Fishmeal Certification Program Takes the Green-washed Cake

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For several years now, proposed certification of one fishery after another has been causing international controversy for the Marine Stewardship Council. Likewise, one company after another have signed on to source farmed shrimp from Global Aquaculture Alliance’s Best Aquaculture Practices, despite the fact that their labor and worker health standards are sub-par according to the Solidarity Center (check out pages 14-16 in that last link to find out more). But this latest news of a fishmeal certification program really takes the cake—the green-washed cake, that is.

The U.K.-based International Fishmeal and Fish Oil Organization has introduced the “Global Standard for Responsible Supply,” a certification intended for fishmeal and fish oil producers.  Although many consumers aren’t aware, fishmeal is a major source of protein for a variety of food animals, both land-based (like pigs) and sea-based. But carnivorous fish like salmon have high fish-in-fish-out (FIFO) ratios, which are of significant concern to ecologically conscious consumers for a couple big reasons:

1. Feeding fish to fish can be extremely inefficient.  In Fishy Farms, Food & Water Watch calculated that cobia, for example, can require anywhere from 3 to 6.7 pounds of wild fish – sometimes also called “forage fish” or “prey fish” – in order to produce just one pound of farmed product. Salmon’s FIFO ratio is slightly lower, but to produce a single pound of farmed salmon can still require about 2.4 pounds of wild fish.[i]
2. This kind of dependence on feed containing wild fish can adversely affect food security in developing countries. Wild fish that are fed to carnivorous fish are usually lower on the food chai, meaning they are prey to almost all, but not predator to many. Anchovy, sardines, herring, menhaden, and some mackerel are a few of the most common examples. These fish are an important protein source for not just marine wildlife, but also many people in economically struggling countries.

The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations has observed that, “wild fish stocks represent a finite and valuable food source for direct human consumption, especially for the malnourished and rural poor,”[ii] and as such, issued a policy guideline in 2006 stating that there is a need for governments within major aquaculture-producing countries to prohibit the use of prey fish species as feed for the culture of high value fish or shellfish species, in particular within countries where prey fish is consumed directly by the rural poor.[iii]

Data from 2003 shows that more than two-thirds of that year’s total fishmeal production, and nearly half of its total fish oil production, came from sources in South America and Asia.[iv] Of those percentages, nearly half of the total product came from Peru alone. Peru’s anchovy fishery is not only the largest fishery in the world, it’s also the one that contributes the most to annual production of fishmeal and fish oil.  Not surprisingly, this is the country where the International Fishmeal and Fish Oil Organisation’s (IFFO) first certification—with Peruvian company TASA—took place just a few days ago.

But despite this wealth in marine resources, it is estimated that about half of Peru’s population remains below the poverty line.  To combat this, the Peruvian government instituted a successful policy in 2007 encouraging the supply of processed anchovy products to Peruvians with low-income. Selling anchovies as food also makes more money for fishermen (and, in turn, the national economy) than fishmeal – so it would seem to be a win-win situation for both food and financial security to not use a precious resource as feed for farmed fish.[v] Yet, the IFFO suggested in 2009 that human consumption, relative to the reduction fishery, is “likely to remain small and will not significantly effect [sic] the output of fishmeal and fish oil.”  Wishful thinking on their part, perhaps?

It is concerning that developed countries—and their fishmeal reduction industries—continue to plunder the resources of developing countries like Peru simply to produce fish like salmon and bring in more money. As the IFFO continues to certify fishmeal under the new certification program, there will likely be more pressure put on already very exploited wild stocks, to produce fishmeal and fish oil. This will make them less available as food for marine wildlife and people of Peru and other countries, and ultimately makes for a greenwashed cake that is just too hard to swallow.

[ii] Tacon, Albert G.J., et al.  “[FAO Fisheries Circular No. 1018] Use of Fisheries Resources as Feed Inputs to Aquaculture Development: Trends and Policy Implications.”  Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations.  Rome, 2006 at 69.

[iii] Ibid. at 71.

[iv] Northern Territory Government.  “Technote No. 124: Is the use of fishmeal and fish oil sustainable?”  Darwin Aquaculture Center, June 2008 at 5 and 6.

[v] Jacquet, Jennifer.  “Save our oceans, eat like a pig.”  The Tyee in Alternet, 20 April, 2007.  Available at http://www.alternet.org/environment/50807/save_our_oceans,_eat_like_a_pig/