The signatories to an open letter embrace representatives from West Africa’s small-scale fishing sector in addition to Norwegian and worldwide organizations equivalent to Associates of the Earth Norway (Naturvernforbundet), the Environmental Safety Affiliation of Norway (NMF), and Oceana.
Different notable teams supporting this marketing campaign embrace Suggestions, the Environmental Justice Basis, and Seas at Danger.
The coalition argues that sourcing fish oil from West Africa exacerbates meals insecurity within the area. They contend {that a} substantial portion of the fish oil utilized in Norwegian salmon farming is imported from this space, which is already grappling with extreme meals shortages.
In accordance with their claims, the fish used to provide this oil might have offered as much as 4 million individuals in West Africa with a 12 months’s provide of fish adequate to satisfy their dietary wants.
All these organizations are collectively calling on Norway’s management to curb the growth of the nation’s salmon farming business and to make sure full transparency all through company provide chains. They’re advocating for a direct ban on sourcing fish oil from areas affected by meals insecurity, insisting that Norwegian corporations’ practices align with the nation’s improvement insurance policies.
Business response
The letter and Suggestions’s report, Blue Empire, declare a big position for the 4 world aquafeed majors—Mowi, Skretting, Cargill, and BioMar—in supplying almost all of the feed utilized in Norwegian salmon farming. The campaigners preserve that these gamers supply fish oil from Northwest Africa. Nonetheless, responses from the feed giants present a nuanced image.
A spokesperson for Mowi acknowledged it bought small quantities of fish oil from Mauritania for its Norwegian feed manufacturing, as disclosed in its annual experiences. Nonetheless, the corporate has not sourced any uncooked supplies from Mauritania since September 2023, mentioned the consultant.
“Feed is essential for making certain optimum fish well being and efficiency, and it considerably contributes to the environmental footprint of salmon farming. To take care of management in environmental duty, Mowi prioritizes the sourcing of sustainable feed components and strives to make the most of feed as effectively as potential at its fish farms.
“The geopolitical state of affairs, significantly the battle in Ukraine, decreased the vary of accessible components in 2022 and 2023. Regardless of these challenges, all purchases from Mauritania complied with Mowi’s coverage on sustainable salmon feed and had been third-party audited to make sure they didn’t contribute to native protein deficiencies.”
Mowi, he reported, ensures full traceability of all feed components, whether or not marine or non-marine in origin. The corporate doesn’t supply uncooked supplies from unlawful, unregulated, and unreported (IUU) catches or from fish species categorised as endangered by the Worldwide Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Pink Record, mentioned the spokesperson.
The corporate, he added, goals to supply all marine uncooked supplies from suppliers dedicated to accountable fishery administration practices and licensed as sustainable by requirements equivalent to MSC, Marine Belief, or equal Fisheries Enchancment Tasks (FIPs).
Additionally commenting on this situation was Skretting Norway.
“We’ve got a procurement coverage to solely purchase marine uncooked supplies from entire fish which are both licensed (MSC or MarinTrust) or topic to a FIP,” confimed Leif Kjetil Skjæveland, sustainability and public affairs supervisor at that aquafeed participant.
He instructed us that whereas Skretting Norway beforehand sourced fish oil from a public FIP in Mauritania, it didn’t purchase any from Africa in 2023 and has not accomplished so both in 2024.
Skjæveland additional defined that buying fish oil from the Mauritania FIP helps the event of sustainable fisheries and improves native livelihoods in West Africa. “Pulling out, because the NGOs counsel, will solely assist these actors that aren’t transferring to internationally acknowledged certification requirements,” he added.
Skretting Norway, he continued, requires full traceability on marine components and is an energetic member of the World Roundtable on Marine Components, which lately launched an impartial audit on the human rights features associated to the Mauritania FIP.
Skretting discloses all of the species and the international locations it sources fish from, whereas human rights in its worth chains is roofed in its Code of Conduct for Enterprise Companions, and is a “vital” facet of its evaluation and audit of its suppliers.
Because the variety of FIPs all over the world has grown quickly, companies and conservation organizations want a neater method to entry constant, dependable details about FIP progress. FisheryProgress was designed to provide any stakeholder a variety of details about world FIPs from a fast snapshot of progress and alternatives to get entangled to detailed proof for enhancements.
Photograph credit score: GettyImages/Alejandro Pacheco
Cargill and BioMar mentioned they’re aligned with the IFFO on this situation. The marine components group highlighted that its members actively guarantee an growing share of fishmeal and fish oil is responsibly sourced by means of certification or FIPs.
In response to considerations about meals safety, the IFFO famous that the World Roundtable on Marine Components, established in 2021, has taken steps to deal with these sorts of points by means of market strain, dialogue, and third-party audits. A workshop co-organized with the FAO in Ghana in December 2023 gathered representatives from sub-Saharan communities to debate the necessity for regulation and enforcement within the marine components sector with a deal with each Sub-Saharan and West African areas, how fishery sources might finest contribute to meals and vitamin safety, and to livelihoods of small-scale and dependent fisheries communities within the context of the event of the fish-based feed business.
“A joint assertion afterwards insisted on the necessity for the marine components sector to be regulated, legal guidelines to be enforced and solely uncooked supplies with no marketplace for direct human consumption to be processed into fishmeal,” reported the IFFO.
Feed producers face larger and better necessities within the sourcing of marine components from licensed sources and/or fisheries endeavor a FIP course of, acknowledged the marine components consultant group.
“Such a requirement is central to compliance in the important thing certification schemes for the aquafeed business,” reads the IFFO assertion.
Atlantic salmon nutrient necessities
Fishmeal and fish oil present essential dietary and palatability advantages in feed, that are important throughout the first weeks of a salmon’s life to forestall ailments, scale back the necessity for antibiotics, and reduce mortality, as supported by research within the Journal of Dietary Science and the British Journal of Diet, pressured the IFFO. Feed formulations proceed to enhance, enhancing the dietary advantages and complementarity of fishmeal and fish oil—a technique totally backed by IFFO by means of its analysis efforts. “Moreover, a 2020 third-party research has proven that salmon farming is already a web optimistic fish manufacturing course of.”
Mowi addressed dietary features as properly outlining how the business has advanced from its preliminary reliance on fishmeal and fish oil, incorporating different protein and lipid sources.
“A deeper understanding of Atlantic salmon nutrient necessities has facilitated the inclusion of novel uncooked supplies in salmon feed. Mowi actively helps and screens the event and testing of recent uncooked supplies, together with omega-3 wealthy oils and sustainable protein sources. The corporate continues to extend using fish trimmings to provide fishmeal and fish oil for each built-in and externally sourced feed manufacturing.
“Mowi is devoted to balancing the manufacturing of wholesome meals for human consumption with its purpose of being an environmentally accountable producer. This stability is achieved by sourcing sustainable feed components and optimizing feed useful resource utilization at its farms.”
