According to Brian Thomsen, managing director of the Danish Aquaculture Organization, in a few years the Danish consumers will be able to serve farmed and certified rainbow trout with a visible proof that the fish has been produced in the most environmentally responsible way.
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* "By committing to sustainability and moving at the front of this development, we hope to inspire the aquaculture industry on a global scale" |
Brian Thomsen, managing director of the Danish Aquaculture Organization
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Farmed fish amounts to half of all fish consumed, but today it is hard for
consumers to buy fish that are documented sustainable.WWF wants to change this
in cooperation with the Danish Aquaculture Organization, says Espen Tind
Nordberg, head of the WWF program for sustainable consumption. The first step of
the cooperation will be to define specific criteria for sustainable aquaculture.
In advance, WWF and the Danish Aquaculture Organization point out that
sustainability among other things imply that the use of wild caught fish for
fish feed is reduced and that only industrially processed fish from sustainable
stocks are used. The Danish Aquaculture Organization is happy to engage in a
process that will lead to the industry fully achieving societal goals for nature
and environment.Managing director Brian Thomsen says:
This project is highly important because the sea resources are under pressure
and the global demand for fish products is rapidly increasing. In the future we
will consume more farmed than caught fish, therefore it is essential that the
activities of the aquaculture industry are environmentally effective.We want to
be at the front of this development and in this regard it is natural that we now
commit ourselves fully to sustainability. In the agreement of cooperation
between WWF and the Danish Aquaculture Organization the headlines
are:
Definition of a Trout Vision, Trout Sustainability Assessment and Trout
Action Plan Initiate the WWF facilitated 'Trout Aquaculture Dialogue'
(TAD) Work on the creation of a sustainable certified fish feed product
According to Brian Thomsen, this work is in line with the Danish fish farmers'
existing environmental
efforts:
"Aquaculture is already the most environmentally effective form of food
production; there have been great enhancements regarding discharge from fish farms", writes Mr Thomsen. Denmark has recently launched organic aquaculture and is implementing more and more state of
the art clean technology. "Now we can add a future certification scheme to our
efforts. By committing to sustainability and moving at the front of this
development, we hope to inspire the aquaculture industry on a global scale"