Pending Canadian Legislation to Bestow “Organic” Label on Farmed B.C. Salmon

by Sarah Schmidt, Food and Water Watch

Farmed fish raised in open-net pens in the ocean – a method blamed for threatening wild salmon on the West Coast – could soon have Canada’s organic stamp of approval on their packaging if the Canadian government implements its plan for new organic aquaculture standards.

The summer consultations have just begun, but the draft proposal has already fired up debate about the industry’s environmental practices and whether the move just muddies the meaning of “organic” for consumers.

Ottawa’s proposed organic certification system for farmed fish also puts Canada at odds with the United States, where draft rules of the U.S.

National Standards Board would disqualify non-native species that are raised in open net pens from carrying the U.S. government’s organic label. This would mean the overwhelming majority of fish produced by B.C. salmon farms would fail the U.S. organic test, but meet the proposed Canadian standards.

While Atlantic Canada has some aquaculture operators, salmon farming is now the single-largest food production sector in the B.C. economy, providing farmed Atlantic salmon to consumers across Canada and internationally.

B.C. is also the world’s fourth-largest farmed salmon producer, after Norway, Chile and Scotland, according to the Canadian federal government.

“The terms ‘organic’ and 'aquaculture' are usually thought logically incompatible, as are ‘organic’ and ‘caged layers,’ ” University of Guelph organic farming specialist Ann Clark said yesterday citing pathogen and behavioral problems created by the high density of animals in a confined space.

Also, the waste from fish feces and excess feed goes directly into the ocean, impacting the biodiversity and ecology around the fish farms as well as the antibiotic and chemical usage employed by the farms, all practices contrary to organic principals. Some fish farms also fall under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency designation “Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO).” A CAFO is a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency designation for a farming facility that keeps numerous animals raised for food in close confinement, with the potential to pollute.

A public response period is open until 30 August 2010. The organization Farmed and Dangerous is urging residents of Canada and consumers in the United States to submit comments opposing the organic certification of net-cage salmon farms.