Author challenges ‘ill-informed and emotional' seafood debate

A Shetland seafood expert is hoping to address the bad press the sector attracts from environmental groups, with a new book, published this week.

John Goodlad, a former Shetland fishermen’s leader and salmon farmer, who also worked for some years as a fisheries advisor to Prince Charles’ International Sustainability Unit, said the seafood industry, with its low carbon footprint and proven health benefits, should have a great future.

Instead, it faces a multitude of problems, mostly related to an increasingly negative image that is gaining traction in the media and wider society.

Opportunities

In Food from the Sea - The Future of Seafood, he looks at the challenges and opportunities facing the global seafood industry, told through the lives of the people who make their living from seafood.

Goodlad, an advisor to the Sustainable Oceans Fund, said the inspiration for his book came mainly from the bitter dispute over the proposed introduction of Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs) in Scotland in 2023.

The debate, he said, was ill-informed and emotionally charged and “could have had permanent and fundamental impacts in coastal and island communities”.

Vocal campaigner

In researching his book, he spoke to Scottish Green Party Highlands and Islands MSP Ariane Burgess, a vocal campaigner for HPMAs, but admits they didn’t hit it off.

He said he got on better, to his surprise, with Guardian columnist George Monbiot, a vegan anti-fishing and farming campaigner.

Goodlad told the Shetland News, ahead of his book’s publication in Lerwick yesterday, that he learnt a lot from their discussion and hoped Monbiot learnt something as well.

Prevailing narrative

“There is a comfort in going with the prevailing narrative, and the prevailing narrative is closing 30% of the oceans, bottom trawling is all bad and fish farming should be banned, and here is a book challenging this narrative.

“It needs more people to sit down and accept that proper dialogue is required, there are far too much of emotional driven debates.”

Goodlad said his book was also triggered by the decision by the Canadian government, under former prime minister Justin Trudeau, to ban open net pen salmon farming in British Columbia, which he said did not make any sense economically and environmentally.

Food from the Sea - The Future of Seafood, published by The Shetland Times Ltd priced £9.99, will be launched UK-wide in London on June 9.