Salmon industry would benefit from public disclosure
The paper argues that greater public disclosure would benefit the salmon industry.
It points out that the industry already works across several countries with different official access arrangements and it makes no sense for the same companies to work to different standards in different locations. Moreover, a proactive approach to disclosure would be a more effective strategy in responding to critics than withholding data and would build public confidence.
It also argues that comprehensive environmental disclosure is becoming an essential part of corporate responsibility for many commercial sectors and the salmon industry needs to align itself with global best practice.
In addition, the investment community needs transparency around environmental impacts in order to make informed decisions about investing in the industry.
The paper claims that fears about data disclosure provoking further attacks by critics are probably unfounded. In those countries with the greatest transparency – e.g. Norway – there is the least public criticism.
It also points out that salmon certification schemes, such as the Aquaculture Stewardship Council, may well require significant public data disclosure. Failure to adequately disclose environmental impacts may act as a barrier to certification.
The discussion paper reviews existing official arrangements for disclosing environmental data associated with salmon farming in Norway, Scotland, Chile and Canada. The paper concludes that current arrangements in Norway probably give the greatest transparency and that companies that work to these standards could apply the same approach when operating in different countries.
The paper concludes that the salmon industry would benefit from a coordinated approach to environmental data disclosure with leading players agreeing global guidelines that would be set at the highest current standard. Such data release could be focussed around specific water bodies rather than individual farms – the so-called ‘zone approach’ – and so provide meaningful data for stakeholders such as wild salmon fishermen and conservationists without exposing individual farms to criticism.
Commenting on the release of the paper, Jim Cannon, CEO of Sustainable Fisheries Partnership said, “It’s difficult to see why a salmon producer that works to a particular set of standards in one country should then adopt a different approach to data transparency when it operates somewhere else. The whole industry would benefit from a sector-wide agreement on best practice for publicly disclosing environmental information that everyone could adopt as standard procedure.”
He continued:
“The salmon industry is well known for having some vocal critics and this has made the sector extremely sensitive when it comes to disclosing environmental data. However, there are ways that the industry could produce information that would meet the needs of key stakeholders like fishermen and conservationists without putting the spotlight on individual farms. And a more open approach to data is likely to do the industry far more good than harm in the long term.”
