SFP launches aquaculture Feed Solutions Toolkit for seafood companies

The Toolkit connects seafood companies with tools and resources to make commitments, assess the risks associated with their feed ingredients and implement improvements. Major suppliers and retailers, including Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Thai Union, and Walmart, have already set goals and targets to improve the sustainability of the feed used to produce their products or the ingredients it contains.

“We want all seafood companies to include aquaculture feed in their sustainability commitments and policies because feed poses significant environmental and climate challenges,” says Paul Bulcock, aquaculture information manager at SFP. “Addressing this issue, along with continued improvements in farm planning and management, will enhance aquaculture’s role as a low-carbon, environmentally sustainable, and socially responsible food source.”

Aquaculture now accounts for more than half of the world’s seafood, by volume, and is critical to meeting increasing global demand for seafood while offering a low-carbon alternative to other animal products. However, aquaculture feed remains a significant climate change and environmental hotspot, with risks such as land conversion, deforestation, overexploitation, pollution, and bycatch from the production or capture of feed ingredients. It is estimated that aquaculture’s use of compound feed ingredients is responsible for up to 70-80% of its carbon impact and up to 90% of certain environmental impacts such as land and water use.

While multiple tools, standards, and improvement initiatives have already been developed to assist the seafood supply chain in meeting the challenge of feed sustainability, the Feed Solutions Toolkit represents the first time these resources have been curated in one place.

The Feed Solutions Toolkit was produced with funding support from the Walmart Foundation for the project titled, “Addressing the Carbon and Biodiversity Impacts of Aquaculture by Motivating Responsible Aquaculture Practices at Scale.” The findings and recommendations are those of SFP alone and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Walmart Foundation.

Founded in 2006, Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) is a marine conservation organization working toward a world where the oceans are healthy, all seafood is produced sustainably, and everyone has access to sustainable seafood. We leverage the power of seafood buyers and retailers in every part of the seafood supply chain to rebuild depleted fish stocks, reduce the environmental impacts of fishing and fish farming, address social issues in fishing, and advance economic opportunities for fishers and their communities. Our Supply Chain Roundtables (SRs) allow seafood suppliers to work together in a pre-competitive environment to promote and support improvements in fishery and aquaculture practices, management, and policy. Visit us at www.sustainablefish.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.