Monterey Bay flip-flops on farmed salmon sustainability
Intrafish, April 23, 2014
A recent draft of Seafood Watch ranking put BC farmed salmon in the 'good alternative' column, but an unexplained change of heart now likely means aquarium will continue to encourage consumers to avoid farmed salmon altogether.
Salmon farmers in British Columbia thought they were going to be the first region listed as a "good alternative" or "yellow" by Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch program, but when the report comes out, sources close to process told IntraFish they'll all be seeing "red."
Next week the Seafood Watch program is expected to release four updated reports detailing the conditions of salmon farms in BC, Chile, Norway and Scotland, all of which will be listed as "red" or "avoid," sources said.
That news came as a shock to BC salmon farmers, whose farms were listed as "yellow" as of a year ago, according to the draft report obtained by IntraFish.
"The final score of 4.72 is in the moderate 'yellow' category and as there is only one red criterion (and no critical criteria), the yellow rank is final," the draft report states.
In the draft rankings, Seafood Watch gave the BC salmon farmers a "green" in data and source; a "yellow" in effluent, habitat, chemicals (also referred to as antibiotics), feed and escapes. The only category in "red" was disease.
Then, in the last year something changed, but no one has been able to say what.
Because the report hasn't been released to the public, Ken Peterson, communications director for Monterey Bay Aquarium and the Seafood Watch program, said he couldn't comment on what the regional rankings will be.
"I know there's been frustration that the report wasn't finalized and released sooner," Peterson told IntraFish. "But it's going to be a better report because it takes into account newer science that's been published since we began the process."
The Seafood Watch's farmed salmon ratings were last updated in 2005. Peterson didn't point to any specific information or data that determined the report's outcome, instead referring to the massive amount of research published in the last decade.
"I don't think there was one particular piece, but the volume of peer-reviewed science published in peer-reviewed journals that came out as we moved along," he said.
If the four reports come out listing all of the regions as red, Verlasso will remain the only net-penned farmed salmon not listed among the Seafood Watch's "avoid" section.
"The Verlasso example shows an aquaculture salmon can be benchmarked to a 'good alternative,'" Peterson said.
He added that a "critical" reason Verlasso was listed as "yellow," was the company's low fish-in-fish-out feed ratio from its usage of genetically modified yeast to keep its omega-3 levels high.
Since the genetic modification was at the feed level, Peterson said there was no problem according to Seafood Watch.
ASC not good enough
With news of Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA) certified shrimp being accepted as a "good alternative" from Seafood Watch for the first time, the question was raised about the Aquaculture Stewardship Council's (ASC) certification of farmed salmon and whether it would fall under the same "good alternative" category.
The GAA shrimp benchmarking went through significant changes to meet the Seafood Watch standard in the last year, Peterson said. In the last few years, Seafood Watch has gone through a series of benchmarking processes for eco-certification programs and identified which already met "good alternative" standards. The group also offered recommendations for improving standards that did not meet criteria.
As of the release of the benchmarking report last year, only ASC-certified pangasius, bivalves, mussels, clams, oysters, scallops and shrimp were accepted as "good alternatives," Peterson said.
"As of now, ASC-certified farmed salmon does not benchmark as a good alternative," he said.
When asked why, Peterson said all the data collected during the benchmarking process was given to each certification but not made public -- that was up to the individual certification bodies.
It's unclear if ASC will be making any changes to its salmon farm standards to meet Seafood Watch criteria.
Salmon farmers kept in dark on final outcome
Ian Roberts, communications manager for Marine Harvest Canada, who was involved in the review process for years providing some of the data, told IntraFish he learned of the possibility of being listed as "red" again through "the seafood rumor mill."
"I can't confirm nor deny that the report will be red since I didn't receive a copy from Seafood Watch at the time other stakeholders were privy to one," he said. "We weren't part of the final review process."
Once the report is published, the information will be uploaded to the Seafood Watch website and to any and all of its online applications and resources, Peterson said.
No specific date has been set for when new information cards will be sent out with the listings, but are tentatively scheduled to be printed in July, he said.
Since 1999, the Monterey Bay Aquarium has distributed more than 40 million pocket guides.
