« January 2009 Table of Contents 
News Line: BOI dubs barramundi a ‘best choice’
Australis fish ranks atop all three purchasing guides
- Steven Hedlund
January 01, 2009
Australis Aquaculture's U.S.-farmed barramundi has been
added to the Blue Ocean Institute's "best choices" list of
seafood species farmed or caught in an environmentally friendly
and sustainable manner, the Turners Falls, Mass., company
announced in November.
Australis barramundi is now listed as a best choice in the
top three consumer seafood-purchasing guides - the BOI's Guide
to Ocean Friendly Seafood, Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood
Watch and Environmental Defense's Seafood Selector - one of
less than 30 seafood species to do so.
BOI lists Alaska salmon, pink shrimp and pole- and
troll-caught mahimahi as best choices; it advises consumers to
avoid eating farmed salmon, Atlantic cod and Chilean sea bass,
among other species.
"This achievement recognizes Australis' commitment to
sustainability as the cornerstone of our brand and reinforces
our mission to be the standard bearer for healthy, delicious
and responsibly raised seafood," says Australis Managing
Director Josh Goldman, a pioneer of closed-containment
aquaculture.
Adds Alan Duckworth, Ph.D., research scientist at the BOI,
"Australis' [U.S.] farming operation appears to have minimal
impact on the surrounding environment, efficient conversion of
'food to fish' and an innovative closed re-circulating system
that recycles water, prevents fish escapes and disease and
reduces waste. Plus, chemicals like antibiotics or hormones are
never used, so it's a very clean fish. It really resolves all
of the environmental issues in a major way." - S.H.