{"id":65854,"date":"2023-06-28T10:16:50","date_gmt":"2023-06-27T22:16:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.farmersweekly.co.nz\/?p=65854"},"modified":"2023-06-28T10:16:51","modified_gmt":"2023-06-27T22:16:51","slug":"salmon-farms-trumpet-low-carbon-footprint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.farmersweekly.co.nz\/news\/salmon-farms-trumpet-low-carbon-footprint\/","title":{"rendered":"Salmon farms trumpet low carbon footprint"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>\n

Life cycle analysis of New Zealand-farmed King salmon sold domestically shows a lower carbon footprint than beef, lamb and cheese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sustainability life cycle analysis or LCA shows the carbon footprint of King salmon is similar to that of eggs, poultry and farmed oysters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The LCA was carried out by Thinkstep-ANZ and the results published by Fisheries New Zealand, Aquaculture NZ and the Salmon Farmers Association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The life cycle includes production, processing, packaging, transport, cooking and disposal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The chair of the Salmon Farmers Association, Mark Preece, said the results of the study are good for both producers and consumers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

King salmon, also known as Chinook salmon, is the only salmon species farmed commercially in NZ, where farms produce 75% of the world\u2019s King salmon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study not only affirms the sustainability of King salmon as a food source, but also provides the industry with insights for future enhancement strategies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sanford\u2019s manager of sustainability, Peter Longdill, said further reductions in energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions will be introduced in the supply chain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This study follows a similar one carried out in 2021, which found that NZ-farmed Greenshell mussels and Pacific oysters have among the lowest carbon footprints of all animal protein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thinkstep-ANZ said the study was conducted across four salmon farmers, a smoult producer and two feed manufacturers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recommendations include working with suppliers to identify lower-impact feeds and improved feeding systems and encouraging air freight companies to use lower carbon fuels and improve their freezing and chilling technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government has an Aquaculture Strategy that aims to grow the sector to $3 billion by 2035.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year revenue was approximately $685 million, slightly under half of which came from King salmon domestically and export.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around 3000 people are employed in the sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New Oceans and Fisheries Minister Rachel Brooking told an industry conference recently that export revenue from the fisheries sector will be $2.1bn in the year to June 30, of which aquaculture will earn $510m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGood progress is being made, including delivering on the Crown\u2019s aquaculture settlement obligations to enable M\u0101ori to grow their contribution to the sector,\u201d Brooking said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs we look towards growth, we must also build resilience into the system to respond to the inevitable challenges of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAquaculture won\u2019t be spared from these impacts, but with our aquaculture industry being relatively young, there is ample room to evolve and adapt.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aquaculture leader, listed company NZ King Salmon, recently announced a mediated agreement to allow its Blue Endeavour farm development in cooler and deeper waters of Cook Strait to proceed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Settlement has been reached with the Department of Conservation and the McGuinness Institute, a Wellington-based sustainability think-tank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company had been working on the project for several years to combat the rising fish mortality in Marlborough Sounds farms because of warmer waters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Formalities are now expected from the Environment Court and from the Ministry for Primary Industries so that construction can start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Blue Endeavour potential is 10,000t of King salmon annually, within an industry that currently produces 15,000t and is projected to grow with further open ocean farms to 80,000t annually.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"King salmon beats beef, lamb and cheese on environmental impact.\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":65860,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[13,160],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t