Certification for Aquaculture

Having heard about problems with "farm raised fish" such as the quality of the feed used, depletion of fresh water supplies and issues with runoff contamination, I have passed it by in favor of the "wild caught" label. This costs me significantly more than comparable farm raised offerings, but I care about what I eat and I want to support sustainable wild fishing.

As it turns out, there may be more to the story than that.

"Wild fish supplies are just not there any more," says Aaron McNevin, Director of Aquaculture for the World Wildlife Fund (an eco-friendly organization if ever there was one). "Some 80% - 85% of wild fish stocks are fished out or are at their capacity. To make matters worse, modern fishing techniques are causing damage to the oceans beyond just depletion of fishing stocks, such as damage to the sea floor by trawling or 'bycatch' - species caught unintentionally in the nets which are then destroyed."

I hadn't though about that. But wait! There's more!

Many environmental organizations now recognize that aquaculture -  the breeding and harvesting of marine animals in all types of water environments for food - must play an increasingly important role in supplying seafood to a hungry world. "For aquaculture, just like any other type of farming or ranching, there are good producers and bad producers," says McNevin.

How are consumers supposed to tell the difference? Fortunately, there are certification programs - as we see in the organic farming world - that give us a reliable method of determining if farmed fish is produced responsibly and sustainably. Here are two that you can depend on.

Seafood Watch, a program of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, offers a grading system and their web site provides guidelines for choosing safe, sustainable seafood - both wild caught and farm raised.

The Aquaculture Stewardship Council, has established measurable standards for responsibly farmed seafood. Look for the green ASC seal on farm raised seafood that meets the standards.

As for me, I plan to give farm raised fish another look.