Mentioning the risks, but not the solutions
By Mary Ellen Walling, Times Colonist August 25, 2010
Re: "Make sustainable seafood choices," Aug. 22.
This column raises a valuable discussion about the importance of sustainable seafood. It's key to the long-term viability of these healthy food sources that we as consumers are well-informed and aware of the impacts of our purchasing choices.
The author raises some questions about salmon farming, and then moves on without explaining how those concerns are mitigated. For example, he mentions the potential for escaped non-native species to colonize and compete in local waters, without explaining that the Atlantic salmon has proven unable to establish along B.C.'s coast.
He also mentions the risk of algae on farmed fish, without talking about the farm management programs, such as feeding schedules and bubble nets that protect our salmon from damage due to these naturally occurring blooms.
And of course, the usual sea lice concerns are tossed in, without talking about the regular monitoring and reporting programs that are conducted by companies to ensure the numbers of these parasites, introduced to farm fish from wild stocks, are kept well in control.
More and more, consumers are looking not only for a third-party confirmation of the sustainability of food sources, but they're looking at what those standards are, how they were maintained and who developed them. We believe that the principle of farming in order to relieve pressure on wild stocks is applicable both in the water and on land.
Mary Ellen Walling
Executive Director
B.C. Salmon Farmers Association
Campbell River
