Don't Let the Organic Label Be Greenwashed at Fish Farms
The National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) - at the request of the industrial fish farming industry - is considering allowing farmed fish to get the organic label even though the practices are anything but organic. This astonishing greenwashing covers up unsustainable practices like feeding wild fish to fish in open net pens in the ocean.
Feeding wild fish to farmed fish not only disrupts ocean ecosystems by wiping out the fish on the bottom of the food chain, but may also increase the amount of dangerous pollutants like mercury and PCBs that end up in the farmed fish consumers eat. And raising farmed fish in open nets can pollute the ocean with massive amounts of waste and exposes wild fish populations to parasites and other diseases.
Tell the NOSB to stop the greenwashing and vote against lowering the bar for organic standards!
Dear National Organic Standards Board,
I am writing to urge the members of the National Organic Standards Board to reject the proposed standard for organic aquaculture. The use of up to 25 percent wild fish as feed and open net pens violate the basic principles of organic production, as well as my expectation of what the USDA Organic seal is meant to represent.
These practices are unsustainable and environmentally damaging and could undermine other standards for how organic livestock are raised. This is unacceptable.
Weakening the standards for organic livestock production so that a new - and controversial - industry can cash in on the organic label is a mistake that will undermine consumer confidence in the meaning of organic label.
[Your comment here]
I urge you to vote against the proposed standard for aquaculture products. If farmed fish cannot meet the strict standards of organic production, then there should not be an organic label for seafood.
