Farming fish organically
Published: November 6, 2008
Source : Sify Ltd.
The Indian Organic Aquaculture Project for farming organic black tiger and scampi was first initiated in January 2007 in the maritime States of Andhra Pradesh and Kerala with technical consultancy from M/s Blueyou. It is aimed to pursue the huge market potential of selling aquaculture products in the markets of the European Union (EU).
Rosen Fisheries Hatchery has produced 11.50 lakh organic scampi seeds so far. Of this, 3.4 lakh seeds were supplied to four farmers in Kerala and the rest to farmers in Andhra Pradesh. Two other hatcheries, Queens and St John Bosco, are also slated for seed production. The four scampi farms, spread over 20 hectares on the backwaters of Kerala, were stocked with organic scampi seeds during March/April this year.
The trend towards fish farming and organic aquaculture is fuelled by growing global demand for seafood and capture-based aquaculture – the harvesting of wild individuals for on-growing under confined and controlled conditions – is the increasingly popular choice in fish production. In 2006, the world consumed 110.4 million tonnes of fish, with 51.7 million tonnes of that originating from aquaculture.
Production by traditional capture fisheries has reached a plateau, so to meet the projected demand for fish of an expanded world population, in 2030 aquaculture will need to produce an additional 28.8 million tonnes – 80.5 million tonnes overall – each year just to maintain per capita fish consumption at current levels, says FAO.
Driven by rising consumption worldwide, the international trade in fish products is expanding at a rapid pace, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Half of the world’s fish trade is now sourced from developing countries.
The value of world exports of fish and fish products grew 9.5 per cent in 2006 to $86 billion and nearly 7 per cent in 2007 to $92 billion, according to FAO. The proportion of world fish production (145 million tonnes) that is traded internationally now represents 38 per cent of the total, or 55 million tonnes.
Developing countries, notes FAO, have confirmed their fundamental importance as suppliers to world markets, accounting for 50 per cent of all fish exports. Their net export revenues from this trade have reached a record high of $25 billion. Imports are mostly by developed countries, now responsible for 80 per cent of all imports in value terms ($96 billion).
China has now become the world’s largest exporter of fish (valued at $9.7 billion), but its imports are also growing, reaching $4.2 billion in 2007.
At the regional level, the EU is the world’s biggest market for fish, reflecting both growing domestic consumption but also its recent expansion to include 27 countries. Major importing countries and large international retailers have put into place increasingly stringent safety and quality standards for fish imports, but also requirements related to ecolabels that certify that fish were farmed or captured in an environmentally and socially responsible manner.
For producers in developing countries, finding the technical know-how or the financial resources required to meet such standards of certification can pose challenges. Certification is mandatory for selling organic products in most markets of the world and, in the case of the Indian Organic Aquaculture Project, Naturland of Germany has been chosen as the certifying agency and Indocert of Kerala as the inspection body.
Even as the scampi harvest is being viewed in very gung-ho terms by the Indian seafood export sector, there are several potential pitfalls ahead. FAO is working to assist developing countries cope on a number of fronts, by helping establish technical guidelines for responsible fish trade.
Small-scale farmers in developing countries are facing difficulties in exporting their produce, and need help to become competitive and access global markets, according to FAO.
Consider also the situation of Ecuador, a country once famous for being the largest producer of shrimp in the world. Soon matters took a turn for the worse and Ecuador’s fame was tainted by the social and environmental injustice of the aquaculture industry, leading to protests and boycotts of Ecuadorian shrimp in Europe.
But Ecuador then went on the set up the first certified organic shrimp farm in the world, EcoCamaronera Bahía (ECB), inspected by IMO of Switzerland and certified by Naturland e.V. of Germany.
There is also the problem of fishmeal. Species like salmon or shrimp – often raised in developing countries of the South and exported to wealthy consumer markets of the North, providing jobs and incomes for millions of people – need other fish, in the form of meal or oil, to eat.
New research has claimed that farmed animals are eating six times the amount of seafood eaten by Americans. A nine-year study by the University of British Columbia has found that 90 per cent of small fish caught in the world’s oceans every year such as anchovies, sardines and mackerel are processed to make fishmeal and fish oil, writes Rosslyn Beeby in ‘The Canberra Times’.
They are used as a cheap feed for aquaculture (including farmed Atlantic salmon, prawns and trout), poultry, pigs and animals bred for the fur industry. The study’s findings warn this use is unsustainable, given current rates of global overfishing and increasing threats to global food security. University of Columbia senior researcher Jacqueline Alder said, ”Society should demand that we stop wasting these fish on farmed fish, pigs, and poultry."
And FAO is now seeing that, for some commodities and in some producing countries, the overall number of fish farms is decreasing, while the size of individual farms is increasing, pointing to the concentration of fish farms into fewer hands.
Certification is also one way to help aquaculture limit its environmental impacts and ensure that it benefits small farmers to the maximum extent possible, Certified products allow buyers and consumers to chose those that are produced in a sustainable, healthy, and socially responsible way.
As more such certification and eco-labelling programmes proliferate, producers are struggling to meet the various standards being applied by different companies, countries or certifying organizations, which can differ significantly. An overabundance of schemes also increases the likelihood that watered-down, unreliable certification labels are used alongside credible ones.
There are also problems with farmed seafood from developing countries being seen as being dumped into markets at low prices. In July 2004, the Bush administration in the United States ruled that China and Vietnam were dumping shrimp at prices well below market price. The New York Times reported Chinese water supplies are "contaminated by sewage, industrial waste and agricultural runoff that includes pesticides."
Elsewhere, Africa is not happy about China and Asian commercial fish farms either, and is especially worried about the use of antibiotics and chemicals in farm-raised shrimp by Sulalanka, a Sri Lankan company, Shell Oil, and USAID. Pressure by non-governmental organizations and community-based organisations in Nigeria stopped Shell and USAID. Ironically, though, USAID is now working in Bangladesh to increase fish farm outputs by 100 per cent even as south Louisiana shrimpers complain they can barely hang on.
Amidst these problems, Kerala’s pioneering status as the home of the world’s first organic aquaculture harvest of the large freshwater prawn could well lose its sheen. While fish farming and certified aquaculture can no longer be wished away, the industry would do well to proceed with caution and good manufacturing practices.
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