In the July 2019 issue of International Aquafeed, I relayed my involvement with the Aquaculture Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) of the Seafood Watch program of the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
Since, there has been a lot of work and meetings - through public consultations, Expert Working Groups, TACs and the Multi-Stakeholder Group approval - leading to the recent release of the revised aquaculture, fisheries and salmon-specific fisheries standards.
These standards undergo regular review and revision to ensure the latest science on sustainability and best management practices are incorporated.
The process includes three phases over a five-year cycle. In the first three years (Phase 1: Implementation), Seafood Watch performs assessments against the most current standards and documents potential revisions. In year four (Phase 2: Review), they refine potential changes in consultation with experts; in year five (Phase 3: Revision), they propose revisions, implement changes based on feedback from the public and their advisory groups, and publish new or updated standards.
The scope of the Aquaculture Standard considerably broadened to include multi-species and multi-trophic systems
While the scope of assessment in the Aquaculture Standard has always been “all aquaculture species and production systems at all scales”, this new revision considerably broadened the scope to include “those involving multiple species (hereafter termed “polyculture” and inclusive of all multi-species and multi-trophic systems).” The distinction between “multi-species” and “multi-trophic” systems is to recognise that in the first case, it could include, for example, three species of fish, while in the second case the species are selected based on their complementary functions in the ecosystem, with a mixture of fed and extractive species, for example a combination of fish, seaweeds and invertebrates.
Read more, HERE.
The Aquaculturists
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