The Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform (CAAR), a British Columbia-based coalition of environmental organizations, including the David Suzuki Foundation and Living Oceans Society, is speaking out against the newly finalized salmon aquaculture standards developed by the World Wildlife Fund-coordinated Salmon Aquaculture Dialogue.
The standards, which now move to the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) to manage and to oversee certification of salmon farms, do not adequately protect wild salmon and the environment, according to CAAR.
CAAR, which was on the steering committee for the dialogue and voted against the standards, contends that closed-containment salmon farming is the only verifiable way to effectively reduce or eliminate the key negative environmental impacts of salmon farming.
The group is concerned that the salmon standards do not adequately address disease transmission between farmed and wild fish, the use of antibiotics and sea lice chemicals and the potential expansion of aquaculture.
However, CAAR said while the standards cannot ensure truly environmentally responsible salmon-farming practices, they are still better and based on more credible process than other standards.
