Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum)

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Sophie Ryan

Member since
Organization: Global Salmon Initiative
Country: United Kingdom
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Supporting accelerated improvements in the sustainability performance of the farmed salmon sector, through greater transparency, collaboration and innovation. Our networks collaborates on knowledge-sharing to promote best practice improvement in fish health and welfare, feed sourcing, environmental impact and climate change.

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    • Dear SOFA team,

      Global Salmon Initiative (GSI), a leadership coalition representing over 40% of the global farmed salmon industry, would like to thank you for the opportunity to provide contributions about our ongoing work related to the hidden costs and benefits of agrifood systems. The farmed salmon sector supplies most of the world’s salmon, producing 70% of the global salmon harvest.[1] Given the continued growing demand for healthy protein, specifically aquaculture, Global Salmon Initiative was founded to move the industry towards more responsible, healthier and environmentally friendly farming methods. Our members are based in Chile, Canada, Australia/Tasmania, New Zealand, the Faroe Islands, Norway and Scotland. We appreciate that the 2023 State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA) report presents True Cost Accounting as a framework to assess the hidden costs of our food systems. We strongly believe that understanding these hidden costs is crucial to identifying gaps and strategically targeting interventions and investments that can transform our food system to amplify the many benefits and opportunities. Our contribution highlights two frameworks in development designed to help decision-makers in the salmon farming sector standardize accounting and data collection and identify risks in the supply chain, ultimately addressing the challenge of capturing more hidden economic costs in the global food system.

      Salmon farming is one of the most technically advanced forms of protein production, partly due to continuing innovations and farming efficiencies in the sector. From reducing dependence on marine ingredients, lowering our greenhouse gas emissions, and improving fish health and welfare, we are continually working to improve industry performance and our members annually report on our progress via our public Sustainability Report.[2] Employing aligned metrics across companies and regions to monitor and report data on crucial environmental and social parameters enables us to pinpoint strategic areas of focus for further improvement where knowledge transfer between companies and regions can accelerate progress.

      Through collective efforts in GSI, the industry has improved the feed efficiency ratio through reduced its fish in to fish out ratio and increasing use of industry by-products and novel ingredients, reduced the use of antibiotics by 50% in 7 years, and supported the uptake of the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) certification from 0-60% in 10 years. Measures like these will help aquaculture deliver on its promise, and GSI shares learnings so that others in and beyond the aquaculture sector can incorporate sustainable production efforts as well. More information on how GSI is using collaboration as a driver for industry transformation has been captured as part of a case study by World Wildlife Fund (WWF), “The Business Case for Pre-Competitive Collaboration: The Global Salmon Initiative.”[3]

      Blue foods, including farmed salmon, are not only nutrient-rich, but they also have low GHG emissions relative to other animal proteins and present an opportunity to contribute to more sustainable, climate-resilient diets.[4] Aquatic foods are more efficient than terrestrial systems in providing protein; their impact on climate change and land use is in general much lower than terrestrial animal proteins and their production is not limited by suitable area available. Such benefits are highlighted by the research from the Blue Foods Assessment published in 2022.[5]

      One vital way to improve production and consumption of nutrient-rich and sustainable protein is through aquaculture, the world’s fastest growing food sector.[6] The Ocean Panel documented the ocean’s ability to sustainably produce six times more food if better utilized and managed responsibly —and it could do so with a low environmental footprint.[7]

      As noted within the 2023 SOFA report, GHG emissions are a large contributor to the environmental hidden costs of our food system and need to be reduced by 80% by 2050. And progress is still needed to further reduce emissions within the farmed salmon industry. We are collaborating with WWF to implement a standardized GHG Accounting Framework for the farmed salmon sector, with the eventual goal to expand it across the aquaculture sector. In partnership with IDH, The Sustainable Trade Initiative, and Blonk Sustainability, we're testing a data collection tool aligned with this framework to make it easier for companies to collect aligned data points for their product footprint. Using standardized accounting and data collection, the tool will support greater opportunities to pinpoint mitigation opportunities, then employ GSI's pre-competitive model to quickly disseminate best practices and insights for faster emission reductions across the global salmon-farming sector. This framework will launch in mid-2024.

      We also are working with WWF to develop an Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Risk Assessment Tool to holistically assess feed ingredients across ESG indicators. This tool will make it easier to collect and share information between feed companies and suppliers, help identify hidden costs and risks, and will act as a starting point for continually increasing transparency across supply chains. It will be ready to launch in Q1 2024.   

      GSI members are committed to sharing their knowledge to help other aquaculture sectors evolve responsibly and support seafood’s important role in providing a growing population with access to safe and nutritious food. We believe that the adoption and use of the standardized GHG Accounting Framework and the ESG Risk Assessment Tool will provide valuable estimates of the costs and benefits of salmon production and will enable greater transparency and better decision-making. 

      Thank you for your leadership on this important dialogue, and for this excellent opportunity to provide comment. On behalf of GSI, I am very keen to assist in the development of the 2024 SOFA report and would be open to connect and support however required.

      Sincerely,

      Sophie Ryan, CEO, Global Salmon Initiative