Measuring Sustainability

Measuring sustainability is important in every industry.  As a result, an internationally recognized reporting framework to report on sustainability progress has been developed by the Global Reporting Initiative for use by industries world-wide. This framework features four main elements:

• Continual stakeholder engagement
• Identification of appropriate performance indicators
• Data collection
• Ongoing monitoring

Through the Aquaculture Sustainability Reporting Initiative, Fisheries and Oceans Canada has been working with the provinces, industry and other stakeholders to develop a set of performance indicators for environmental, social and economic aspects of sustainability that will help us chart the sector’s progress over time. Effort has been made to align this reporting process with the best practices in sustainability reporting as outlined by the Global Reporting Initiative.

• Aquaculture in Canada 2012: A Report on Aquaculture Sustainability

Aligned with the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy, the Aquaculture Sustainability Reporting Initiative is an important element of accountability for both industry and government. It will report on aquaculture sustainability in three inter-connected areas: economic prosperity, environmental protection, and societal well-being. Following well-established reporting practices, the Initiative will address current conditions and trends in the aquaculture industry in Canada

• Federal Sustainable Development Strategy

Demonstrating sustainable operations

Many aquaculture operators are demonstrating that their operations are conducted in a sustainable manner by choosing to become certified by an independent third-party. Certification verifies compliance against an independently established standard. There are more than 30 standards for aquaculture. Some of them focus on food safety, others on environmental issues, still others on organic production. In order to establish a level of conformity among so many different and competing standards, the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) set out Technical Guidelines on Aquaculture Certification that cover four elements:

• Food safety
• Animal health and welfare
• Environmental integrity
• Socio economic aspects

FAO and other groups are now in the process of developing evaluation frameworks that may be used to determine how closely aquaculture standards match the Guidelines and other international norms.

One of the goals of Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s Sustainable Aquaculture Program has been to create an aquaculture sector that is able to meet market demands for certification against credible programs. Fisheries and Oceans Canada has also facilitated the development of a National Standard of Canada for organic aquaculture.

More Information:

• Certification
   
• Traceability
   
• Canadian Organic Aquaculture Standard FAQs (Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance)