November 20, 2013

Aquaculture organisations collaborate to develop fishmeal's common sourcing requirements

The three standards-setting organisations, the Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA), Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) and GLOBALG.A.P. issued a joint statement identifying common sourcing requirements for fishmeal and fish oil.

In April, GAA, ASC and GLOBALG.A.P. signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to work collaboratively to increase efficiency and reduce duplication in the aquaculture auditing process. As part of the MoU, the three organisations agreed to develop common sourcing requirements for fishmeal and fish oil.

Four common sourcing requirements were identified, including: traceability to the species and at least to the country of origin; no use of material sourced from endangered species based on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's red list; avoidance of fish sourced from illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU); and preference for feed manufacturers with publicly available evidence of responsible sourcing.

GAA, ASC and GLOBALG.A.P. encourage the aqua feed and livestock feed industries to apply this criteria as a minimum set of requirements when sourcing fishmeal and fish oil ingredients.