Trout Aquaculture Dialogue to Meet in November

This will be the third gathering of the Dialogue, which is a group of trout producers, conservationists, scientists and others who began meeting in November 2008 to develop global standards for responsible rainbow trout aquaculture.

“The effort made to include producers in the discussion is important and impressive,” said Luz Arregui, a trout producer from Spain and member of the Dialogue’s Steering Committee.

“We have been – and will continue to be – involved in the Dialogue process so that we make sure the final standards are in line with our top priority, which is protecting the environment while also making a living from trout farming.”

Fish Update reports that the meeting in Spain, participants will finalize the criteria – the areas to focus on to address the key impacts associated with freshwater trout aquaculture – and begin creating indicators for measuring the extent of each impact.

The criteria and indicators will be the foundation for the performance-based standards that producers will need to adopt to become certified by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council, a new organization that will be responsible for working with independent, third party entities to certify farms that are in compliance with the Dialogue standards.