86% of 2019 harvest will be ASC fish says Bakkafrost
Salmon farmer Bakkafrost has announced that 86% of all salmon harvested in 2019 will be Aquaculture Stewardship Council-certified.
In the Faroese company’s second Sustainability Report, Bakkafrost reported accelerated progress to have all farming sites certified as part of its Healthy Living Sustainability Plan, taking the total number of sites certified by the ASC from four to seven in 2018 (one more than planned).
The company has committed to auditing seven further farming sites to ASC standard bringing the total to 14 by the end of 2019, which if certified will make up 86% of the harvest. Two further sites have already been certified since January.
Bakkafrost’s 2018 Healthy Living Sustainability Report provides a first update, one year into its sustainability plan. This includes the launch of a DKK 10 million (£1.15m) community investment fund, plans to build the Faroe Islands’ first biogas plant, and continued progress introducing measures to minimise environmental impacts on the fjords.
Increased feed transparency
The company said that since launching the plan, it has taken a number of steps to embed sustainability across its value chain, signing up to the ten principles of the UN Global Compact, and increasing transparency in the sourcing of its feed ingredients by joining the Ocean Disclosure Project.
Chief executive Regin Jacobsen said: “We are now one year into our Healthy Living Plan. While we are very pleased with progress against our commitments, we unfortunately had an elevated fish mortality rate in 2018 due to a number of unforeseen circumstances.
“Addressing this, and accelerating work to minimise our impact on the fjords will be our focus in 2019, but I am confident we will achieve this through increased certification of our operations.”
