The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation and Swedwatch today launched their report on aquaculture and the use of fishmeal in production. It explores the supply chain of tiger prawns from Thailand (the world’s largest exporter) and farmed Norwegian salmon via Peruvian fisheries to identify how consumption in Sweden leads to food chains being fished out in less developed nations.
In conjunction with the report, a short film entitled “catching Nemo” investigating IUU and overfishing in Thai waters to feed the ever-growing tiger prawn farming business has been produced. Bottom trawling of coral reefs and mangrove destruction are direct effects of this unregulated industry. Lower trophic level species have been fished out to feed the shellfish, and this has led to degraded ecosystems with less productive fisheries. By contrast, Burma, which has an undeveloped fishing industry and is not engaged in exporting large quantities of tiger prawns still has stable fish stocks in place. In response to the publication, Pizza Hut will no longer sell tiger prawns at any of its Swedish outlets.
At the launch of the report, Eskil Erlandsson, the Swedish Minster for Rural Affairs, agreed that there were ethical questions surrounding the import of fish products which erode the sustainability of fishing in less wealthy nations. Erlandsson also supported the European Parliament’s decision to revoke the fisheries partnership agreement with Morocco on ethical grounds. However, he also stated that Sweden should seek to expand its aquaculture industry, but produce high quality products that were in line with best practice.
Åsa Romson, his counterpart from the Green Party, went one step further and argued that Sweden should ban imports of tiger prawns. She also said that regulations surrounding fishmeal and fodder production were a gap in the CFP reform which needed to be addressed.
While speakers at the event were in agreement that the consumption of tiger prawns was not ethical considering how the supply chain delivers the product to Sweden, a significant part of the discussions focused on farmed Norwegian salmon. The average Swede (including children) consumes 3.5 kg per year, 90% of which is imported from Norway. Given that for each kilo of farmed salmon, between 2-5 kg of fish are used as feed, it has been identified as an inefficient source of protein which further depletes fish stocks. As yet none of the politicians thought that immediate legislative measures were required to deal with these problems, the unresolved question of unsustainable consumption practices remains.