Worldwide salmon industry marks sustainability goals
THE Global Salmon Initiative, which represents some of the most significant players in the salmon sector, has hailed progress in reducing the use of antibiotics, managing sea lice through holistic methods and reducing marine ingredients in aquafeed, among a range of other sustainability measures.
The GSI membership represents around 40% of global salmon production.The organisation was set up to encourage improvements across the industry and its annual Sustainability Report for 2022 charts achievement on a number of fronts.
Antibiotic use has been reduced by 48% on average, as a result of members prioritising antibiotics stewardship and identifying alternative approaches to managing fish health.
The use of marine ingredients in fish feed has been cut by 22% on average, with the introduction and increasing use of novel ingredients such as algae and sustainable byproducts.
New thinking on how to tackle sea lice has led to a reduction of 38% for in-bath and in-feed treatments.
The GSI also reports that nearly half (48%) of GSI members’ production was certified by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council, which sets a high bar for sustainability and traceability.
In total, the GSI’s report details more than 2,000 data points for the industry.The organisation is also working with the World Wildlife Fund to develop a greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions framework in order to help measure and mitigate the sector’s carbon footprint.
Regin Jacobsen, Bakkafrost CEO and GSI co-chair, said:“The past three years made it abundantly clear that our food system needs far greater resiliency.Through
GSI, we can focus on the areas we know need improving and prepare ourselves for the challenges to come.This means working collectively to reduce our carbon footprint and biological risks, while continually enhancing fish welfare and local community contributions. GSI’s Sustainability Report serves as both an annual reminder of how far we’ve come as an industry and a compass to guide the work that remains.”
Co-chair Sandy Delgado, CEO of AquaChile, said:“GSI provides a knowledge-sharing platform that enables us to pool expertise, test different approaches and work collaboratively to improve fish welfare, feed and more, allowing us as members to go further and faster together.”
And Sophie Ryan, GSI
CEO, added:“We want our Sustainability Report to be a signal of members’ shared commitment to raise a great product in the most responsible way. But the proof is in our data and we know that good is never good enough.This report is our way of motivating progress, holding one another accountable and doubling down on areas where we need to improve and innovate faster.”