taking place 5 to 7 June, 2017, in Seattle, Washington, U.S.A. [Editor’s note: SeaWeb and Diversified Communications, owner of SeafoodSource.com, jointly produce the SeaWeb Seafood Summit.]

In the leadership category, the finalists include Wally Stevens, the executive director of the Global Aquaculture Alliance, where he has developed the Best Aquaculture Practices certification and worked through a variety of channels to promote responsible aquaculture; Mariah Boyle, who is being recognized for her work in urging seafood companies to set commitments to improving traceability, social responsibility and combatting IUU fishing; Susi Pudjiastuti, an Indonesian businesswoman who has turned her attention to fighting illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing as her country’s Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries; and Sea Pact, a nonprofit consisting of nine North American seafood companies that award grants to fisheries improvement projects around the globe.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

GAA to Launch Advocate Website on Oct 1; Will Terminate Print Publication at Year’s End

SEAFOODNEWS.COM — September 16, 2015 — On October 1 the Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA) will launch a revamped website for its longstanding bimonthly print publication The Advocate. 

The website advocate.gaalliance.org will feature a variety of production, supply and market-related news for the aquaculture industry. The GAA will also terminate the printed version of The Advocate with the November-December 2015 edition serving as the last magazine to be published. 

“The new Advocate website will blend the best of the 17-year-old bimonthly print publication with the timeliness, convenience and interactivity of a digital publication,” the GAA said in a press release.

Content will be updated weekly and accompanied by a weekly e-newsletter and a monthly, summary-style e-newsletter. The website will feature the production-centric content traditionally found in the print publication, in addition to supply- and market-related content. The site will also feature a variety of visuals — infographics, charts and graphs and videos — giving readers a more interactive experience.

Additionally, Advocate content will be categorized by theme, allowing readers to customize content by relevance. The seven categories are: animal health and welfare, environmental and social responsibility, feed sustainability, investment, marketplace, leadership and innovation, and consumer education.

Longtime Advocate Editor Dr. Darryl Jory will continue to regularly contribute to the publication as editor emeritus. James Wright, who was hired by GAA in early July, will oversee the day-to-day operation of the new Advocate website as editorial manager. The site — which is being developed by Visible Logic Inc. of Portland, Maine, USA, the same company that built the new GAA and Best Aquaculture Practices sites — is due to launch on Oct. 1.

The new Advocate website will be free to access, though readers will be limited to five articles per month; GAA membership will be required for unlimited access. Select articles will be translated from English to Spanish, Chinese and other languages. The transition from print to digital is in line with GAA’s mission of advocating, educating and demonstrating responsible aquaculture practices to feed and employ future generations.

The website arrives just in time for the GAA’s GOAL 2015 Conference in Vancouver, Canada. Over 400 aquaculture executives are expected to attend this year’s event, which will be held from October 25 – 30 at the Four Seasons in Vancouver. 

This story originally appeared on SEAFOODNEWS.COM, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.