NOSB aquaculture recommendations

The National Organic Standards Board has just met to vote on recommendations for "organic" fish.  There are no organic standards for fish yet.  Here is a brief summary of the issues from Farmedsalmonexposed.org:

The NOSB will vote on their recommendations for "organic" fish production that would allow fish to carry the USDA organic label—despite being raised under conditions that fail to meet fundamental USDA organic principles. The NOSB recommendations allow:

• Fish to be fed food other than 100% organic feed—the gold standard that must be met by other USDA-certified organic livestock;
• Fishmeal used to feed farmed fish from wild fish—which has the potential to carry mercury and PCBs; and
• Open net cages to be used—which flush pollution, disease and parasites from open net fish farms directly into the ocean, adversely impacting wild fish supply, sustainability and the health of the oceans.

A recording of a press conference discussing the recommendations is available on the Farmed Salmon Exposed website:   press_call_11-14-08.mp3

The press call explains some of the controversial issues surrounding organic fish definitions, open net pen salmon farms and sea lice, and classification of fish as "livestock."

The NOSB Livestock Committee recommendations are available on the NOSB website.

Fish Feed recommendation

Net pen recommendation