Aquaculture net pens do not qualify as organic

OTTAWA -- Current net pen practices are in no way organic and draft organic aquaculture standards that suggest this is the case need serious revision, says the Green Party of Canada.  The draft standards released last week by a committee of the Canada General Standards Board do not propose the necessary changes and improvements needed for aquaculture practices to become environmentally friendly.

The Green Party envisions long-term sustainability of coastal fisheries based on harvesting methods that work within ecological limits and management practices that enhance wild fisheries.  Open-ocean net-pen salmon farms do not fit within this sustainable framework and the Green Party has called for a phase-out of existing farms within 10 years. 

“There are many problems with current net pen practices, including transfer of diseases and parasites to wild salmon, the use of wild fish as feed for farmed fish, the dispersal of tonnes of solid waste and nutrients into the surrounding waters, and the problematic use of antibiotics in farmed fish.  All of these issues should have been addressed in any draft standards,” said Janice Harvey, Green Party Fisheries Critic.

“The general public assumes that an organic label means the environment has been protected in the production of the food product.  To label farmed salmon from open net pens ‘organic’ is misleading and unhelpful to the effort to move aquaculture onto a sustainable footing,” added Harvey.

“There has already been significant public protest against open pen salmon aquaculture so it is surprising and disturbing that these farms could be labeled as organic,” said Green Leader Elizabeth May.  “New standards need to ensure that aquaculture does not harm wild fisheries or the marine environment.”

The Canada General Standards Board is currently overseeing a 60 day public comment period on the draft organic aquaculture standards ending on August 30, 2010.  The standards are available here:

http://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/cgsb/prgsrv/stdsdev/nsa/pubrevdoc/pubrevdoc-e.html

-30-

Contact Information:
Debra Eindiguer
Press Secretary
C: 613.240.8921
media@greenparty.ca