Salmon farming debate heating up
Opinion
In a response to the most vocal critic of conventional salmon farming in British Columbia, Cory Percevault takes a stab at some of the statements issued recently by Alexandra Morton, who just recently received a controversial, honourary doctorate from one of the Vancouver-based universities. This university employs some of the researchers that have been collaborating with Dr. Morton in some of her studies of sea lice and pink salmon in the Broughton Archipelago.
Mr. Percevault is no stranger to salmon farming in B.C., and he is the current President of the society Positive Aquaculture Awareness, a Campbell River-based grassroots organization that was started to provide education and factual information about the industry. In his colourful commentary, Mr. Percevault presents a few pointed questions towards Dr. Morton;
1. How does trading the current method of growing salmon at low densities in their natural environment, for salmon crammed into concrete tanks on land, make it less of a "feedlot"? Answer: it doesn't. Try marketing that vision!
2. How does moving a carnivorous fish onto land turn it into a vegetarian? Answer: it doesn't (the facts about fish meal use in aquaculture can be found at http://www.farmfreshsalmon.org/efficient-protein-production-aquaculture).
3. If farmed salmon are dyed pink, how would moving them on land change that? Answer: it wouldn't, but it's a moot point anyway because farmed salmon are not dyed. Geeez, how many times do we have to tell you! (The facts about how salmon get their colour can be found at http://vodpod.com/watch/2350798-salmon-color-how-do-salmon-get-their-color).
4. If disease is an issue on BC salmon farms, how would packing salmon into tanks on land improve fish health? Answer: it wouldn't (the facts about fish health programs on BC salmon farms can be found at http://www.mainstreamcanada.ca/aquaculture/maintaining-fish-health.php).
5. How does trading the use of a green power (tidal power) used by ocean based salmon farms today, for energy hungry water pumps and filters required to operate tanks on land, automatically
