Archive for the ‘Environmental Impacts’ Category


Aquaculture Stewardship Council

December 1st, 2009 by Michelle

WWF is in the process of forming an Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), similar to the existing Marine Stewardship Council.  The ASC is expected to be operational by 2011 and will be responsible for working with independent, third party entities to certify farms that are in compliance with the standards for responsible aquaculture being developed by participants of the Aquaculture Dialogues.

Mussels - soon to be certifed? (Source: Stock.xchng)

Mussels - soon to be certified? (Source: Stock.xchng)

Over 2000 participants, including farmers, conservationists, academics and government officials  are working towards developing standards for 12 species: shrimp, salmon, abalone, clams, mussels, scallops, oysters, Pangasius, tilapia, trout, Seriola and cobia.  WWF believe the outcome of the dialogues will be the creation of the most credible standards for the aquaculture industry, which the ASC will implement.   

Not everyone shares this view – according to an article on SeafoodSource 70 international non-government organisations from 5 countries expressed their opposition to the formation of the ASC in a letter to WWF.  They believe the ASC will support industrial aquaculture and harm local environments and indigenous communities.

What do you think?  Will the ASC encourage more sustainable aquaculture practises world wide or will it simply be another ‘eco-labelling’ system that will confuse consumers?

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Fish In – Fish Out

October 13th, 2009 by Hayley
Anchovies

Source: Stockxchng

Following on from the previous post, here is some more information on the use of fishmeal and fish oil in feeds.

The article Fish in – Fish out Ratios Explained, by Andrew Jackson, published in Aquaculture Europe Vol. 34 (3) September 2009, has been added to the Envirofinfish Library.

“One of the long continued debates in aquaculture is the use of fishmeal and fish oil in feeds and the amount of wild fish it takes to produce farmed fish.  This debate has particularly raged around the use of fish oil and fish meal in salmon diets and a lot of different figures have been quoted for the number of tonnes of wild fish it takes to produce a tonne of farmed salmon (FIFO ratio).  These quoted figures range from 3:1 to 10:1; the most recent figure published comes from Tacon & Metian (2008) who gave the figure for salmon in 2006 as 4.9:1, meaning it takes 4.9 tonnes of wild fish to produce 1 tonne of salmon.”

Click here to read more by viewing the whole article.  The document is also available from the Library menu.

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Is the Use of Fishmeal and Fish Oil in Aquaculture Diets Sustainable?

September 3rd, 2009 by Hayley

A new document has been added to the Envirofinfish Library.

“The conversion of small wild fish into the fishmeal and fish oil (F&FO) for use in formulated diets for farmed fish and crustaceans has become a hotly debated topic.  Some argue that the practice of using wild fish in the form of F&FO to feed farmed fish species potentially competes with their direct use for human consumption and their value in the ecosystem.  At the centre of the debate are two questions: (i) How many kilograms of wild fish in the form of F&FO does it take to produce 1 kg of farmed fish? (ii) Is the use of wild fisheries to product F&FO sustainable? ”              

               G. Schipp, Manager Aquaculture, Fisheries, Darwin Aquaculture Centre.

Click here to read more on this topic by viewing the whole article.  The document is also accessible from the Library menu.  Share your views on this topic by leaving a comment below.

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