Cermaq Canada has just become North America’s first salmon farming company to have achieved ASC certification for multiple farms.
“This is a big milestone for us, and shows our commitment to the goals set by the Global Salmon Initiative,” said Fernando Villarroel, Cermaq Canada’s Chief Operating Officer.
“This certification represents over a year of hard work and dedication by our employees. It has also helped us identify new opportunities for improvement in the way we farm salmon.”
The company joins Marine Harvest Canada as the only suppliers of ASC certified salmon grown in North America. Only 46 salmon farms around the world have achieved this stringent certification.
By 2020, BC aims to be the first region in the world to be certified by ‘Gold Standard’ environmental programs, which includes having all farm-raised Atlantic salmon ASC certified. BC is the first and only salmon farming region to have all of its Atlantic salmon certified by the Global Aquaculture Alliance Best Aquaculture Practices program. The province is also home to North America’s first certified organic Chinook producer in Creative Salmon.
“Members of the BCSFA are committed to world leading practices,” said BCSFA Executive Director, Jeremy Dunn.
The ASC salmon standard includes a requirement to show evidence of traceability of feed ingredients that make up more than 1% of the feed. In addition, salmon farmers must be able to show that their feed meets a specific Fish Oil Forage Fish Dependency Ratio (FFDRo < 2.95) for grow-out OR a maximum amount of EPA and DHA from direct marine sources ((EPA + DHA) < 30 g/kg feed). The Fish Fishmeal Forage Fish Dependency Ratio for grow-out should achieve (FFDRm < 1.35).
By 2017, all fishmeal and fish oil used in feed must come from fisheries certified under a scheme that is an ISEAL member and has guidelines that specifically promote responsible environmental management of small pelagic fisheries.
In the run up to this date, the individual FishSource scores for the fishery(ies) from which all marine raw material in feed are derived must be ≥ 6, and the biomass score should be ≥ 8. In addition, farmers must be able to demonstrate third party verified chain of custody and traceability for all batches of fishmeal and fish oil.
Feed containing fishmeal and/or fish oil originating from by-products or trimmings from IUU catch or from fish species that are categorized as vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered, according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species are not allowed.
