Projects look to improve carbon footprint and biodiversity impact of aquafeeds

Projects aim to better understand, measure and reduce the environmental and carbon footprint of aquaculture feeds

Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP), a marine conservation organization, has announced a new landscape-based aquaculture initiative. It aims to help seafood buyers, processors, and farmers create the scale necessary to deal with the various challenges related to fish farming, such as environmental and economic issues, by collaboratively looking at the bigger picture.

“Retailers and major buyers of seafood are looking for actionable solutions to have a positive impact,” said Braddock Spear, global policy director at SFP. “The time is now to link improved aquaculture production and sourcing to broader goals and positive impact on climate change, biodiversity and strengthening communities.”

Made possible by funding from the Walmart Foundation, SFP will initiate two new projects within its aquaculture programs:

• Organizing market demand in support of more sustainable aquaculture feed;
• Building the foundation and roadmap for landscape-scale aquaculture improvement of farmed shrimp in Andhra Pradesh, India, in conjunction with the Aquaculture Stewardship Council.

SFP will focus on industry improvements and collective action to address aquaculture feed sourcing risks. Key products include an industry action toolkit to facilitate positive and aligned supply chain engagement on aquaculture feed sustainability. SFP will work with other leading NGOs and related initiatives to ensure consistency in advice and recommendations.

“We have an exciting and unique opportunity to work with seafood buyers and supply chains to develop collaborative efforts around feed,” said Dave Martin, program director at SFP. “This project will allow us to engage industry to better understand, measure and reduce the environmental footprint of aquaculture feeds.”

Currently, only about 24 percent of farmed shrimp from India is certified. As demand from international markets for certified products grows, there will be an urgent need to address sustainability issues at the landscape level, beyond what can be delivered through farm-level certification.

@GSA_Advocate