GAA Completes Salmon Aquaculture Best Aquaculture Practices Certification Standards

The Global Aquaculture Alliance recently announced the completion of BAP standards for salmon farms. The new salmon aquaculture standards component becomes an important addition to the Alliance's Best Aquaculture Practices certification program.

The BAP standards for salmon farms apply to the cage and net pen production of salmon and rainbow trout. They join BAP's standards for shrimp, tilapia, Pangasius and channel catfish.

The BAP program also includes standards for feed mills, hatcheries and processing plants. Over 1.5 billion pounds (700,000 metric tons) of seafood are processed under the BAP program annually.

The BAP standards are based on current best practices, but continuously evolve with advancing technology. BAP strives to set standards at an achievable level to encourage a broad cross section of producers to participate and effect positive changes within the industry.

The standards can be viewed at www.gaalliance.org/cmsAdmin/uploads/BAP-SalmonF-611.pdf

Public comments and responses are also available at www.gaalliance.org/bap/comments.php

For more information on BAP, visit www.gaalliance.org/bap/

source: GAA

Scottish Salmon Industry Celebrates 40 Years of Production

Scotland's salmon sector is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the first commercial farms in Scotland.

"The first commercial harvest of Scottish salmon was 14 tonnes back in 1971. Now, farmers grow 144,000 tonnes and it has become Scotland’s single largest food export." according to Professor Phil Thomas, Chairman of the Scottish Salmon Producers' Organisation (SSPO).

Scotland Salmon Farming Information:

The first commercial Scottish farmed salmon were harvested in Loch Ailort, near Fort William in 1971.

Fresh Scottish salmon exports reached record levels in 2010

The Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation represents 95% of salmon production.

Scotland’s salmon farmers injected in excess of £500 million into the economy in 2009.

SSPO members have invested over £113.5 million in capital projects over the last four years.

The Highlands and Islands continue to be the most significant beneficiaries.

1 million fresh salmon meals are eaten in the UK every day.

Salmon is the largest food export from Scotland.

For further information, visit www.scottishsalmon.co.uk

International Salmon Farmers Association Launches Salmon Farming Website

The International Salmon Farmers Association (ISFA) has unvealed its new website, www.salmonfarming.org, in a co-operative launch by its members around the world. Representatives from countries such as Norway, Scotland, Chile, United States and Canada have all contributed to the project.

According to ISFA, the site will help to educate the public about the benefits of salmon farming and bring together salmon farmers from around the world.

The website includes information about ISFA, salmon producing countries, the life cycle of farmed salmon and the shared vision for sustainable growth.

source: International Salmon Farmers Association

Label Rouge Scottish Salmon Exports

Exports of Label Rouge Scottish Salmon increased by 7 percent, rising from 7,251 tonnes in 2009 to 7,743 tonnes in 2010. Exports increased by 19 percent during 2009.

The Label Rouge accolade is awarded by the French Government to products of superior quality, particularly in relation to taste. Scottish salmon was the first non-French food to receive this accolade back in 1992.

Although originally dedicated to the French market, Label Rouge Scottish Salmon is acquiring international recognition for its superior quality and taste.  During the last twelve months interest has developed in new emerging European markets such as Germany, Belgium and Switzerland.  Label Rouge Scottish Salmon is also scheduled to be exhibited in the Middle East for the first time.

Ireland Seeks To Expand Aquaculture Production

The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Brendan Smith TD and Minister of State, Sean Connick TD, met recently with the CEO of Marine Harvest, one of the world's biggest seafood companies to discuss the potential for significant expansion of the industry in Ireland.

The company's Irish fish farms, in Donegal, Mayo, Cork and Kerry, have been expanding production and hope to produce between 10 and 12,000 tonnes of salmon for export from Ireland this year.

The company has been increasingly moving to the production of premium organic salmon and this year expect that 70% of their Irish production will be sold in prime European markets as organically produced fish.

The company, which currently employs 250 people in Ireland and 5,000 worldwide sees significant potential to double production and employment in Ireland over the next ten years.

source: Ireland Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Food

UC Davis Study Finds Salmon Farms Not Harmful to Wild Salmon

A new UC Davis study contradicts earlier reports that salmon farms were responsible for the 2002 population crash of wild pink salmon in the Broughton Archipelago of western Canada.

The Broughton crash has become a rallying event for people concerned about the potential environmental effects of open-net salmon farming, which has become a $10 billion industry worldwide, producing nearly 1.5 million tons of fish annually.

The new study, to be published online in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, does not determine what caused the crash, but it acquits the prime suspect: small skin parasites called sea lice.

The study's lead author is Gary Marty, a veterinary pathologist and research associate at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. An expert in fish diseases, Marty has been studying the health of pink salmon since the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.

"No significant effect on wild salmon"

"For anybody concerned about the effect of farm salmon on wild salmon, this is good news," Marty said. "Sea lice from fish farms have no significant effect on wild salmon population productivity."

source: University of California, Davis, News Service

Groups Oppose Genetically Engineered Salmon

According to a coalition of Canadian groups, Environment Canada refuses to confirm or deny if the department has already started a secret 120-day risk assessment to approve genetically engineered (GE) salmon egg production on Prince Edward Island. The groups also released a joint statement of “categorical objection” to the raising of GE fish and fish eggs (1).

Documents released in September by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) revealed that the US company AquaBounty is seeking approval to sell its GE salmon into the US food market based on a plan to produce all its GE salmon eggs on Prince Edward Island (PEI) and then ship the eggs to Panama for grow out and processing.

Following this revelation, groups made inquiries to Environment Canada but were told that any information about a possible risk assessment is confidential. The groups are calling for full disclosure and demanding that Environment Canada cease any approval process that may already be underway.

“We call on Environment Canada to reject any request for permission to commercially produce genetically engineered fish or fish eggs,” said Matthew Abbott, Fundy Baykeeper Coordinator, “Environment Canada needs to immediately inform Canadians if they have started an environmental assessment for GE salmon egg production. This secrecy is totally unacceptable.”

The joint statement of opposition to GE fish, “No GE Fish Research, Production, Consumption in, and Export from, Canada,” was signed by a wide range of groups from across Canada including the Conservation Council of New Brunswick, Ecology Action Centre Nova Scotia, the PEI Coalition for a GMO-Free Province, Fundy Baykeeper, Living Oceans Society, Pure Salmon Campaign, Fraser Riverkeeper, First Nations Environmental Network, Greenpeace, and the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network.

“Farmed fish can and do escape. Genetically engineered salmon is an unacceptable and unnecessary threat to endangered wild Atlantic salmon,” said Shauna MacKinnon of Living Oceans Society in BC. “When GE fish escape into wild populations, studies indicate that wild fish are at risk of decline.”

“We don’t want Prince Edward Island to be the global origin of dangerous GE salmon,” said Leo Broderick of the Council of Canadians on PEI. A coalition of PEI groups is asking Premier Robert Ghiz to intervene and insist on disclosure from Environment Canada (2). “It’s highly disturbing that we only found out about the company’s plans for Prince Edward Island from US consultations,” said Broderick who attended US FDA hearings in September.

The company AquaBounty has engineered a faster growing Atlantic salmon by inserting a growth hormone gene from Chinook salmon and genetic material from ocean pout (an eel-like creature).

“Documents released by the US government reveal that the company is assuming it will get permission to produce all of its GE salmon eggs in Canada,” said Lucy Sharratt, Coordinator of the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network. “Minister of Environment John Baird must take immediate action to stop genetically engineered salmon eggs from being produced in Canada. We have a global responsibility to protect Atlantic salmon from this dangerous technology.”

(1) The full statement opposing GE fish and list of signatory groups can be viewed at http://www.cban.ca/statementopposingGEfish

(2) The letter to the Premier of PEI can be viewed at http://www.cban.ca/PEIletter

source: cban.ca

Genetically Engineered Salmon under Fire

On October 26, 2010 U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to halt its approval process for an Atlantic Salmon produced by AquaBounty Technologies.

In a letter to Dr. Margaret Hamburg, FDA Commissioner of Food and Drugs, Senator Snowe said the FDA’s current review process, originally created to review applications for new animal drugs, was inadequate and inappropriate for the review at hand and urged the FDA to establish a targeted, detailed and transparent environmental review process for genetically engineered animals intended for human consumption, including a commitment to hold additional public hearings on the topic.

Senator Snowe’s letter also called on the FDA to pursue additional consultations with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Organization (NOAA) as required by law. “Transgenic fish have the potential to negatively affect our current wild capture fisheries, aquaculture operations, and other sectors of the economy that depend on healthy marine and freshwater ecosystems.

The critical letter is one of several recent blows against the plan to approve what opponents call "frankenfish". The Center for Food Safety (CFS) also released a press release argues which clams that the FDA knowingly withheld a Federal Biological Opinion by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) prohibiting the use of transgenic salmon in open-water net pens pursuant to the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA).

Shetland Farm Raised Salmon Production Up 15 Percent

The ex-farm value of the Shetland salmon sector is to top £145million in 2010, an increase of 15% from the previous year (£126m in 2009), according to Shetland Aquaculture. 

The salmon industry generates over 1,000 direct and indirect jobs in Shetland. With a working population of 10,000 people, this accounts for over 10% of the workforce, making it the largest private sector employer on the islands.

Shetland is the largest salmon producing region in the UK, producing over 30% of the nation's farmed salmon. The Shetland Islands (part of Scotland) is known for its Atlantic salmon aquaculture. Salmon farms of the region supply conventionally farmed and organic fish. Shetland farmed salmon are typically available as fresh or smoked products.

B.C. Fraser River Sockeye Salmon Fishery Certified by MSC

The Fraser River sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) fishery in British Columbia (BC) has earned Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification having been independently assessed by an accredited certifier and found to meet the MSC standard for sustainably managed fisheries.

The Fraser River sockeye salmon fishery was assessed against the Marine Stewardship Council’s robust, environmental standard for the certification of wild capture fisheries. The Fraser River fishery joins three other B.C. sockeye salmon fisheries, the Skeena River, Nass River and Barkley Sound, that recently received MSC certification.

The fishery is managed by the Federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO). Also involved with the process is the Fraser River Panel, a group comprised of government, First Nations, and recreational and commercial interests from both the United States and Canada.

The Pacific Salmon Commission, a body independent of government, provides scientific advice to the Fraser River Panel and to DFO regarding run size, stock identification, timing of returns and migration conditions.

The Fraser River sockeye salmon fishery operates within British Columbia and Canadian Pacific Exclusive Economic Zone waters. Salmon are harvested by drift and setnet gillnets, purse seine, beach seine and trolling.

Fraser River sockeye salmon are sold fresh in North America, frozen in Japan and Europe and canned primarily in the UK.

source: MSC

USDA Breeds Sterile Trout and Salmon for Aquaculture

Fast-growing farm-raised salmon and trout that are sterile can now be produced using a method developed by USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists. Blocking reproduction can enhance growth, and is important for fish being reared in situations where reproduction is undesirable.

Bigger fish for consumers and sterile fish for producers and anglers are the goals of ARS scientists who are working with the aquaculture industry on genetic methods to more efficiently produce fish that grow faster on less feed and can't reproduce in the wild.

According to the USDA Agricultural Research Service, scientists have made improvements studies are expanding to include to Atlantic salmon, brook trout and brown trout. Experiments involving these species could determine whether sterile fish offer improved production traits such as growth to market size, stress tolerance, and disease resistance.

source: USDA Agricultural Research Service

New BC Salmon Aquaculture Website Launched

A grassroots group has launched a new website that calls into question the agenda and credibility of some salmon farming critics in British Columbia, Canada. The website has been developed by Positive Aquaculture Awareness (PAA), a grassroots group of aquaculture workers and suppliers, and provides key facts about salmon aquaculture that are often ignored by well funded environmental groups.

“We are in the business of providing a healthy food for a growing population,” says PAA President, Cory Percevault. “Communication is becoming increasingly important as anti-salmon farming groups have had the ear of the public for far too long now.”

PAA was formed in 1998 to raise awareness of BC’s aquaculture industry and to challenge the myths about salmon farming. The new website provides key facts about aquaculture and questions the information provided by environmental groups, their funding sources and attached agenda. Areas of interest such as sea lice, closed containment and the health of farmed salmon are a key focus of the website.

“Salmon farming employs 6000 British Columbians and it’s important that their voices are heard,” adds Percevault. “The amount of misinformation on our business is shocking and we believe this new website is a good source of credible information on BC aquaculture and encourage those who may have an interest in BC aquaculture to visit this new website.”

The new website can be found at www.FarmFreshSalmon.org