New Salmon Farming Method Wins Backing of Monterey Bay Aquarium

A new aquaculture technology that raises Pacific salmon in closed, freshwater systems has received a strong endorsement from the Monterey Bay Aquarium, a leader in the sustainable seafood movement. The technology, developed by Rochester, Wash.-based AquaSeed Corp, features numerous advancements that persuaded the Monterey Bay Aquarium to bestow its “Super Green” label on the Pacific coho salmon, sold under the SweetSpring trade name. The salmon are raised in closed pens on land, rather than in open net pens near coastlines, eliminating dangers from the spread of disease to wild fish and ending the problem of farmed salmon escaping and breeding with wild salmon. The AquaSeed salmon also are raised in freshwater, as opposed to saltwater, and the company uses Pacific salmon rather than Atlantic salmon — currently the most common pen-reared form of salmon. In addition, through advances in breeding and changes in feed formulas, AquaSeed says it can raise a pound of salmon using roughly a pound of fish food; traditional salmon farms use about four pounds of fish meal to produce one pound of Atlantic salmon. AquaSeed is now producing 200,000 pounds of the salmon a year and plans to expand rapidly, selling to stores such as Whole Foods. Other companies are experimenting with aquaculture far offshore.