November 3, 2020

GAA defends Cooke Aquaculture's bid to farm steelhead trout

The Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA) defends Cooke Aquaculture in its bid to switch from farming Atlantic salmon to steelhead trout in Puget Sound, Washington, the United States, GAA said in late-October.

In a letter submitted to Washington state's Department of Ecology as part of a public comment period as Cooke Aquaculture seeks the water-quality permits necessary to make the switch at four net-pen farm sites, GAA commended the New Brunswick-based company for its history of responsible aquaculture.

Cooke Aquaculture is facing attacks from Washington-based NGO Wild Fish Conservancy through its partnership with outdoor apparel company Patagonia and its subsidiary Patagonia Provisions, a line of specialty food items that includes sockeye salmon, pink salmon and smoked mussels. Patagonia Provisions has released a 58-minute video titled "Take Back Puget Sound, Session 001" to discredit Cooke Aquaculture and finfish aquaculture in general.

GAA said that Cooke Aquaculture is well positioned to ensure that all-female, sterile steelhead trout (also called rainbow trout) is raised in a responsible manner with minimal impact to the surrounding environment.

Cooke Aquaculture was also an early adopter of GAA's Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) salmon farm standards when they were released in June 2011. By March 2015, Cooke Aquaculture had achieved four-star BAP status, one of only three salmon-farming companies in the world to do so at the time. According to GAA, four-star BAP status is the highest designation in the BAP programme.

"GAA applauds Cooke Aquaculture for its work to greatly reduce the use of antibiotics and as a number of its salmon hatcheries and farms were audited last year to verify that no antibiotics were used throughout the entire life cycle of those fish," GAA said. "This has not yet been achieved for all salmon produced by Cooke Aquaculture, but they are certainly a leader in responsible use of therapeutants."

"Cooke Aquaculture's decision to raise all-female, sterile steelhead trout is a responsible solution that preserved jobs and contributes a (healthy) food to the local community," GAA added.

- GAA