Sustainability

Producing food requires huge resources but an estimated one seventh of the resulting products are lost before they are consumed, and in the case of fish and seafood as much as one third! Whether spoiled, destroyed or carelessly thrown away – losses on the way from origin to plate are high. New strategies are now being developed to reduce or, better still, to avoid food waste and losses altogether. This article was featured in EUROFISH Magazine 5 /2020. During the catching and processing of fish and seafood considerable amounts of waste occur. Some of it, roughly estimated at around 17%, is “disposed of” at sea immediately after the catch. About twice as much is lost during processing on land. And then there are also losses that occur during transport, at individual stages of trade, in the catering trade, or in consumers’ homes. A definition of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is often used to distinguish between “food losses” and “food waste”.

Sursan Su Urunleri AS, a fish production company based in Turkey, became one of the first companies awarded Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ACS) certification for farmed seabass, seabream and meagre. The two farms operated by Sursan share this accomplishment with Nireus, a Greek farm which received ACS certification at the same time. The certification for all four farms were carried out by independent Conformity Assessment Body Acoura. The certification guarantees the products are produced in a socially and environmentally sustainable manner. Since receiving certification on June 5, 2019, producers of seabass and seabream have responded enthusiastically with a strong demand for ACS certified products. High demand for ACS certified products has driven more farms to schedule audits to the new standard. Farms in Turkey, Greece, Spain, Croatia and Albania have all undergone audits since Sursan received ACS certification. 

Cooperation on marine research and innovation in the Black Sea region is receiving a strong boost with the adoption of the Black Sea Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA). The agenda, prepared by researchers and scientists from the region’s major marine research institutes and scientific bodies, aims to make the Black Sea more productive, healthy, resilient, sustainable and better-valued by 2030. It will be the research and innovation pillar of the Common Maritime Agenda for the Black Sea, to be agreed at the end of May.