The Global Salmon Initiative (GSI) has released a new report on the group's progress in increasing the sustainability of salmon farming.
GSI was founded 2013 with the help of the World Wildlife Fund, aims to reduce the negative impacts of farmed salmon production on ecosystems around the globe. The GSI reported more than 70 GSI salmon farms have been certified and that another 35 additional farms are under assessment. With GSI aiming to have all its members achieving 100 percent Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) certification by 2020, the current figures, calculated for 2013, 2014 and 2015, indicate that the group is on track, according to WWF Global Lead for Aquaculture Piers Hart.
"These are encouraging results and we trust that the 35 farms under assessment will become certified later this year,” Hart said. “This is great progress. We would like all farmed salmon companies to join the GSI and become ASC certified, making sustainability a pre-competitive issue."
On a global scale, more than 200 farms in 24 countries have been certified by ASC. Salmon is ranked as the top ASC-certified species, with 84 salmon farms having successfully completed the audit process thus far. Aquaculture is responsible for almost 60 percent of the world’s salmon, an industry worth USD 5.4 billion (EUR 4.7 billion) annually. Furthermore, GSI members are behind the production of around half of the world’s farmed salmon, according to the WWF.
“I can only applaud the GSI for holding its members accountable for progress, benchmarking their performance and reporting the results publicly,“ added Richard Holland, director of WWF´s Market Transformation Initiative. "My hope is that other platforms, such as the Consumer Goods Forum, will follow this example. WWF calls on CEOs taking part in the CGF meeting 15 to 17 June in South Africa to strengthen the platform’s commitments to transparent reporting on critical issues, such as the sustainability of seafood sold by its members.”
