The United States National Organic Standards Board is currently proposing aquaculture standards that allow open net pens and wild fish for feed. These status quo practices undermine the health of wild fish and marine ecosystems.
But the Board is looking for public input before they make their final recommendations. Help maintain the integrity of the US organic label by signing our petition.
If you see an 'organic' label on farmed salmon it does not mean it is a better, more sustainable choice.
'Organic' standards in Quebec and Europe allow environmentally damaging practices such as open net-cages and chemical treatments for parasites and diseases to still be used. Practices that do not meet consumer expectations of organic. Canada is not yet considering national organic aquaculture standards.
In the United Kingdom, the Soil Association chose to permanently certify farmed salmon using standards that still allowed all of the above problems to persist. In response the chairman, Lawrence Woodward, resigned from his position stating: "Salmon farming in cages has nothing at all to do with organic principles. It is very regrettable that the Soil Association has gone down this line of trying to certify something that is so distant from the principles."1
Solutions
Rather than compromising organic standards to fit the needs of salmon farming, the Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform is working to improve the sustainability of the industry as a whole by fostering a transition from open net-cages to closed containment systems.
Closed containment technology would minimize if not entirely eliminate many of the environmental problems associated with open net-cage fish farms such as escapes, spread of sea lice, and interactions with marine predators that organic aquaculture standards cannot adequately address.
In 2007, 19 organizations signed on to a request to the Certified Organic Association of BC (COABC) asking them to commit to subjecting revised organic aquaculture standards to a full public review process if they choose to proceed with development. Read CAAR’s Joint letter to the COABC(pdf).
