Aquaculture

By Jill Schwartz

© Pier Antonio Salvador

Pier Antonio Salvador is on a mission to educate people about the value of trout farming and what is needed to ensure that the industry grows sustainably.

He tackles this from every angle possible.

At the global level, he participates in the Freshwater Trout Aquaculture Dialogue. The 200 or so participants of the Dialogue are creating international standards that will help minimize the key negative environmental and social impacts associated with trout farming. They expect to complete the standards by the end of this year.

At the regional level, he is involved with several committees of the Federation of European Aquaculture Producers that are working to improve the European Union’s policies on aquaculture, including the Common Fisheries Policy.

At the national level in Italy – where he has lived since he was a child – he is the president of the Associazione Piscicoltori Italiani (API), a trade association for the country’s fish industry. API focuses on scientific research and policy work related to the country’s 300 fish species. This includes farmed trout, which is one of the most popular types of fish in the country.  He also has played a leadership role with the Italian Fish Farmers Association for several decades, during which time he has served on the “Health in Aquaculture” and “Transformation and Marketing” commissions – both focused on incorporating sustainability principles into fish farming.

And at the local level, during the seemingly rare occasions when he is not travelling to meetings, he practices what he preaches. In the small Italian town of Pordenone, he raises farmed trout at the farm that has been in his family since the 1950s, the decade when he was born. He and his brother began operating the farm when his father died, and since his brother died several years ago he has managed the farm on his own.  Most of the trout he raises is sold to local supermarkets, not internationally, as he believes in the need for communities to be self-sustaining instead of relying too much on imported food.

“We can’t just build cities,” he said. “We need rural areas where people can raise fish and other types of food. What we do locally is very important.”

Working at the local level also provides him with the opportunity to reach out to an audience for which he has a soft spot – children. He is focused on creating fish products that they can relate to, like farmed fish “burgers,” and getting local supermarkets to create a space dedicated solely to kid-friendly fish products. He’s also trying to get the local schools to buy his trout so that children begin to appreciate the taste of fish. And he opens his farm up to the children in the community, as well as others, twice a year so they can see for themselves how the fish are raised.

“When I first started working with kids, 80 percent of them said they prefer meat more than fish, but that is changing now that we are introducing them to more types of fish.”

His interest in working with the people in his community is no surprise. At each level of his work, one of the issues related to aquaculture that intrigues him the most is the relationships farmers have with their workers and local communities.

“You cannot produce fish alone,” he said. “You need to do it with people. And how they are treated is important. That’s why we care so much about social standards.”

Social standards being developed by him and other participants of the trout Dialogue relate to such issues as fair wages and safe working conditions for farmers, as well as how to resolve conflicts between farms and local communities.

“The Dialogue is offering a unique opportunity to have stakeholders from all over the world working together,” he said. “It is very important to emphasize common parameters and guidelines for best trout farming, but the more important aspect is the exchange of human experiences.”