Salmon farmers in Scotland have criticised a new guide aimed at helping communities to 'engage' with aquaculture developments. The Sustainable Inshore Trust (Sift) has produced an information pack to assisting the public
in 'having their voices heard' over new proposals in the industry.
According to an article in the Scotsman, the Scottish Salmon Producers’ Association has branded the report as
“yet another attempt from some well-known anti-fish farming groups to
undermine one of Scotland’s most successful food industries”.
Sift
claim to be a new Scottish charity dedicated to promoting the
economically and environmentally sustainable use of coastal waters.
It
states the 69-page Aquaculture Information Pack’s primary focus was
coastal salmon farms, the most common form of aquaculture in Scotland,
and was particularly relevant to the planning system for aquaculture
development.
Responding to the broadcast of ‘Fish Fight’ on the United Kingdom’s Channel 4 television channel last night, Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) is urging all parts of the aquaculture supply chain to work together to achieve sustainable shrimp feed. The programme alerted viewers to the environmental damage associated with the fishmeal used for shrimp feed but there is a danger that such publicity will cause retailers and processors to shun these fisheries rather than working with them to achieve improvements.
SFP is currently developing proposals for improvement projects in Vietnam and Thailand for fisheries that are used for fishmeal and has the support of leading figures in retail and processing. It is planned to announce the first of these projects in May this year.
Commenting on the Fish Fight programme and it’s coverage of the shrimp feed issue, Blake Lee-Harwood, Communications Director with SFP, says, “It’s a good thing that Fish Fight has highlighted the problems with many Asian fisheries that supply fishmeal to aquaculture – this is a significant challenge for sustainable fisheries and marine conservation. However, the solution to this problem is for the whole supply chain to engage in projects to improve these fisheries rather than trying to stop sourcing. If responsible companies walk away from this issue, the unsustainable practices will still continue and the fishmeal and shrimps will go to markets with fewer concerns about responsible fishing.”
Read more...
SFP is currently developing proposals for improvement projects in Vietnam and Thailand for fisheries that are used for fishmeal and has the support of leading figures in retail and processing. It is planned to announce the first of these projects in May this year.
Commenting on the Fish Fight programme and it’s coverage of the shrimp feed issue, Blake Lee-Harwood, Communications Director with SFP, says, “It’s a good thing that Fish Fight has highlighted the problems with many Asian fisheries that supply fishmeal to aquaculture – this is a significant challenge for sustainable fisheries and marine conservation. However, the solution to this problem is for the whole supply chain to engage in projects to improve these fisheries rather than trying to stop sourcing. If responsible companies walk away from this issue, the unsustainable practices will still continue and the fishmeal and shrimps will go to markets with fewer concerns about responsible fishing.”
Read more...
“The salmon industry can increase efficiency and reduce costs by
optimising physical pellet quality and feeding equipment.” So says Maike
Marlene Oeheme, who defends her PhD thesis at the Norwegian University
of Life Sciences (UMB) today (March 1, 2013).
Her PhD project was financed by CREATE (Centre for Research-based
Innovation in Aquaculture Technology, SFI) and was carried out at Nofima
in Sunndalsøra.
Oeheme identifies the following factors as important in achieving
cost efficient production and to fully utilize valuable feed resources:
high physical feed quality, optimisation of feeding systems, good
spreading of the feed in the sea cages and minimising feed loss.
 |
| Salmon in a market, Seattle, USA (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
No comments:
Post a Comment