USDA-Certified Organic Salmon Faces Hurdles, Experts Say

WASHINGTON -- The National Organic Standards Board, the panel of experts officially appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture to assist the USDA in developing organic standards, has recommended that fish raised in open net cages and those using wild-caught fish in their diets should be permanently excluded from forthcoming USDA organic aquaculture standards. If adopted, these qualifications would preclude the vast majority of farmed salmon operations from ever producing organic fish, and, they indicate that the NOSB may currently be leaning toward an organic definition that would require enclosed tanks outfitted with water filtration systems at certified organic aquaculture production facilities. Opponents of open-net cages say these enclosures release significant volumes of untreated waste, and that fish often escape, causing problems with local wild fish populations. Wild-caught salmon is prohibited from organic certification under current interpretation of USDA livestock guidelines, since fishermen and processors have no control over dietary inputs prior to catching a wild fish.