The Global Salmon Initiative (GSI) continues on its pathway to a more sustainable future for aquaculture, releasing its fifth set of transparent sustainability data in late April via its online reporting platform.

“As GSI members, we are acting on our commitment to improve our social and environmental performance, and we know that transparency is an essential element of responsibility and in getting us to where we want to be in the future,” said Gerardo Balbontin, co-chair of GSI and chief executive officer of Blumar. “Our sustainability reporting is fundamental in building and retaining trust among the people and communities involved in our work and in holding ourselves accountable to each other.”

The "GSI Sustainability Report" includes five years’ worth of data presented by company and by region and covers 14 key sustainability indicators: nine environmental and five social.

GSI said highlights from this report include:

* Farmed salmon continues to be one of the most eco-efficient forms of protein production — with the lowest carbon footprint and lowest feed conversion ratio;

* More than 40% of GSI production now has Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) certification; five years ago, there were no farms certified to this high standard, so progress has been impressive in all regions;

* Due to an increase in the use of non-medicinal approaches and sharing best practices in sea lice management, GSI members have reduced the use of medicinal sea lice treatments by 40% over the five-year period;

* By continued innovations in the sourcing and efficiency of feed ingredients, GSI members have reduced their use of fish oil and fish meal by, respectively, 16% and 15% (calculated per forage fish dependency ratio), and

* GSI members reported a wide variety of community projects that highlight their significant contribution to local and often remote communities.

"All aspects of food production come with their challenges,” said Aaron McNevin, World Wildlife Fund global aquaculture lead. “It is imperative that we all take the responsibility to bend the curve on biodiversity loss. When it comes to aquaculture — one of the fastest-growing methods of producing food in the world — this means further reducing its environmental impacts, in this case, of global salmon farming. The GSI's commitment to transparency is evidence that they are committed to building a sustainable future. With five years of environmental data, it is promising to see positive trends emerging. We look forward to the industry continuing to move forward as well as increasing ASC certification to 100%."

GSI has identified transparency as one of its four pathways to a more sustainable future, alongside cooperation, responsibility and innovation.

“Our ability to continue operations and pursue growth opportunities depends on long-lasting and mutually respectful relationships with our stakeholders. Transparent reporting across social, economic and environmental performance indicators not only shows our progress but also provides the opportunity for us to engage with our stakeholders, respond to questions and further focus our future performance responsibilities," Balbontin said. "Within GSI, we are also committed to using our model of pre-competitive collaboration to accelerate environmental improvements, and to do that, we must also be transparent on our performance with each other.”

View the report here.

GSI is a leadership initiative established in 2013 by global farmed salmon producers focused on making significant progress on industry sustainability. Today, GSI comprises 17 companies — representing more than half (55%) of the global salmon production industry — that are fully committed to realizing a shared goal of providing a highly sustainable source of healthy food to feed a growing global population while minimizing its environmental footprint and continuing to improve its social contribution.

GSI companies have a presence in Australia, Canada, Chile, the Faroe Islands, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway and the U.K. and make significant contributions to the economies of these respective countries. GSI also has a number of associate members in both the pharmaceutical and feed industries.