solemama.freeforums.org

HI all,

I wasn't too sure where to put this

A friend of ours from a remote Canadian Island visited us on the weekend. he came bearing gifts of wild salmon that had been snap frozen and packaged for him (dont ask about the food miles or his issues with customs on the way in)

Apart from tasting unbelieveable amazing and so different from the farmed salmon we eat in Australia (there was fresh and smoked), it really started me thinking about the ethics of fish farming.

In Australia, there is no wild salmon obviously, so our salmon is farmed, mostly in tassie or SA. In canada they do strange things to their farmed fish - like add food dies, antibiotics etc. In Australia, after some googling, I found some propganda that said no die is used, but that an additive is added to the fish feed to make them pink (otherwise they wouldnt be that familiar pink colour) and that antibiotics etc are not used

The aquaculture and farming of fish is a relatively new, big business that aims to make up for the delpetion of wild stocks. However, when more protien is fed to the salmon to grow them than what they provide to humans at the end, is this sustainable? Apparently they are fed fish that humans dont eat that are caught in South America. Is this sustainable?

Nutritionists are always encouraging people to eat more fish, especially salmon for their omega 3s. This, and the relative wealth of much of the world has meant that fish is now eaten in quantities previously unseen. Have we created an industry that is actually harmful to our surroundings, and ultimately to ourselves if we overfish?

Mussels and oysters hae been farmed for years in Aus, but they are actually farmed in the wild, using nutrients found in the wild. This type of farming is a lot more sustaible than fish farming

has anyone got an opinion on this? or maybe a supplier of sustainable local fish?

IMHO fish aquaculture is very problematic. It seems like a good idea at first blush, but once you begin to dig under the surfact there are significant issues.

For example:

Aquaculture pens are a point source of nutrient pollution. This can be very damaging to the local environment. The Atlantic salmon industry likes to claim a "clean green" image, yet the waste products from their fish are totally changing the ecology of the areas they are in. Not what I would have thought as being very environmentally sensitive.

Some salmon have in fact escaped from the pens and have "naturalised" in surrounding river systems. As if enough damage to local native fish had not already been done in Tasmania by other salmonids, the locals now have to deal with yet another, much larger this time, top of food chain predator for which they are not adapted.

Food for thought