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One Man's Opinion: Let fish farmers tell their sustainability story
By Peter Redmayne
December 01, 2007
Aqua Finca is a model of sustainable aquaculture, says
tilapia farmer Israel Snir of his latest venture. He's had his
share of struggles over the past 30 years, but Snir's
large-scale cage farm in Honduras has been pretty successful.
Production is targeted at 30,000 metric tons a year.
The vertically integrated farm turns the waste from its
processing plant into biodiesel for its vehicles and boats. The
company increasingly ships fresh fillets to the United States
by boat, instead of air, to reduce its carbon footprint. Aqua
Finca has also spent millions of dollars providing local
residents with cages and teaching them how to farm tilapia. In
addition, Snir says he works with the local campesinos to
improve their education and healthcare programs. He even works
with the local community to discourage their destructive
tree-cutting practices.
So it was something of a surprise when I ran into a rather
sullen Snir at the recent China Fisheries & Seafood Expo in
Dalian last month. The competition from cheap Chinese tilapia
was driving him crazy.
"Tilapia is becoming a whore's business," Snir says. In
order to drive prices down, importers are telling Chinese
packers to soak their fish to the point where it picks up 15 to
20 percent water. And they're specing fillets that are 80 or 90
percent net weight, he says. "How can you put up a decent
product on a sustainable basis and compete with that?" Snir
asks.
Making matters worse, he says, is the fact that more
retailers are slacking out Chinese tilapia fillets and selling
them in their fresh case. That's driving the price of fresh
fillets down to the point where fresh margins have become razor
thin.
"It's getting harder and harder to sell a premium product in
America," says Snir. At the same time prices are being
squeezed, the cost to produce fish has gone up. Feed prices,
for example, are up 40 percent. Snir figures if you can't beat
them, join them. That's why he was in China, looking for
freezers at the show. If the retailers are going to buy frozen
and sell it as fresh, he might as well start selling frozen
fillets, too. He won't soak his fillets, so he knows he won't
be as cheap as the Chinese. He hopes he can find buyers who
will pay more for a better product that is produced
sustainably, but he knows it won't be easy.
"There's so much hypocrisy. I go to these meetings where
buyers say they care about the environment and they want to buy
products that are produced sustainably, but then it comes down
to price. I might be naïve, but what matters a nickel or a dime
to pay for programs to help the local community?"
The challenge facing Snir - and a growing number of other
farmers who are growing seafood sustainably - is getting the
message to consumers. It's been shown time and time again that
consumers will pay a premium for the combination of a good
story and a high quality product. Hopefully, more buyers will
wake up and reward responsible producers like Snir by giving
them a chance to tell their story.
Contributing Editor Peter Redmayne lives in Seattle