Salmon remains one of the most popular seafoods globally. However, there is growing concern about the environmental impact of farming salmon, while environmental groups have claimed that “responsibly sourced” labelling on seafood products may be misleading – making it hard for consumers to know what exactly they are purchasing.
Fortunately, there are some small ways to make more ethical choices without completely cutting salmon out of our diets – and that starts with developing a critical eye when choosing your seafood products, and educating yourself about what to avoid.
The devil is in the detail
Laurence Wainwright, the course director of the University of Oxford’s Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, who studied eco-labels on seafood for his PhD thesis, says there are some rules of thumb to be followed when choosing more sustainable salmon.
The first piece of advice is to choose one of the two most reputable certification labels: the Marine Stewardship Council (which certifies wild caught fish) or the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (which provides assurances that seafood has been sustainably farmed).
“These rigorous certification schemes utilise the best available evidence and stringent standards to produce seafood in a sustainable, responsible and scientifically informed manner,” Wainwright says.
That is important to look out for because although both wild caught salmon (which is fished from the open sea) and farmed salmon can be sustainable, these certifications can help you avoid types of salmon that are overfished or drawn from vulnerable species populations.
He cautions, however, to be wary of other certification schemes and environmentally dubious labels – for example a logo containing a smiling fish “can mean as little as the brand makes a tiny donation from each sale to recreational fishing in Australia through to ‘salmon welfare is a priority of ours’”.
Beyond the labels, Wainwright recommends consumers educate themselves to develop a critical eye, perhaps by downloading and using a sustainable seafood app (such as the Australian Marine Conservation Society’s GoodFish guide). “Learn to really connect with the species that you are consuming and understand its story and its journey from sea to plate.”
He also warns that consumers should not be convinced by salmon that is labelled “organic”. Most people understand organic to refer to products grown without chemicals or from organic feed, yet the term is often incorrectly used for wild caught salmon.
“How we farm matters,” says Kelly Roebuck, the vice-chair of Environment Tasmania and a SeaChoice representative of the international Living Oceans campaign.
“Farming in open-net cages can result in waste and antibiotics being released directly into our public waterways. In sensitive ecosystems, this can be catastrophic to the health of the waterway and those native wildlife that call it home,” Roebuck says. “Farming in land-based recirculating aquaculture systems provides a more sustainable alternative as it eliminates the interaction with wildlife and closes the loop on any waste.”
If in doubt, don’t be afraid to ask
While labels and certifications can help inform salmon purchases in stores, when ordering salmon in a restaurant it’s worth asking about the origin of the salmon on the menu. Key questions to ask are: where is the salmon sourced from, and was it farmed or wild caught?
At a minimum, the restaurant should know what species of salmon it is serving up, and whether it has been farmed using sustainable feed, or, if it is wild caught, what the bycatch associated with it is.
If the proprietor does not have the answers, let them know that you care about this and encourage them to be prepared to answer these questions in future. Remind them that customers expect transparency around what they are consuming, and encourage them to use salmon that is certified by reputable eco-labels.
“Salmon is a remarkable fish species with a fascinating life cycle – even when farmed,” Wainwright says. “Like all seafood products, salmon carries with it various social and environmental impacts, but by making good quality decisions, the differences in how significant these impacts are can be drastically reduced.”
Expanding our seafood choices
Adrian Meder from the Australian Marine Conservation Society says it is time for Australian seafood consumers to try incorporating more alternatives to salmon into their diets, since salmon has become so ubiquitous.
“We know that it can be difficult to find other seafood options amongst the rows of salmon products. The good news is we also know when seafood lovers demand better alternatives and apply the power of our wallets, the market will step up and provide them. They’ll also likely be supporting a smaller Australian-owned business, and a regional community too.”
Roebuck agrees, noting that numbers of Tasmania’s endangered Maugean skate have fallen sharply over the past decade as its environment has been degraded by human influence, including from salmon farming pollution.
“Most Australians reach for the usual salmon, tuna or prawns; it’s time to think outside the box and choose some unsung seafood heroes such as farmed shellfish, mussels, oysters, Australian-farmed barramundi, even farmed seaweed,” Roebuck says. “Some of the most sustainable and healthiest options can be from aquaculture.”
