The Escape of Farm Raised Atlantic Salmon in Puget Sound Prompts Ignorant and Shortsighted Criticisms of Aquaculture
The unfortunate mismanagement of an aquaculture facility on the waters of Puget Sound in the state of Washington that allowed thousands of Atlantic salmon to escape prompted some in the public to claim that aquaculture is a danger to our natural environment and its wildlife and that farmed seafood is unfit to eat.
If these ignorant people would back up their criticisms by not ever eating beef, poultry, pork, and refrain from ice cream, then I could lend them just a teeny bit of credence, but they can't and they don't recognize the much greater damage livestock production has had on wild populations of buffalo, deer, elk, prairie chickens, and countless other natural critters worldwide by the global transformation of natural habitats to agriculture (both plant and livestock production). Aquaculture has and will continue to have a minuscule impact on our natural habitats and wildlife compared to that of agriculture historically, in the present, and for the foreseeable future.
The ignorance shown by these aquaculture critics concerning food production history and the present world food security situation and of the stress that our food production capabilities will face in less than 40 years when our world will have 9-10 billion mouths to feed is extremely troubling.
Nothing focuses the mind better than a hungry stomach, but as we all know these critics of aquaculture (who have full stomachs) do not focus on the big picture of sustaining humanity via expanding and constantly improving best aquaculture practices, but rather they focus too narrowly on rare instances of aquaculture mismanagement and call for the end of all fish farming and the boycotting of its seafood for health reasons. This is a disgustingly shortsighted perspective to have.
All seafood lovers (and food lovers too) should educate themselves to appreciate the critical role aquaculture will play in dominating the sustainable production of protein going forward (aquaculture now outproduces beef!). The expansion of aquaculture will help secure the world’s food supply in a much more environmentally friendly fashion than land based livestock and crop production has ever done historically, currently, or will ever be capable of doing in the future.
We are now in the Blue Revolution era of global food production based on aquaculture. With ever- improving aquatic husbandry practices and technologies we will be able to feed 9-10 billion people in the future by utilizing less than one tenth of one percent of our world’s oceans. Let’s not be ignorant of the fact that in contrast, land based livestock production currently takes up over a third of the world’s land surface and the original habitats and countless wildlife that were originally occupying those spaces have forever been destroyed. And tragically millions of acres of rainforests around the world are continually being lost each year due to expanding agriculture!
One last point, enjoy eating Atlantic salmon. They are very wholesome/healthy (don't believe the ignorant critics).
Go Blue!, Dave
