Episode 45: Sustainable Aquaculture with Sophie Ryan (Global Salmon Initiative)

Learn more about the natural environment here!

Episode Intro Notes

What We’ll cover

• The State of Fisheries Globally

• What is aquaculture?

• When did aquaculture start being used and how prevalent is it today?

• Should we feel good about eating farmed fish?

• Global Salmon Initiative

the state of fisheries globally

• There’s no shortage of stats explaining how vital fish are to our way of life. Here’s just a few that we found most telling:

  • A UN Report found that fish account for almost 17 percent of the global population’s intake of protein -- in some coastal and island countries it can top 70 percent.

  • Fish provide a vital source of protein for over half of the global population, and some 56 million people worldwide are supported in some way by marine fisheries.

  • Since 1961 the annual global growth in fish consumption has been twice as high as human population growth.

• Even though fish are so vital to so many people, we have not generally managed fisheries well. Overfishing (when more fish are caught than the species’ population can replace through natural reproduction), excessive bycatch (catching fish you don’t mean to catch), and illegal fishing have gone unchecked in too many places around the world, as has destruction to critical habitat.

  • A World Wildlife Fund report found that between 1970 and 2012, the population of fish in the ocean declined 50%.

    • The decline from these issues is not set to change since 70 percent of the fish population is fully used, overused, or in crisis. This means we’re already overfishing or at maximum sustainable yield for most fish in the ocean.

•  In addition to human overfishing, climate change is set to be another stressor for fish populations.

  • Here’s why. The oceans have absorbed 93 percent of the heat that is trapped by the greenhouse gases that humans pump into the atmosphere. These higher temperatures are killing fish directly and the creatures they depend on for food. It’s also causing fish species to shift where they live.

    • For example, in a Detroit Free Press article published in September 2019 on how climate change is transforming where fish in the Great Lakes live, it says in Ontario, warm-water-loving species such as smallmouth and largemouth bass are making their way into northern lakes. They've never been seen before there. This increased competition could cause stress for fish that already live there.

• Everything that we’ve talked about so far is focused on wild fisheries. Considering that by 2030, the world will eat 20 percent more fish than in 2016, we need an alternative source of this vital protein to alleviate stress on wild stocks and feed people at the same time. Aquaculture is positioned to be that alternative. In fact, World Resources Institute says that as wild fish catches decline, aquaculture production needs to more than double to meet a projected 58 percent increase in fish consumption between 2010 and 2050.

what is aquaculture?

• Aquaculture is breeding, raising, and harvesting fish, shellfish, and aquatic plants. In other words, it’s farming in water.

  • When you see “farmed” on fish at your local grocery store, that means the fish was raised via aquaculture and not caught in the wild.

• There are two main types of aquaculture--marine and freshwater.

  • Marine is where you farm species that live in the ocean. Think salmon, yellowtail, oysters, and shrimp.

  • Freshwater takes place in ponds or other manmade systems. Freshwater aquaculture typically produces species like catfish and trout.

•  Generally, there are four stages in the aquaculture production chain.

1. Hatchery. This is where the breeding of fish, hatching of eggs, and rearing of fish through the early life stages happens.

2. Feed mills. Feed mills are where they create the feed that is served to the farmed fish. This feed often contains fish meal and fish oil, which we’ll talk more about it in a bit.

3. Farms. Once mature enough, fish go from the hatchery to the farm where feed from the feed mills is used to grow them to harvest size.

4. Processor. The fish are sent here for processing and packaging so they can be sent to and sold at food retailers and grocery stores.

• Aquaculture actually occurs both in water and on land.

  • In the water are mostly net pens where the fish are contained in a stationary, suspended or floating system of nets, screens, or pens in open water. They can be along a shore or pier, as well as anchored or floating offshore.

  • On land, there are a few approaches

    • One is an irrigation ditch or pond system where you have a ditch or pond with water that contains the fish.

    • Another is an integrated recycling system. With these, fish are grown in plastic tanks in a hydroponic greenhouse. Waste from the fish are used to provide nutrients to nearby plants. So you get fish and plants! We love this one.

    • Third on land is a raceway, which is an artificial channel, typically constructed of concrete, with an inflow and outflow of water to maintain water quality.

When did aquaculture start being used and how prevalent is it today?

• Aquaculture sounds like a cool new thing, but it’s actually quite old.

  • Around 500 BCE, the Romans farmed oysters and fish in Mediterranean lagoons. Freshwater aquaculture goes back even further, another 1,000 years, with farming carp in China for food.

  • Artificial breeding was discovered in Germany during the Enlightenment, but it was not until industrialization started killing fish populations that this technology was really developed.

• Aquaculture has grown quickly in recent years. It’s the world’s fastest growing food production sector with 5.8% annual growth since 2010.

• Today, aquaculture is where we get most of our fish.

  • In 2013, the combination of farmed fish and aquatic plants combined surpassed that of capture fisheries. It’s estimated that aquaculture will provide two-thirds of all global food fish consumption by 2030.

    • Most aquaculture production today is in Asia; China alone accounts for 62% of aquaculture production.

should we feel good about eating farmed fish?

• There are some issues with farmed fish.

  • One is that there can be a lot of waste excretion from the fish, which can lead to toxic algae blooms and polluted drinking water if not handled appropriately.

  • Another concern is the use of antibiotics to prevent disease, which could lead to antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

  • A third issue is the concern of a spread of disease to wild populations if the fish grown in pens in the ocean escape.

  • A fourth issue is the conversion ratio, which refers to amount of input (i.e., feed) it takes to get the output of a fully-grown fish. In other words, the conversion ratio refers to the amount of wild fish used to feed the farmed fish. It varies by species.

    • For fish that are predators, they need to be fed fishmeal composed of smaller fish and fish oil derived from these fish. As much as 25% of wild caught fish are used to create fish meal, and 90% of these fish could be eaten directly by humans. Sometimes the fish in the fish meal such as sardines and anchovies are themselves overfished in some parts of the world.

• Ultimately, the environmental impact of aquaculture is dependent upon the species being farmed, the intensity of production, and the location of the farm.

  • Fish farms that are in areas with strong currents and that move from time to time tend to avoid any issues with effluent (aka wastewater). It’s important the farmed fish are in clean water since they will ingest the contaminants in the water and pass that along to the consumer.

  • Antibiotic use is generally declining and safe and effective vaccinations are now more common. Still, many developed countries regulate antibiotic use while its use is looser in some developing countries.

  • Some farms have underwater cameras to detect any holes in the pen and escapees.

  • In general, the conversion ratio for farmed salmon is close to 1:1. Remember that the conversion ratio refers to the amount of food needed to get the desired output – a healthy fish. This about 1:1 ratio for farmed fish like salmon is better than other protein sources, such as cattle at 6.8 to 1.

    • Further, the aquaculture industry is innovating to find alternative options to reduce the amount of wild fish used in the feed. We’ll talk a little more in just a bit about these innovations.

• So how can you, our dear listener, know how the specific fish you’re contemplating buying scores on these metrics?

  • Looking out for certification labels is a good place to start. Here in the U.S., you’ll see BAP – for best aquaculture practices. Another is ASC for the Aquaculture Stewardship Council, which is a marker that those fish have been certified to be responsibly produced.

  • One place to look up information on whether a certain fish raised or caught a particular way is sustainable is the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch App because yes, of course there is an app for that. We love this app and recommend downloading it. You can type in the type of fish and then for that fish, it will tell you for a specific location/method of farming, given current conditions, if it is “best choice,” “good alternative,” or “avoid.” There are other guides from the Environmental Defense Fund, the Safina Center at Stony Brook University, and the Marine Conservation Society you can check out as well.

  • Some retailers also do the work for you to make sure their fish are farmed sustainably. For example, Whole Foods works with the Seafood Watch and the Safina Center to avoid unsustainable seafood.

  • And if you’re eating out, you can look for a James Beard Foundation approved restaurant which looks at the responsible sourcing of all the restaurants’ ingredients including seafood.

global salmon initiative

• So given that the impact of aquaculture is species dependent, let’s dive now into a focus on one species, the one we all know and most of us love, salmon. We’re going to do it through looking at the Global Salmon Initiative (GSI).

• GSI was launched in 2013 after a group of salmon farming CEOs met to discuss how they could improve their environmental reputation, which of course meant improving their environmental performance. They decided that to see real change, it was necessary to break down barriers within the industry and improve everyone’s environmental performance. They recognized that one laggard could bring down the entire industry’s reputation.

  • Today, the group has 14 members representing 8 countries and about 50% of the global farmed salmon sector.

  • The initiative sets itself apart from other industry groups in that it is led by the member CEOs, and they believe that by working collaboratively and transparently, they can improve the industry’s sustainability performance at speed and at scale.

• Salmon is an important one to get right. Salmon aquaculture is the fastest growing food production system in the world. It makes sense considering we love salmon. Approximately 400,000 tons of salmon are consumed in the US each year. That’s like everybody in the U.S. getting 2.5 pounds of salmon each year. Approximately 60 percent of all this salmon production is farmed.

• GSI works to reduce the impact of farmed salmon via four work streams that reflect some of what we’ve already discussed.

1. Achieving the highest level of environmental and social standards

• The GSI members have committed to achieving the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) certification across 100% of farms. ASC is an international non-profit and to get its certification, a body independent of ASC must certify that a farm has achieved a certain number of points across more than 150 environmental, economic, and social indicators, and then there are regular audits. More than 60% of production from GSI farms is ASC certified, and they have made a commitment to achieve certification across 100% of their farms.

2. Improving biosecurity (fish health and welfare)

• GSI is working collaboratively to research and innovate to solve the two main challenges to fish health--sea lice and the use of antibiotics.

  • Sea lice are a naturally occurring parasite that can harm fish and reduce a farm’s productivity.

  • With antibiotics, GSI members transparently report on their use of antibiotics in its annual sustainability report. GSI’s data shows that among its members, antibiotic use is declining year on year and in some cases, farms aren’t using any at all.

  • GSI members are also trying to find non-medicinal ways to address sea lice and keep salmon healthy. This is important considering every year about 9.5 million fish die in salmon farms, about 20% of the total.

 3. Securing sustainable sources of feed ingredients

• GSI members know they can’t continue to use fish meal and fish oil at the levels they have been, especially with the projected industry growth. Thus, innovations are required.

  • With fish oil, GSI wants to find non-marine sources like algae, specialty crops like canola, and insects that can offer the same levels of omega 3s to keep the salmon healthy, and maintain the health benefits for consumers.

  • For fish meal, GSI is trying to use more byproducts (parts of fish not sold for human consumption) that would otherwise go to waste. So far, plant-based feeds, including soy have had limited success as salmon rely on protein-dense fishmeal to reach market weight quickly.

 4. Improving industry transparency

• Each GSI company reports on several environmental and social indicators in the GSI Sustainability Report. The indicators include fish mortality, antibiotic use, and sea lice counts. The report is pretty unique in the food sector as it includes data from multiple companies, regions, and years all in one place.

• Our interview today is with Sophie Ryan, Chief Executive Officer of the Global Salmon Initiative. She’s been with GSI since the very beginning in 2013 and became the CEO in January 2019. We’re going to do a deep dive into GSI and farmed fish, particularly farmed salmon, with her.