Major grocers flunk on farmed salmon sustainability

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, May 25, 2023

Shoppers being hoodwinked by faulty eco-certifications

Vancouver | Traditional unceded territories of the xwməĪøkwəyĢ“É™m (MUSQUEAM), SkĢ±wxĢ±wuĢ7mesh (SQUAMISH) and səlilwətaɬ (TSLEIL-WAUTUTH) First Nations AND Halifax/Kjipuktuk, unceded Miā€™kmaq territory ā€” Open-net pen farmed salmon remains the Achilles heel for Canadian grocersā€™ sustainable seafood commitments. Nearly all received failing scores for their lack of progress to remove farmed salmon from their stores or take actions to improve their sourcing, according to SeaChoiceā€™s latest Seafood Progress report.

The 2023 Seafood Progress audit found:

  • Farmed salmon scores were low for all but two grocers.

  • Most grocers and the brands they sell continue to rely on farmed salmon certifications that are not fit for purpose. These certifications, including the Aquaculture Stewardship Council and Best Aquaculture Practices, fail to adequately protect wild salmon from disease or sea lice impacts from certified farms.

  • Most grocers avoid labelling products as ā€œfarmed.ā€ While all grocers label ā€œwildā€ on some seafood, nearly all avoid labelling ā€œfarmedā€ seafood, including salmon. Without proper labelling, shoppers are unable to make informed choices. METRO and Costco are the only grocers to label their farmed salmon as such.

  • Two grocers stood out above the rest. Sobeys was the only grocer to improve its score (from 34 per cent to 68 per cent) ā€” largely due to preferentially sourcing and promoting closed- containment farmed salmon. Buy-Low Foods continues to be the only grocer to refrain from selling farmed salmon.

  • All grocers have committed not to sell genetically engineered salmon. This marketplace consensus is welcomed given genetically engineered salmonā€™s potential risk to wild salmon.

In addition, more than half of grocers still donā€™t include all the seafood they sell under their sustainability commitments.

ā€œThat means a significant amount of seafood ā€” from canned salmon and tuna to frozen seafood ā€” is being ignored,ā€ SeaChoice supply chain analyst Dana Cleaveley said. ā€œFor healthy oceans, we need grocers to be addressing all seafood sold in their stores, not just some.ā€

ā€œGrocers and shoppers are being hoodwinked by open-net pen salmon certifications claiming ā€˜best practiceā€™ or ā€˜responsibly farmed.ā€™ These certifications allow practices to continue that are largely industry norms, threatening wild salmon populations,ā€ said Christina Callegari, SeaChoice representative from the Ecology Action Centre.

Next month, federal Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray is expected to announce the details for the British Columbia open-net pen transition plan. ā€œClearly, voluntary governance schemes such as certifications arenā€™t the answer to reining in this unsustainable industry. We need the government to step up, protect wild salmon and confirm a plan that removes the net pens,ā€ SeaChoice representative from Living Oceans Society Kelly Roebuck said. ā€œTransitioning to land-based aquaculture would expand the supply of closed-containment salmon for grocers, removing their reliance on faulty net pen certifications.ā€

These findings have prompted SeaChoice to call on the federal government to take steps to do what certifications in the marketplace have failed to do: protect wild salmon.

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Media Contact


Kelly Roebuck
Sustainable Seafood Campaigner | Living Oceans Society
kroebuck@livingoceans.org

Karen Wristen
Executive Director | Living Oceans Society
604-788-5634

Dana Cleaveley
Supply Chain Analyst | SeaChoice
marketanalyst@seachoice.org

 

Background:

SeaChoice is a science-based, solutions-focused influencer, advocate and watchdog leading the next evolution of seafood sustainability in Canada. Launched in 2006, SeaChoice was created to increase consumer awareness around seafood sustainability in Canada with the primary goal of shifting seafood procurement and consumption to more sustainable options. SeaChoice is a member organization of the Conservation Alliance for Seafood Solutions and is a collaboration of three internationally recognized organizations: the David Suzuki Foundation, the Ecology Action Centre and Living Oceans Society.

Seafood Progress is a platform that SeaChoice has used to report on major Canadian grocersā€™ performance against their commitments to sustainable and socially responsible seafood since 2018. In 2022, SeaChoice expanded its platform to include some of the most prevalent seafood brands sold in the Canadian market.

Additional information:

Seafood Progress profiles for grocers

2023 Summary Report on Grocers

Scoring Methodology for Grocers

Salmon Farming Certifications: Failing to Live up to Their Promises Lousy Choices III: Why salmon farms have to come out of the water

Salmon on Land: Investing in a multi-billion dollar future Genetically Engineered SalmonThe

Common Vision for Sustainable Seafood

Scientists have identified that farmed fishā€“origin transmission of a highly infectious bacteria, Tenacibaculum maritimum, and virus, Piscine orthoreovirus, are of serious concern to some Pacific salmon populations. Both are common in B.C. salmon farms and hatcheries. No farmed salmon certifications prevent farms with PRV or T. maritimum infected fish from being certified. Additionally, Best Aquaculture Practices has no sea lice limits and the Aquaculture Stewardship Council simply defers to government limits.

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