Sustainability

The Salties Sustainability Initiative encompasses our fisheries in Iceland and Canada that meet our criteria of Sustainability, Traceability, and Environmental Awareness. With our program, our customers can know that the seafood they are receiving comes from fisheries that respect the health and level of fish stocks, do not overfish, and do not use fishing methods that damage the fishing habitats.

Sustainability

Over 80% of our products are Oceanwise & FishChoice recommended and certified. To ensure that our products are sustainable and sourced from healthy stocks, we have partnered with the Vancouver Aquarium run Oceanwise and FishChoice. Both are proponents of sustainable and traceable seafood.

Responsibility

The fishing industry is one of the main pillars of the Icelandic Economy and has been for centuries, where marine products have historically been the country's leading exports. Responsible fisheries at the Icelandic fishing grounds are the prerequisite for the Icelandic fishing industry to continue as a solid part of the Icelandic economy and a principal pillar in Iceland's exports.

Responsible Fisheries

Iceland has created one of the world's most modern and competitive seafood industries based on sustainable fishing methods and the protection of the marine ecosystem. Iceland maintains a 200-nautical-mile exclusive fishing zone that includes some of the richest fishing grounds in the world. In this zone, quotas are maintained and set to ensure the fish stocks' health and prevent overfishing. The quota system implemented in Iceland is based on extensive research on fish stocks and the marine ecosystem and biodiversity.

Traceability

Mislabelling is a massive problem in seafood production, processing, and distribution. The wrong country of origin and incorrectly advertised species are the most common fraud in Seafood sales. These trends damage the reliability of the fishing industry and the people who depend on the ocean. Therefore, we decided to create your traceability system based on government-certified documents to certify the Seafood's entire voyage from the Ocean to your door. Our Initiative is designed to answer seven critical questions with complete transparency.

1. What Species is it?
2. Where is it from?
3. What boat caught it?
4. How was it caught?
5. Where was it landed?
6. When was it landed?
7. Who processed and packaged it?

All these questions are answered for all our products with every delivery. If you want a picture of the captain of the ship that caught your Lemon Sole Fillet, we can send that to you.

Environmental Awareness

We care deeply for the environment, and understand that the future of sustainable fisheries revolves around caring for the oceans and the air we breathe, and we work with people and companies that share these same values. We take steps to ensure that the carbon footprint of our products is minimized. In addition, we source line caught fish as much as possible to reduce damage to the fish habitats.

Some species that we offer, including Atlantic Halibut are available to use through a system of purchasing bycatch, of which the profit is returned to government organizations who in turn use the proceeds for research.

Carbon Footprint

The food we eat, no matter what it is, or where it comes from, contributes to the warming of our planet. CO2 emissions being reduced in Iceland matters for Canadians, since Global is Local. The Carbon Footprint is an easy way to get a sense of how much our food contributes, relative to other sources of food. What we choose to eat is a major factor in reducing our Carbon Footprint. Fisheries are not immune to Carbon emissions, but we are extremely proud that due to our sustainability efforts our own Carbon Footprint is far below that of other fish and seafood, other kinds of proteins like meat and even some fruits and vegetables.

By minimizing food waste and sourcing only from healthy fishing stocks are the cornerstone of our initiative to minimize our carbon footprint. We have shortened the timeline from when orders are placed and until we deliver to make sure our products stay fresh for as long as possible. We don't warehouse our products, our warehouse is the Ocean as our fishermen have not caught the fish when our customers have placed their orders. This limits food waste immensely. By sourcing from healthy fish stocks, the least amount of time is spent on catching and the least amount of Oil is bought and burned.



With all factors added, our fish has on average a carbon footprint of 1.70. This data was compiled from participation in studies by the Icelandic Government, private laboratory tests and investigations, and analysis of air transport fuel efficiency. The dark blue bar to the far right represents local delivery which is 0.06.

How does local North American Seafood Match up?

Due to Iceland's long history of regulating its fisheries through a strict quota system, stocks have healily grown. In addition, this means less time and less fuel is used to catch the fish, little to no cooling is needed, bycatch is reduced, and the freshness of our fish and seafood is optimized. Both hydroelectric energy and geothermal energy is used to power the packing and processing of our fish and seafood.

How is our footprint so low?

According to Hiller M.C. and G.A. Keoleian, the Carbon Footprint of fish caught in North American waters is higher than Salties fish. In the table below, we compared Salties fish to the Min, Max, and Mean values of North American Fish, in accordance to the study.



The minimum value represents the lowest value recorded in the study, which is without a doubt, local fish. The max is the highest recorded, and the mean is the average value recorded in the study. Unfortunately, data about local fisheries in North America is hard to come by, and is hard to verify. The study we found was peer reviewed by an academic journal; and therefore met our standards of validity.

Where do other animal proteins sit?

Ever wondered how other proteins like Beef and Lamb match against our fish? According to Hiller M.C. and G.A. Keoleian, Salties fish has close to three times lower a Carbon Footprint than poultry; which is already considerably lower than the other animal proteins. In comparison to beef, Our Carbon Footprint is close to sixteen times lower.

Hmm...Where do vegetables belong here?

According to Hiller M.C. and G.A. Keoleian, Salties fish is more similar in terms of Carbon Footprint to bananas, than to its Animal Protein counterparts. Asparagus has a Carbon Footprint that is close to six times greater than Salties Fish. Some studies calculate the nutrition value of the food into the CO2 eq. emission; and in that comparison, Salties Fish becomes even more favourable as a food source in regards to Carbon eq. Emissions.



We never stop searching and finding ways to lower our Carbon Footprint. Salties has partnered up with Matís, an Icelandic biological research agency, as well as other industry leaders to map the Carbon Footprint of the entire Icelandic fishing industry with the goal being to assist in the future of implementing Carbon Neutrality.