Salmon farmers efficient in use of resources
By Mary Ellen Walling, Times Colonist August 12, 2012
Re: "Salmon aquaculture not worth the risks," Aug. 8.
The use of fishmeal and fish oil in salmon feed is certainly one of the most important sustainability questions to consider when discussing salmon aquaculture. Unfortunately, the information shared by our critics is significantly out of date by B.C. standards.
Salmon farmers have made efficient use of fishmeal and fish oil resources a top priority for many years. Our members have led the way in the most efficient use of these resources, drastically reducing the amount of fishmeal and oil in their feed in the past decade, replacing them with other ingredients while still providing farm-raised salmon with the nutrients they need to be a healthy and nutritious protein source.
Thanks to these improvements, today it only takes about 1.2 kilograms of these small fish to grow one kilogram of farmed salmon, which are very efficient feed converters compared to other farm-raised animals that have to consume more feed to give them energy to heat their bodies and to stand.
The fish meal that is used in salmon feed is sourced from sustainable fisheries - and according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the vast majority of it would never provide food to humans.
We take the responsibility of our operations and our role on the coast very seriously. The work done in this area is a good example of that proactive work.
Mary Ellen Walling Executive director,
B.C. Salmon Farmers Association Campbell River
The BCSFA letter was in response to the following:
Salmon aquaculture not worth the risks
By Torrance Coste, Times Colonist August 8, 2012
Re: "Fish farm quarantined after virus discovered," Aug. 1
When it comes to industrial salmon aquaculture on our coast, the list of environmental impacts is a long one. These feedlots are simply not worth the risks they pose to our waters, particularly given their inefficient use of marine resources.
It takes two to eight kilograms of feed to produce one kilogram of farmed salmon. The feed is made from smaller species such as anchovies, sardines, and herring, mainly from South America. We overfished our wild salmon stocks in the 1980s and 1990s, and now we use smaller species from thousands of kilometres away to feed the Atlantic salmon we raise in cages.
This is the very definition of fishing down the food chain. Instead of doing all we can to help the once-prolific Pacific salmon stocks to recover, we're opening our waters up to feedlots that inefficiently produce a non-native species, using a valuable protein from other parts of the world where starvation and malnutrition are more common. All so these companies can sell a luxury product that used to swim wild and in abundance.
Our marine environment is too important to treat with this nonchalance. We can't ignore viral outbreaks as casually as celebrity gossip. We need to be asking more questions. We need to protect our coast.
Torrance Coste
Wilderness Committee Victoria
