A precautionary tale
The ASC has defended its decision to propose lowering the marine ingredient threshold in salmon feeds as part of its updated Salmon Standard, despite conceding that marine ingredients in salmon feeds are often sourced sustainably.
The response follows criticism, by the IFFO earlier this week, of equating the standard method of calculating marine content – known as Forage Fish Dependency Ratio (FFDR) – with the sustainability levels of the feed. The IFFO also argued that lowering the FFDR further effectively excluded producers of niche premium salmon products, such as those containing high omega-3 levels, from ASC certification, even if these salmon were fed diets that purely contained marine ingredients from sustainable sources.
Iain Pollard, ASC Standards & Certification Coordinator, explained to Fish Farming Expert that while there is a case for not setting a forage fish threshold in salmon feeds, they feel that it is required to ensure “a precautionary approach to the exploitation of marine resources”.
As he explained: “It is clear that stakeholder views around FFDR vary considerably around the value of a FFDR requirement and also around the need for one at all. The ASC accepts that there are strong arguments for eliminating the FFDR requirement if the wild fish being used to make feed is sustainable. And, that having a salmon industry dependent on wild fish is not necessarily a bad thing.
“In fact, there are benefits of encouraging responsible aquaculture dependence on wild fisheries including maintaining leverage over promoting their sustainable harvest. And furthermore, without sustainable alternatives to marine ingredients switching from them to another source brings risks of unintended impacts to that source, be it soy, palm or something else.”
However, he does not feel that the time is ripe for removing a FFDR threshold and defends the need to lower it – at least for the time being.
“ASC will be continuing to work on this area as part of the fish feed standard under development. And aim to resolve these challenges to ensure a logical solution that meets ASC Theory of Change. However, in the meantime in order to take a precautionary approach to the exploitation of marine resources the ASC is proposing to reduce the FFDR level in the Salmon standard,” he concludes.
