Organic Aquaculture: Principles, Standards and Certification

Abstract

Aquaculture continues to be one of the fastest-growing sectors for animal protein production for human diets. Aquatic products also play an increasing role as part of terrestrial livestock feed regimens. At the same time, the demand for organic products continues to rise globally. Conscious consumers who also consume aquatic products, and who are interested in eating healthy organic food produced in healthy ecosystems provided by producers who earn a decent livelihood, are therefore increasing their demand for organic aquaculture products. While organic production standards and related certification requirements exist worldwide, the “fit” of aquaculture conceptually into the typical organic paradigm is not as straightforward as for most other product categories. Organic norms are founded in soil-based production systems, whereas soil is not generally a critical factor in many aquatic systems, especially marine systems. Applying the Principles of Organic Agriculture to aquaculture therefore requires an adjusted view. In terms of aquaculture production, the principal relevant factors to address are production system design that assures ecosystem balance, biodiversity stewardship and avoidance of environmental pollution; animal welfare and feeding requirements that respect the health of the organism, product quality and the expectations of feeding requirements along the lines of similar organic systems; and certain challenges related to breeding. Due to the technical complexity in each of these areas with respect to compatibility with the Principles, development of private organic standards and government regulations has been slow to evolve. The recent reaching of greater clarity from the organic movement itself about how organic norms can address the key aspects noted above – in particular around the use of recirculation aquaculture systems (RAS), non-organic feed materials and non-organic breeding stock and juveniles – is new progress and enables the sector to be better defined, allowing for faster growth to come. This new clarity impinges upon the development of different market-specific norms and the concomitant equivalence (or lack thereof) among them and a progression toward harmonization and removal of trade barriers. In addition to the production requirements per se, international norms with respect to verification and product guarantees now consider options beside third-party certification as valid and credible alternatives to enable more producers to access markets in a way that regulators and consumers can trust.