Fish farmers urged to join renewed push to reduce carbon footprint

A new push is being made to encourage salmon farmers and other aquaculture companies to join efforts to reduce the sector’s carbon footprint.

The Aquaculture Action Alliance was formed in 2021 and intially concentrated on developing an environmental footprint tool to ensure consistent results and simplify the process of data collection and results calculations.

Now the Alliance is putting a stronger emphasis on coordinated action, broader participation, and measurable actions after the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) and Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) jointly took on the role of interim secretariat and re-launched the initiative.

Alliance participants include feed producers BioMar, Cargill, and Skretting; North American frozen seafood supplier Aqua Star, and German supplier FollowFood; shrimp producers Almar Group, and Seafresh; tilapia farmer Regal Springs; and multi-species producer Thai Union.

But there are no pure play salmon farmers involved, and no other tilapia growers.

More salmon and tilapia needed

Elena Piana, Alliance steering committee member and group sustainability manager at Regal Springs, said: “Many of the current Alliance members are focused on farmed shrimp and feed supply chains. To clearly establish the aquaculture sector as the leading low-carbon protein provider, we also need more participation from companies producing and trading in other commodities such as salmon and tilapia.”

Dominique Gautier, Alliance chair and director of sustainability at Seafresh Group, said: “The Alliance achieved a major milestone in 2026. Underpinned by stronger governance and wider ambitions, we are expanding our focus on what actions we, as leading companies, need to take to reduce aquaculture’s carbon footprint.”

Aligning methodology

Feed companies are critical members in the Alliance, given the central role feed plays in the environmental footprint of farmed seafood, and more aquafeed companies are also wanted as members of the Alliance, which is a pre-competitive coalition.

Björn Kok, steering committee member and technical lead sustainability metrics at Skretting, said: “Feed companies can play an essential role at improving the sustainability of aquaculture supply chains. The Alliance needs more of these companies at the table to align sustainability metrics and methodology to facilitate implementation of lasting solutions.”

For more information or to explore membership of the Aquaculture Action Alliance, contact AquaAlliance@asc-aqua.org for ASC or aquaalliance@sustainablefish.org for SFP.