SALMON SOLUTION: A new farming technique for Pacific coho salmon has received approval from a consumer education group that advocates for sustainable fisheries
Image: Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
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Farm-raised salmon has long been the poster child of unsustainable aquaculture practices. Issues of escape, pollution and inefficiency have plunged it deeply into the "avoid" territory of environmental groups—until now.
In a report released January 14, the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch program is taking the unprecedented step of approving a particular method for farming Pacific coho salmon that is currently employed exclusively by the Rochester, Wash.–based AquaSeed Corp. The sustainability nod from the consumer education group means that these salmon also will be assigned a green "Best Choice" rating on Seafood Watch's Web site. The approval follows several months of intensive site visits by Seafood Watch scientists and reviews of the company's production facility, feed ratios, fish contaminant and pollution discharge levels, and more.
The salmon, to be sold under the SweetSpring label, have also been shown to contain high levels of omega-3 fatty acids, placing the salmon on Seafood Watch's newly created Super Green List, which denotes that the fish is good for human health without causing harm to the ocean. To appear on the Super Green List, the salmon must provide the daily minimum of omega-3s (at least 250 milligrams per day) based on 28 grams of fish, and have PCB (polychlorinated biphenyl) levels under 11 parts per billion (ppb). AquaSeed came in at 335 milligrams per day of omega-3s and had a PCB level of 10.4 ppb.
"This is the first farmed salmon we've ever talked about as a good source [for food, since the program's inception in 1999]," said Geoffrey Shester, senior science manager for Seafood Watch. "This is extremely exciting. It's not an experimental science project. It is mature to the point where there is real potential to scale it up."
The farming method
The AquaSeed Pacific coho salmon are raised in a freshwater, closed containment system, which is not how salmon are conventionally farmed. Salmon in the wild live primarily in saltwater but swim to freshwater every year to spawn. Traditionally raised farm salmon are grown in open-net ocean pens. This has led to problems such as nonnative species escaping into the wild and pollution as well as sea lice infestation and disease, because there is no barrier between captive salmon and the wild version in surrounding waters. Plus, traditionally raised farmed salmon require as much as five pounds (2.3 kilograms) of meal made from smaller fish caught in the wild for every pound (half kilogram) of salmon meat, a level that is considered unsustainable by environmental groups.
AquaSeed's salmon are grown in land-based, freshwater tanks ranging in size from 60 centimeters to 15 meters wide depending on the salmon's developmental stage. Containment tanks prevent escapes and problems with sea lice infestation that have plagued open-net ocean pen operations. Also, a high-end salmon feed and selective breeding has helped minimize fishmeal use, reducing the ratio of pounds of wild feed fish to produce pounds of farmed fish to 1.1 to one—a number AquaSeed owner Per Heggelund says he expects to whittle further.
"What's interesting about this is this is they've taken salmon back millions of years evolutionarily, to the point where they're freshwater again," Shester says.
Now on their 17th generation of pedigree breeding, the egg-to-plate operation is in the process of providing the salmon with a DNA fingerprint to help thwart any unauthorized breeding. AquaSeed's core business is selling "eyed" salmon eggs (eggs that have developed to the point that their eyes are visible) under the Domsea label to salmon farms in Japan, China and other countries. They've also been working to conserve endangered wild Pacific salmon stocks by maintaining an isolation and breeding facility operation, protecting 40 distinct families of salmon.
"We didn't set out to be in a food fish program in a land-based facility," Heggelund says. "That wasn't our goal. We were more focused on the genetics—the livestock breeding of salmon for the normal traits of survival at certain stages of the life cycle, productive growth and feed conversion, and egg production."
Producing 90,700 kilograms of salmon a year, Heggelund is preparing to rapidly expand production on his 20-hectare farm, and is already working closely with large purchasers such as Compass Group and Whole Foods as well as Mashiko, a Seattle-based sustainable sushi restaurant.
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23 Comments
Add CommentAt last, a safe aquaculture method for carnivorous fish. Perhaps in five years, all those abandoned hot tubs and pools in California will become fish farms full of coho salmon!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCoho salmon in fresh water is not new. They were introduced into the Great Lakes a long time ago to control a trash fish, the alewife. They have prospered and become a local favorite food fish.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisis it possible that I could combine my love of california hot tub living, sexy ladies and sustainable fish farming after all this time!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIs it finally possible that I can combine my love of beautiful ladies, the California hot tub lifestyle and fish farming!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI would really expect better from a publication such as Scientific American. The many inaccuracies and outright untruths about farmed salmon present in the article are very disturbing. A little bit of research would show that that farmed salmon have the same nutrition value as wild salmon, have lower contaminant levels and use a lot less fish meal than stated in the article. I am amazed that anyone can think that tank raised salmon would use so much less fish meal than open ocean raised fish. The shear fallacy of that statement indicates that no research went into the writing of the article and that the information therein was taken as gospel from those opposed to salmon farming and pushing their agenda of shutting down salmon farms. If you take the time to push through all the anti-salmon farming rhetoric you will find that net pen raised salmon are of excellent nutritional value, are ecologically and environmentally sound source of protein very rich in omega 3 fatty acids and on par with wild salmon in terms of chemical contaminants, which is very low.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have had a subscription to Scientific American for almost 30 years and am troubled by the lack of effort put into researching the truth of such matters. I think it is time for you people to clean up your act.
Pennanti-
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCould you be more specific about why you think netpen salmon farming is "ecologically and environmentally sound"?
Also, the farmed salmon industry often claims that their fish "are on par with wild salmon in terms of chemical contaminants", but they rarely cite specific data. Are there any independent data to substantiate this claim?
Pennanti-
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhile the article may be fairly broad in its explanation of why this new sustainable farm fishery is effective, it shows a new perspective. Whether or not it is effective, we can it use to further enhance our knowledge about sustainabe fisheries. It may not be as an incredible breakthrough as the article states, but its the proactive attitude that is displayed through this article that will help sustain future fisheries and possibily help repopulate current endangered fish populations. With a little research, one can find out that since the early 90's and the begining of the fall of many pacific salmon fisheries, no real breakthrough has occured that has revolutionized and repopulated endangered fish populations. In the scientific process, any step that is taken whether it fails or succeeds aids us in finding a conclusion. Growing up on the west coast, I've seen the impact of commercial fishing on wild fish populations, and any step taken to take pressure off the wild fish populations will benifit those fisheries.
To say that wild fish and farmed fish contain the same fat content is also a broad statement. Each anadromous Pacific Salmon is genetically unique becuase it and its offspring will return to the same specific freshwater environment. It's genetic makeup, which includes how much fat it retains during its life at sea, is determined by how it has adapted to its freshwater environment over the years. No two rivers or streams being the same, no two fish populations are completely alike. By looking at factors of the freshwater environment, we can find which environmental factors will contribute to the fat content of the meat, like the size of the stream, how long the fish has to travel before it spawns and dies, the average water temperature of spawning waters, the habitat in and surrounding the river, etc... Unless a fish farmer spent the time to obtain the fattiest most nutritious meat producing gentetics, such a statement has no substance.
in reply to pennanti:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI may not be the brightest bulb in the pack, and the learned folks around here will correct me if am, but pointing out an "anti-salmon farming rhetoric" in a story about sustainable salmon FARMING is a bit odd. As for the "shear" fallacy of no research being done, it would appear to one, at first glance, that the Monterey Bay Aquarium is a reputable source, long involved in the sustainability of fisheries and advising consumers on how to make wise choices. The simple fact that they say it's the first time they've considered farmed salmon would point to the fact that this a breakthrough in farming method and while, yes, the fish are not quite the same quality as wild fish, they're deemed very good. If we're wondering about research, I'm going to take the word of the Monterey Bay Aquarium over your anti-farming rhetoric that has no research backing it up every time. Sorry, but that's just the way it goes. Finally, I don't see a writerly bias. I see a report that states some facts and understanding about a single way to farm a single type of fish. It doesn't say NOT to do any other kind of fish farming. It merely points out the strength of a single method. (which, by the way, is a fish farming method, taking the wind out of the sails of the "anti-salmon farming rhetoric" you put forward.)
There are a number of issues which raise questions over the provenance, accuracy and validity of this article and challenge the objectivity of Scientific American,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe Monterey Bay Aquarium is cited as a source of information on aquaculture - was any research undertaken into the sources of funding for this institution? I have visited the aquarium and looked at its funding and I found it to be a deeply politically motiviated, borderline nationalistic and very aggressive body as evidenced by their interractive exhibits (which only promote seafood from the USA) their bookshop, (where I could find plenty of anti aquaculture but no scientific books explaining the true process) and their staff who would not engage in a conversation about their infamous "traffic light" seafood choices campaign which was so overtly nationalistic and anti-imports. I wish Scientific American would look at the funding for the Aquarium and give some balance to the subject.
The deep misunderstanding and ignorance of the seafood sector and aquaculture in the publication's promotion of a one-off project is also obvious. Coho salmon is an anadromous fish which needs a period in the marine environment to complete its life cycle. Direct intevention to shut this process off raises important ethical and animal welfare concerns. In addition, to claim that this one-off project is some sort of answer, when freshwater is one of the most important limiting resources in the world, is dangerous.
Putting figures in terms of kilos does not negate the fact that this farm has a current potential production of around 60 tonnes per annum and will compete directly with the farmed trout sector for market share. To put this in perspective, Norway exports an average of 12,000 tonnes of high quality farmed salmon a week to the European Union.
I am disappointed that the hoary old chestnut of wild fish kilos input is presented again as a fact, with no equivalent data for the much higher consumption of wild protein resources by wild salmon. The ridiculous inclusion of the sea lice issue in an article about freshwater-raised fish also exhibits a prfound misunderstanding of basic biology - sea lice cannot live in freshwater.
Finally the admission by the owner that the farm is a breeding station that probably has run out of customers for the unpopuar Coho species and are trying to sell some of their stock to sushi restaurants reveals the opportunistic motiviation of both the article and its source.
There are a number of issues which raise questions over the provenance, accuracy and validity of this article and challenge the objectivity of Scientific American,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe Monterey Bay Aquarium is cited as a source of information on aquaculture - was any research undertaken into the sources of funding for this institution? I have visited the aquarium and looked at its funding and I found it to be a deeply politically motiviated, borderline nationalistic and very aggressive body as evidenced by their interractive exhibits (which only promote seafood from the USA) their bookshop, (where I could find plenty of anti aquaculture but no scientific books explaining the true process) and their staff who would not engage in a conversation about their infamous "traffic light" seafood choices campaign which was so overtly nationalistic and anti-imports. I wish Scientific American would look at the funding for the Aquarium and give some balance to the subject.
The deep misunderstanding and ignorance of the seafood sector and aquaculture in the publication's promotion of a one-off project is also obvious. Coho salmon is an anadromous fish which needs a period in the marine environment to complete its life cycle. Direct intevention to shut this process off raises important ethical and animal welfare concerns. In addition, to claim that this one-off project is some sort of answer, when freshwater is one of the most important limiting resources in the world, is dangerous.
Putting figures in terms of kilos does not negate the fact that this farm has a current potential production of around 60 tonnes per annum and will compete directly with the farmed trout sector for market share. To put this in perspective, Norway exports an average of 12,000 tonnes of high quality farmed salmon a week to the European Union.
I am disappointed that the hoary old chestnut of wild fish kilos input is presented again as a fact, with no equivalent data for the much higher consumption of wild protein resources by wild salmon. The ridiculous inclusion of the sea lice issue in an article about freshwater-raised fish also exhibits a prfound misunderstanding of basic biology - sea lice cannot live in freshwater.
Finally the admission by the owner that the farm is a breeding station that probably has run out of customers for the unpopuar Coho species and are trying to sell some of their stock to sushi restaurants reveals the opportunistic motiviation of both the article and its source.
@Richie: you claim to have done all of this research, but don't provide any evidence to back it up. This makes you sound like a troll for the kind of industry the Monterey Bay Aquarium looks to downplay. Could that be the case? If not, what in their funding bothers you? What books would you like to see in their gift shop? Why are you surprised that a group has a particular agenda would only provide material that supports that agenda to the general public (a group of people completely lacking in critical thinking skills)? Could it be that the USA is the only country where salmon farmers are actively working to be sustainable and scalable? (Not saying it is, but I don't see China, for example, caring about such things any time soon.)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGreat job, Aquaseed! I love your fish!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis closed containment system is just a trade off of energy and capital cost for political correctness in not being a net pen.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisRecycle aquaculture which achieves the objectives of the ENGO's is very energy intensive and there is nothing you can do about that energy intensity. That is why closed system aquaculture is only used for high value products such as fingerlings, smolts, caviar, research and genetic improvements and not for high volume meat animals (salmon, shrimp, tilapia, carp, etc.).
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis is a subject I know after working in RAS for 35 years with my own totally closed hatchery.
This is a bit of a joke. The Monterey Bay Aquarium (and Scientific America) are applauding the 'closed containment' of salmon. Yet, they happily "Green Light" Alaska salmon - of which almost 50% are artificially raised in hatcheries and released into the open ocean to compete with 'wild' salmon for food etc.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis is called salmon "ranching". These ranched salmon do interbreed with wild salmon (scientifically proven to alter the genetics of wild salmon) and consume fish meal at a far greater rate than any farm-raised salmon. The salmon ranching industry in Alaska produces many more fish each year than all West Coast salmon farming (60 million/20 million).
This latest stunt by MBA is nothing more than a protectionist agenda and stinks of marketing. Marketing is OK, but they should at least admit it and refrain from simply attacking any competition.
It's funny how that, if you really wanted to find a study, you would google it. But when you really don't want to know, you complain that it wasn't spoon fed to you. There is quite a bit of recent science that clearly states farm-raised and wild salmon are equally healthy and low in toxins. Here's one - "Use of terrestrial based lipids in aquaculture feeds, Friesen et al, 2008".
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe information regurgitated by Scientific America is that from those wishing to promote Alaska salmon - which by the way, is largely made up of artificially reared salmon (aka farm-raised salmon). Not that there's anything wrong with that - but they should just admit it and Monterey Bay Aquarium should also acknowledge this.
The results of farmed salmon "elati" fish in the red sea by Israeli farmers produces an inferior but cheaper (not red) product which is sold quite successfully at half the price of its pink-salmon imported rival. One big problem was polution from the nets containing the growing fish and I hope that this is carefully eliminated when the fresh-water farms are running. It is proposed to ban this continued method done here, due to the harm being done to the corrals.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBrought to you by the Monterey Bay Aquarium(the Fish Prison), aka Packard foundation, the people who brought you such bestsellers as the Vietnam War and 3rd world sterilization eugenics. Dont forget the ONLY commercial Great White Shark (ESA listed) fishery in the USA. Dont believe anything Julie Packard and her army of paid for scientists say. Her goal is to make her prison the only place one can see West Coast biology.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHere in British Columbia Canada we have done extensive research on the impact of farm salmon on wild salmon. Salmon "farms" break the natural laws that prevent disease epidemics by holding this nomadic fish stationary and by acting as disease reservoirs holding pathogens from the parental generation in the path of the juveniles. In the wild all Pacific salmon die after spawning, which breaks the intergeneration transmission cycle. Bakke and Harris (1998) dub salmon farms as pathogen culturing facilities and we have measured this (Krkosek et al 2007, SCIENCE).
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisRegarding food quality Hites et al (2004, SCIENCE) says, "we show that concentrations of these contaminates are significantly higher in farmed than in wild salmon " they are referring to organochlorine contaminants. Foran et al (2005) give safe limits for consumption of farmed and wild salmon.
We here in British Columbia welcome closed containment because this industry is now implicated in collapse of our largest most valuable salmon runs to the Fraser River (Simon Fraser University think tank on sockeye salmon collapse Dec. 2009). However, as this a carnivore, raising salmon on fish that could be consumed directly by humans is ethically questionable.
Aquaculture is not the issue, salmon farming is the issue. There much more sustainable fish species that could be reared - their waste utilized and they could truly produce food.
Alexandra Morton
Good article and interesting comments from Richie. As a neutral spectator in the ongoing Fishing vs. Aquaculture battle over the Salmon Industry. I like facts to win each case. It is always good to question articles that provide searching statements without references.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere is an air of politics in the writing I agree, it covers every hot topic in the Salmon farming debate when it blatantly does not need to slander ocean raised Aquaculture. Why not just celebrate a new method of aquaculture, same side right?
Have a read of the same article below but I have edited it with just the facts related to the subject that the article is covering. See what you think.
RE-EDIT
Sea Change: Environmental Group Gives First-Time Nod to Sustainable Salmon-Farming Method
An aquaculture company devises a new, sustainable process that raises Pacific Coho salmon in freshwater
SALMON SOLUTION: A new farming technique for Pacific Coho salmon has received approval from a consumer education group that advocates for sustainable fisheries. (
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife in a report released January 14, that the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch program is taking the unprecedented step of approving a particular method for farming Pacific Coho salmon that is currently employed exclusively by the Rochester, Wash.based AquaSeed Corp.
The sustainability nod from the consumer education group means that these salmon also will be assigned a green "Best Choice" rating on Seafood Watch's Web site. The approval follows several months of intensive site visits by Seafood Watch scientists and reviews of the company's production facility, feed ratios, fish contaminant and pollution discharge levels, and more.
The salmon, to be sold under the SweetSpring label, that have also been shown to contain high levels of omega-3 fatty acids, placing the salmon on Seafood Watch's newly created Super Green List, which denotes that the fish is good for human health without causing harm to the ocean.
To appear on the Super Green List, the salmon must provide the daily minimum of omega-3s (at least 250 milligrams per day) based on 28 grams of fish, and have PCB (polychlorinated biphenyl) levels under 11 parts per billion (ppb). AquaSeed came in at 335 milligrams per day of omega-3s and had a PCB level of 10.4 ppb. ("This is extremely exciting. It's not an experimental science project. It is mature to the point where there is real potential to scale it up." said Geoffrey Shester, senior science manager for Seafood Watch.
The farming method that AquaSeed has employed for Pacific Coho salmon is to raise them in a freshwater, closed containment system. Salmon in the wild live primarily in saltwater but swim to freshwater every year to spawn. (AquaSeed's salmon are grown in land-based, freshwater tanks ranging in size from 60 centimeters to 15 meters wide depending on the salmon's developmental stage.
Also, a high-end salmon feed and selective breeding has helped minimize fishmeal use, reducing the ratio of pounds of wild feed fish to produce pounds of farmed fish to 1.1 to onea number AquaSeed owner Per Heggelund says he expects to whittle further. ("What's interesting about this is this is they've taken salmon back millions of years evolutionarily, to the point where they're freshwater again," Shester says.
Now on their 17th generation of pedigree breeding, the egg-to-plate operation is in the process of providing the salmon with a DNA fingerprint to help thwart any unauthorized breeding. AquaSeed's core business is selling "eyed" salmon eggs (eggs that have developed to the point that their eyes are visible) under the Domsea label to salmon farms in Japan, China and other countries. They've also been working to conserve endangered wild Pacific salmon stocks by maintaining an isolation and breeding facility operation, protecting 40 distinct families of salmon.
"We didn't set out to be in a food fish program in a land-based facility," Heggelund says. "That wasn't our goal. We were more focused on the geneticsthe livestock breeding of salmon for the normal traits of survival at certain stages of the life cycle, productive growth, feed conversion, and egg production. Producing 90,700 kilograms of salmon a year, Heggelund is preparing to rapidly expand production on his 20-hectare farm, and is already working closely with large purchasers such as Compass Group and Whole Foods as well as Mashiko, a Seattle-based sustainable sushi restaurant.
Sounds a lot more scientific and less politically orientated huh?
Good article and interesting comments from Richie. As a neutral spectator in the ongoing Fishing vs. Aquaculture battle over the Salmon Industry. I like facts to win each case. It is always good to question articles that provide searching statements without references.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere is an air of politics in the writing I agree, it covers every hot topic in the Salmon farming debate when it blatantly does not need to slander ocean raised Aquaculture. Why not just celebrate a new method of aquaculture, same side right?
Have a read of the same article below but I have edited it with just the facts related to the subject that the article is covering. See what you think.
RE-EDIT
Sea Change: Environmental Group Gives First-Time Nod to Sustainable Salmon-Farming Method
An aquaculture company devises a new, sustainable process that raises Pacific Coho salmon in freshwater
SALMON SOLUTION: A new farming technique for Pacific Coho salmon has received approval from a consumer education group that advocates for sustainable fisheries.
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife in a report released January 14, that the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch program is taking the unprecedented step of approving a particular method for farming Pacific Coho salmon that is currently employed exclusively by the Rochester, Wash.–based AquaSeed Corp.
The sustainability nod from the consumer education group means that these salmon also will be assigned a green "Best Choice" rating on Seafood Watch's Web site. The approval follows several months of intensive site visits by Seafood Watch scientists and reviews of the company's production facility, feed ratios, fish contaminant and pollution discharge levels, and more.
The salmon, to be sold under the SweetSpring label, that have also been shown to contain high levels of omega-3 fatty acids, placing the salmon on Seafood Watch's newly created Super Green List, which denotes that the fish is good for human health without causing harm to the ocean.
To appear on the Super Green List, the salmon must provide the daily minimum of omega-3s (at least 250 milligrams per day) based on 28 grams of fish, and have PCB (polychlorinated biphenyl) levels under 11 parts per billion (ppb). AquaSeed came in at 335 milligrams per day of omega-3s and had a PCB level of 10.4 ppb. "This is extremely exciting. It's not an experimental science project. It is mature to the point where there is real potential to scale it up." said Geoffrey Shester, senior science manager for Seafood Watch.
The farming method that AquaSeed has employed for Pacific Coho salmon is to raise them in a freshwater, closed containment system. Salmon in the wild live primarily in saltwater but swim to freshwater every year to spawn. AquaSeed's salmon are grown in land-based, freshwater tanks ranging in size from 60 centimeters to 15 meters wide depending on the salmon's developmental stage.
Also, a high-end salmon feed and selective breeding has helped minimize fishmeal use, reducing the ratio of pounds of wild feed fish to produce pounds of farmed fish to 1.1 to one—a number AquaSeed owner Per Heggelund says he expects to whittle further. "What's interesting about this is this is they've taken salmon back millions of years evolutionarily, to the point where they're freshwater again," Shester says.
Now on their 17th generation of pedigree breeding, the egg-to-plate operation is in the process of providing the salmon with a DNA fingerprint to help thwart any unauthorized breeding. AquaSeed's core business is selling "eyed" salmon eggs (eggs that have developed to the point that their eyes are visible) under the Domsea label to salmon farms in Japan, China and other countries. They've also been working to conserve endangered wild Pacific salmon stocks by maintaining an isolation and breeding facility operation, protecting 40 distinct families of salmon.
"We didn't set out to be in a food fish program in a land-based facility," Heggelund says. "That wasn't our goal. We were more focused on the genetics—the livestock breeding of salmon for the normal traits of survival at certain stages of the life cycle, productive growth, feed conversion, and egg production.” Producing 90,700 kilograms of salmon a year, Heggelund is preparing to rapidly expand production on his 20-hectare farm, and is already working closely with large purchasers such as Compass Group and Whole Foods as well as Mashiko, a Seattle-based sustainable sushi restaurant.
Sounds a lot more scientific and less politically orientated huh?
Great Lakes salmon: A favorite food fish??? I've heard they're kind of bland in flavor at least compared to wild ocean salmon.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGood article and interesting comments from Richie. As a neutral spectator in the ever-going Fishing vs Aquaculture battle over the Salmon Industry; I like facts to win each case. It is always good to question articles that provide searching statements without references. The real question is if SA will answer Richie with references and links to their article research sources OR put their head in the sand!?! Over to you SA.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere is an air of politics in the writing I agree, it covers every hot topic in the Salmon farming debate when it blatantly does not need to slander ocean raised aqauculture. Why not just celebrate a new method of aquaculture; same side right? Have a read of the same article below but I have edited it with just the facts related to the subject that the article is covering. Sounds a lot of scientific and less politically orientated huh?
RE-EDIT
Sea Change: Environmental Group Gives First-Time Nod to Sustainable Salmon-Farming Method An aquaculture company devises a new, sustainable process that raises Pacific coho salmon in freshwater SALMON SOLUTION: A new farming technique for Pacific coho salmon has received approval from a consumer education group that advocates for sustainable fisheries Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife In a report released January 14, the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch program is taking the unprecedented step of approving a particular method for farming Pacific coho salmon that is currently employed exclusively by the Rochester, Wash.–based AquaSeed Corp.
The sustainability nod from the consumer education group means that these salmon also will be assigned a green "Best Choice" rating on Seafood Watch's Web site. The approval follows several months of intensive site visits by Seafood Watch scientists and reviews of the company's production facility, feed ratios, fish contaminant and pollution discharge levels, and more. The salmon, to be sold under the SweetSpring label, have also been shown to contain high levels of omega-3 fatty acids, placing the salmon on Seafood Watch's newly created Super Green List, which denotes that the fish is good for human health without causing harm to the ocean.
To appear on the Super Green List, the salmon must provide the daily minimum of omega-3s (at least 250 milligrams per day) based on 28 grams of fish, and have PCB (polychlorinated biphenyl) levels under 11 parts per billion (ppb). AquaSeed came in at 335 milligrams per day of omega-3s and had a PCB level of 10.4 ppb. "This is extremely exciting. It's not an experimental science project. It is mature to the point where there is real potential to scale it up." said Geoffrey Shester, senior science manager for Seafood Watch.
The farming method The AquaSeed Pacific coho salmon are raised in a freshwater, closed containment system. Salmon in the wild live primarily in saltwater but swim to freshwater every year to spawn. AquaSeed's salmon are grown in land-based, freshwater tanks ranging in size from 60 centimeters to 15 meters wide depending on the salmon's developmental stage. Also, a high-end salmon feed and selective breeding has helped minimize fishmeal use, reducing the ratio of pounds of wild feed fish to produce pounds of farmed fish to 1.1 to one—a number AquaSeed owner Per Heggelund says he expects to whittle further. "What's interesting about this is this is they've taken salmon back millions of years evolutionarily, to the point where they're freshwater again," Shester says.
Now on their 17th generation of pedigree breeding, the egg-to-plate operation is in the process of providing the salmon with a DNA fingerprint to help thwart any unauthorized breeding. AquaSeed's core business is selling "eyed" salmon eggs (eggs that have developed to the point that their eyes are visible) under the Domsea label to salmon farms in Japan, China and other countries. They've also been working to conserve endangered wild Pacific salmon stocks by maintaining an isolation and breeding facility operation, protecting 40 distinct families of salmon.
"We didn't set out to be in a food fish program in a land-based facility," Heggelund says. "That wasn't our goal. We were more focused on the genetics—the livestock breeding of salmon for the normal traits of survival at certain stages of the life cycle, productive growth and feed conversion, and egg production." Producing 90,700 kilograms of salmon a year, Heggelund is preparing to rapidly expand production on his 20-hectare farm, and is already working closely with large purchasers such as Compass Group and Whole Foods as well as Mashiko, a Seattle-based sustainable sushi restaurant.
See my point?