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Salmon-farming standards open for comment today

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Three weeks ago, onstage at TEDGlobal 2010, WWF vice president Jason Clay (above) announced that the world’s salmon aquaculture standards were close to being finalized after six years of effort. This may sound dull and policy-wonky, but if you eat fish, it’s a big deal: Right now, it’s hard to know, when buying salmon and many other fish, whether you’re buying a sustainably caught or grown fish, or if you’re participating in the depletion of our oceans. Just this morning, the salmon standards opened for public comment at this link: www.worldwildlife.org/salmondialogue

Echoing concerns voiced by TED Prize winner Sylvia Earle last year, Clay thinks that in a world with growing population and diminishing ocean resources, fish farming will be the way we produce seafood in the future. But aquaculture, particularly for salmon, is a contentious issue, thanks to its environmental impacts, among them pollution, disease and use of resources. Meanwhile, demand for salmon creeps ever higher — salmon production has increased threefold since the 1980s to meet market demand, and 60% of global consumption of salmon is farmed, not wild-caught.

“Farming salmon is like farming tigers,” says Clay. “These are high-end carnivores, high trophic-level species that we need to think about carefully.”

To minimize the impact, WWF decided to focus one of its Aquaculture Dialogues –- eight roundtables engaging farmers, conservationists, academics, government officials and others in developing standards for responsible aquaculture –- just on salmon. Clay says: “We have identified and addressed seven key impact areas: benthic impacts and siting; chemical inputs; disease/parasites; escapes; feed; nutrient loading and carrying capacity; and social issues.”

The first public comment period ends in October, and Clay expects the salmon standards to be globally recognized, published and launched in the first quarter of 2011. It’s good news for those who eat salmon and want to know it’s been produced responsibly. Dialogues on standards for 12 species — salmon, shrimp, tilapia, trout, pangasius, Seriola, cobia, abalone, mussels, clams, oysters and scallops –- have been in the works; tilapia is the first standard to be completed, in December 2009.

— Karen Eng

Photo: TED / James Duncan Davidson