Groups Target Organic Fish Standards

A proposal that would allow fish fed with wild fishmeal and kept in open net pens to be marketed as organic has raised the ire of 44 food-safety and environmental groups, according to a letter sent to the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB).

All 44 organizations signed on to the letter, which urges the NOSB not to approve recommendations for fish farming made by the board's Aquaculture Working Group (AWG). The board is scheduled to consider the recommendations in a meeting later this month.

"Our review of the situation has led us to the same frustrating conclusion," the letter to the NOSB stated. "Attempting to define organic standards for open-net pens and wild fish as feed is like attempting to fit a square peg into a round hole -- the principles and the practices are simply incompatible. The more we have tried to adapt open-net pens to meet organic principles, the more obvious the inconsistencies have become."

The letter notes the only way to ensure fish farming in marine settings -- rather than in tanks or artificial ponds -- doesn't hurt the ecology is to separate farmed fish from the outside environment with impermeable barriers. Otherwise, it says, there is no way to properly collect waste, measure pollution levels or treat water to eliminate pollution. It adds that using organic methods in such farm settings can actually harm both farmed and wild fish; by not using synthetic chemicals prohibited by organic standards, fish farmers might be increasing the risk of disease and parasite outbreaks that can spread beyond the farm pens.

The environmental and safety groups also pointed out that allowing organic-labeled farmed fish to be fed wild fishmeal has "numerous ecological consequences." The letter cites studies showing that it can take anywhere from three to eight-and-a-half times as much wild fish to produce a pound, kilogram or ton of farmed fish.

"The NOSB has previously determined that wild fish cannot be certified as organic," the letter stated. "As such, wild fishmeal and fish oil are also non-organic feed ingredients. In including provisions for the use of non-organic, wild fishmeal and fish oil within organic aquaculture production, the AWG proposed standards violate this core, organic principle."

Among the groups signing the letter are the Australian Marine Conservation Society, Beyond Pesticides, the Center for Food Safety, the Conservation Council of New Brunswick, Consumers Union, the David Suzuki Foundation, the Ecology Action Center, Equal Exchange, the Florida Consumer Action Network, Food and Water Watch, Friends of Clayoquot Sound, Friends of the Earth Scotland, Friends of the Oldman River, the George Strait Alliance, the Go Wild Campaign, Greenpeace Canada, Greenpeace USA, the Gulf Restoration Network, the Humane Society of the United States, the Institute for Fisheries Resources, the Living Oceans Society, the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, the Mangrove Action Project, the National Cooperative Grocers Association, the Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Association, the Northeast Organic Farming Association, the Norwegian Salmon Association, OCEANA, the Organic Consumers Association, the Organic Research Center, Elm Farm, the Pure Salmon Campaign, the Raincoast Conservation Society, Rural Advancement Foundation International, Save the Swilly, the Sierra Club, the Sierra Club Canada, Slow Food Canada, the T. Buck Suzuki Foundation, Trout Unlimited, Watershed Watch Salmon Society, the Wilderness Committee, Wild Farm Alliance, the Wild Fish Conservancy, and the Yukon Salmon Committee.

Center for Food Safety, "Coalition of More Than 40 Groups Sign Letter Urging That 'USDA Organic' Standards Be Upheld for Aquaculture." URL: (http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/OrganicAquaPR11_1_07.cfm)