16 August, 2006

AQUACULTURE has been awarded full organic status for the first time, the Soil Association announced yesterday.

For the past eight years the most important organic accreditation body in Britain held back from giving fish farming 100 per cent backing, while it strove to understand how to approach a complex new arena in cultivation.

A three year intensive research and development programme has now been completed, allowing the experts to change its organic status for the industry from "interim" to "full".

Scottish director Hugh Raven said: "The Soil Association has followed a responsible and pragmatic path to bringing aquaculture fully into the organic fold.

"It would have been a dereliction of duty to ignore this hugely important food sector - and one with the potential to vastly reduce the unsustainable exploitation of wild fisheries.

"But fish farming has been highly controversial - as is any food production system that puts profit before principles and good practice.

"As with land-based organic farming, the Soil Association's aim is to achieve the most sustainable production for aquaculture. Our new standards represent carefully targeted key improvements on their 'interim' predecessors."

The association's aquaculture specialist Peter Bridson added: "This is great news for our certified fish-farmers who've been producing top-quality organic fish for several years. They and we take our responsibility to justify the trust of consumers extremely seriously.

"Though there's more work to do, we now feel confident that Soil Association-certified organic salmon and trout are the most sustainably produced fish consumers can buy.

"Another key factor in choosing organic farmed-fish is that this premium product allows smaller-scale, locally-based producers to make a living whilst respecting the ecological constraints of the aquatic environment."

With approximately 85 percent of Scottish salmon farming controlled by Norwegian multinational companies, the majority of the remaining independent and small-scale producers have become organic growers, including some in Shetland.

The Soil Association issued the UK's first organic aquaculture licenses in 1998. Salmon produced by Balta Island Seafare, in Shetland, and smoked by the Inverawe Smokehouse recently won the best overall food award at the International Food and Drink Expo at the NEC in March.