A pair of Canadian researchers feel they’ve proved what most have long suspected; salmon "farms" are largely toxic to wild salmon populations:
DRAMATIC declines in wild salmon populations are associated with exposure to farmed salmon, a new study has claimed.
The research, conducted by two Canadian marine biologists, claims to show dramatic declines in the abundance of wild salmon populations whose migration takes them past salmon farms in Canada, Ireland and Scotland.
According to the authors, previous studies have "clearly shown" that escaped farm salmon breed with wild populations to the detriment of the wild stocks, and that diseases and parasites are passed from farm to wild salmon.
I know how the poor wild salmon feel — or at least I do every time I drive by one of those dairy feedlots in the Central Valley where the smell causes even your car to temporarily lose power.
Gotta be the same underwater.
If I ever got stingy and bought farm-raised salmon at the store, I’ll never ever do it again.
Dean(Quote)
Fish farms aren’t the greenest things in the wrold, but more importantly, they shouldn’t be sited where wild fish must pass.
Tom Chandler(Quote)
They’re talking about doing the same thing out in the gulf – supposedly WAY out, and away from any migratory patterns. The hope is to farm such fish as red snapper, whose populations have crashed. Needless to say, a lot of us down here are a bit nervous about this, despite the reassurances.
ijsouth(Quote)
Relax. What could go wrong? Oh wait…
Tom Chandler(Quote)
Assuming the fish farming industry ramps up in lockstep with the decline of the wild fish, it should be the final straw.
It takes an awful lot of salmon to feed the world, and when there’s only 10% of the historical population surviving – then the other 90% will have to come from farmed fish.
When farmed fish outnumber real fish by 10-1, they’ll be claiming the “greater good” is served by the farmed fish – “wild” is something playboys with trust funds fish for – and eats.
kbarton10(Quote)
I have come to the conclusion that anything taken out of nature, stuck in a pen, stripped of its normal diet (usually replaced with GMO corn), and sold as meat, will probably eventually kill us either personally, or as a species. Additionally, food-like things of that kind taste like shit, or corn, or both, and have the nutritional makeup of the contents of a vacuum cleaner bag.
Its no shocker to me that they finally have found this out. I stopped eating anything raised in pens, about 2 or 3 years ago, and farmed salmon about 5 yeas ago. With Pebble Mine threatening to kill what’s left of wild AK salmon, and dams killing them everywhere else, I guess I’ll have to give up salmon all together.
Is there anyone we can email about this? I like salmon.
And to think, the rivers of America could be crossed on the backs of fish at one point, as the saying goes… boy we’ve come a long way.
Timo(Quote)
The owners of fish farms at sea want to take the profits from their operations and leave the mess in the commons (the ocean). Siting fish farms at sea makes you and me (and the wild fish nearrby, not just salmon) pay for the garbage removal.
I live in Canada’s “beef province” and the south of the province is polluted with the kind of feedlots TC remarked on. I can totally relate.
Larry Nash(Quote)
kbaton & Timo: You have to wonder why governments are so slow to recognize the potential value of owning the last few healthy wild salmon fisheries on the planet instead of a great big pile of poisonous mine tailings. Even the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors think we’d rather own a few useless dams instead of the West Coast’s model salmon fishery…
Larry: I hadn’t thought of commercial fish farms in quite that light, but yeah, it’s similar to so many strip mining operations; they tear it up, and then leave the mess for taxpayers to clean up.
Tom Chandler(Quote)
This reminds me of a question that keeps popping up in my (increasingly paranoid?) head. In the store when the label says “wild caught”, rather than “wild” – do you think that is the same thing? I picture them releasing farmed fish into “the wild” and immediately catching most of them up, in order to put that label on the package. Possibility or paranoia?
Debbie
Debbie(Quote)
Debbie: Some consumer group tested the “wild” salmon sold in the stores and decided that most of it was — in fact — not wild. I don’t know anything about the food labeling regulations around salmon (though I do know a “fresh” chicken can in fact be frozen).
Tom Chandler(Quote)
This fish farm story is great. I live on the west coast of British Columbia, Canada and we have been trying to prove to the Government that the fish farms are hurting our Salmon stocks. The government keeps denying it, even with all of the test results and proof they have been given.
The proof is simple to read, The Salmon stocks have been steadily been falling in the past few years, and have really taken a HUGE hit since the fish farms have been allowed here.
The fish farms provide a breeding ground for sea lice, and these lice are contently attacking the fry as they head out to the ocean. We have video evidence, and many, many dead fry to prove it. I hope that the correct people will see the light , before it’s to late!!!!!!!
Tight Lines & Fun Times
Rick Passek (The flyfish Fanatic)
Rick Passek(Quote)