Sunday 1 June 2014

Consumers Will Only Buy Closed-Containment Salmon - Goodbye Marine Harvest, Cermaq and Grieg Seafood

The Atlantic Salmon Foundation has done a closed-containment symposium in April 2014. This follows up on the Virginia symposium last September, 2013 on closed-containment, recirculating, on-land fish farms - look in previous Fishfarmnews articles for the Tides Canada site that will let you read the 50 presentations on closed-containment. Their on-land closed-system, like the Namgis on Vancouver Island, was about to sell their first crop, when, unfortunately, the power went out and killed the lot. However, this article shows that US consumers will pay $13 for this environmentally safe salmon and refuse the in-ocean Norwegian style salmon, because of its environmental impact $4 cheaper. 

The Namgis, however, sold every fish to Safeway in BC and Alberta. People won't buy in-ocean, open-net fish when given the choice. The writing is on the wall for the Norwegian-style industry Marine Harvest, Cermaq and Grieg Seafood. In BC, 85% of farmed fish has to be sold in the USA because Canadians won't buy it.


"ASF has documented in peer-reviewed research the loss of the wild salmon run in the Magaguadavic River because of interactions with farmed escapees. The Committee on the Status of Wildlife in Canada, in their advice to government, and the Royal Society of Canada, in their report on biodiversity, have identified salmon aquaculture as a significant threat to endangered and threatened wild salmon populations.


No comments:

Post a Comment