The following blog is posted on Philosophical Fish at:
http://www.the-philosophical-fish.ca/archives/23862
Day 10 – The Politics of Dinner
Philosophical Fish, Januray 10, 2015
Atlantic salmon has become vilified in many circles because it is farmed. So many people take a position that Atlantic salmon is somehow a terrible meat product.
It’s not.
That position, in most cases, is one taken out of ignorance and emotion because too many people believe the wrong information sources.
It’s like the anti-vax issue – why would you believe false claims based on pseudo-science? Why would you believe a celebrity over a scientist with a long history of excellent research?
Same thing with farmed Atlantic salmon in BC.
Misinformation from those with little factual basis for claims shouldn’t be the basis of one’s food choices.
I work in the area of salmon…..”wild” salmon. I have nothing at all to do with the aquaculture industry. And yet…I eat farmed Atlantic (and coho, and Chinook, and steelhead) salmon happily. I will continue to personally support the industry through my food choices.
Don’t get me wrong, I grew up on rainbow trout and lake trout that we caught on the lake we had a cabin on. But we don’t have that cabin anymore, and those days are long ago. When it’s in season I love a wild coho/Chinook/sockeye on my plate, I could eat candied smoked salmon until I explode.
In the same that I loved a good moose/venison roast when I was growing up, I love wild Pacific salmon. But I don’t hunt and no one in my family does either, so those days of moose and wild venison are gone, and I long for the taste. I also grew up on grouse. And to compare grouse to chicken is to do a disservice to both.
A farmed Atlantic salmon to a wild Pacific salmon is no different than beef is to moose. They aren’t related, and I don’t fool myself into believing that they are. Beef is not moose, grouse is not chicken, Atlantic salmon is not Chinook/coho/sockeye.
While I would love to eat grouse and moose and venison, I can’t, so I settle for beef or lamb or chicken on a day-to-day basis (or everyday since I don’t ever have a chance to eat moose anymore). Similarly I also know that I can’t have lake trout on a regular basis, and that wild salmon have their annual run timings, so I eat farmed Atlantic salmon. And I know that I can’t compare it to wild Pacific salmon because they aren’t the same animals, and one shouldn’t, and can’t, measure them against each other.
So my day to day fish? It’s farmed Atlantic salmon.
I have a Bachelor’s degree in Aquacultural sciences, and a Masters and PhD in fish stress immunophysiology. I have never worked for the aquaculture industry, or any supporting industry, and I have no vested interest. None of my graduate research was ever funded by industry, although one of my research supervisors for my MSc was the research director for an aquatic vaccine and therapeutic company, though they had no hand in directing my research. My thesis supervisor was intuitive enough to ensure that my research was arm’s-length and not directed or dictated by anyone outside of the University. There were no companies or individuals meddling or directing my studies for any commercial benefit.
In other words, my opinions are my own, pure and simple.
I have spent over two decades reading, listening, questioning, teaching, learning. I have visited salmon farms and commercial hatcheries. I have flown over commercial seapens in the Broughton and can be comfortable in the knowledge that they take up such a minuscule space on our coast as to be insignificant. I have witnessed the care and attention to biosecurity that is practiced at commercial facilities. I have slid a bit on some aspects of the salmon aquaculture, and changed positions based on changes in industry and changes in my understanding of some aspects.
Is it a perfect industry?
Hardly.
Is there such a thing as a perfect industry?
Absolutely not.
Is the argument that we should eat wild fish to save wild fish logical?
Do I even need to answer that one?
There are a dozen other arguments that people make that I don’t feel like writing about, this is just a photo post, not a thesis on everything wrong with the anti-aquaculture arguments.
There are many tidbits of misinformation on both sides. Massaging of data, twisting of data, omission of facts and figures, has happened both by the ENGO’s and the commercial industry. But if one has the wherewithal to sift through the information and exclude emotional and cultural bias from the equation, there is overwhelming information that justified the industry of salmon farming such as it is carried out in British Columbia.
I could write tens of pages on the subject, and reflect on both sides of the argument – environmental considerations, feed issues, steroids, sea lice medications, escapes, viruses, bacteria, migration routes, drugs, biosecurity, genetics, land based vs seapen culture, impacts on boating anchorages, impacts on recreation, acoustic deterrent devices, welfare, vaccines, therapeutants, benthic sedimentation, eutrophication, plankton blooms …you name it. I’ve considered every argument that has ever been put forward and I’ve read and educated myself on both sides, without emotion to cloud my judgement.
Bottom line?
Eat it, farmed salmon is good for you, and it’s better than deliberately killing threatened stocks of wild fish to put fish on the table. BC farmed salmon is healthy, takes pressure off wild salmon, and doesn’t do a fraction of the damage that the ENGO’s would have us all believe.
Oh, and on the other side of that political dinner, those that claim to be vegetarian and still eat fish and shellfish? You’re not really a vegetarian, you are still eating animal flesh (muscle tissue), that’s also called….wait for it…meat!
Just a pet peeve of mine.
Enough said….it’s dinner time, and that delicious piece of salmon is waiting to be consumed
