Looking Back: Making the case for organic salmon

Organic salmon was becoming a buzzword in 2006 and, in our March/April edition of that year, we reported on a fish farming company that was looking to farm as sustainably as possible.

Angus MacMillan of West Minch Salmon told Fish Farmer: “Organic food in general is growing popularity and the same is true of salmon, and it is quite appropriate that people should discuss how organic production should be conducted. One of the main topics for discussion is how to ensure that feed stocks for salmon are sustainable and that wild fish stocks aren’t being damaged to provide salmon feed.”

He was speaking ahead of the first public organic aquaculture conference, which was being held in Stirling by the Soil Association. Speakers at the event included Rupert Howes, Chief executive of the Marine Stewardship Council and celebrity chef Nick Nairn.

Today, the Soil Association is still very much involved with setting standards for organic salmon. Organic salmon remains a part of Scottish aquaculture, albeit perhaps not at the scale that its proponents might have hoped for 18 years ago.

Meanwhile West Minch Salmon, a major employer in the Western Isles, was sold to the Scottish Salmon Company (now Bakkafrost Scotland) in 2010.