Environment

Protection of the environment is important in order to maintain a natural balance. Fishermen and fish farmers can do much in this respect, from committing to BIM's environmental scheme for aquaculture - ECOPACT - to correctly managing their waste. BIM is active in this important field and has a number of projects in place.

The aquaculture industry, in common with other industries, faces many environmental challenges, which BIM aims to tackle through its environmental programme. This has two main objectives:

• To develop environmental awareness and practices within the industry to promote sustainability.
  
  
• To put waste management programmes in place within each sector of the industry based on the principles of reduction, reuse and recycle.

BIM has developed an Environmental Code of Practice for Irish Aquaculture Companies and Traders - in cooperation with the Irish Shellfish Association (ISA) and the Irish Salmon Growers Association (ISGA) - ECOPACT to help industry work to the highest possible standards and to produce a top quality product in manner that has respect for the natural environment. It covers every aspect of aquaculture, from husbandry, to maintenance, and the interaction of farm related activities with the surrounding environment. ECOPACT helps Aquaculture businesses working towards BIM's Eco-Standard or those farming species currently not covered by the scheme.

Consumers are becoming increasingly environmentally conscious in their buying habits and adopting more sustainable purchasing patterns, BIM's Eco-Standard and associate Eco-Label help companies to demonstrate their commitment to minimising environmental impact and ensuring best practice management throughout the supply chain.

Similarly, the Green Chooser project is introducing the concept of environmental management to the fisheries sector and assisting fishermen to fully assess their businesses from an environmental point of view.

The project is looking at waste management, fuel efficiency, responsible fishing, and development of corporate social responsibility. All of these aspects can be incorporated into a company's Envirnomental Management System (EMS), which acts as a statement of environmental responsibility. A Green Chooser EMS is an ongoing process that allows companies to constantly review and manage risks related to the environment, fish quality, profitability and public perception. BIM is currently working on pilot systems with fishermen and fisheries co-operatives around the coast.

BIM has helped to put waste management initiatives in place in the fisheries and aquaculture sectors to help industry deal effectively with the growing volume of waste material that landfill sites can no longer cope with. Much of this is plastic-based, eg fishing nets, feed bags, plastic wrapping and old mussel barrels, and trials have seen this successfully recycled.

BIM in seeking alternative methods of waste disposal last year teamed up with the DCMNR and Petlon Plolymers UK in a pilot project to collect, bale and recycle nylon netting. Nets were sourced, stripped of rope and other material and sent to Dunmore East in County Waterford, where a baler was installed to ease handling and storage of waste. Bales were sent to England for processing into nylon pellets that are used for making other products such as cable ties. Read about the continued success of the initiative...

Trials have been conducted in the aquaculture sector to compost organic waste products from the seafood processing industry.