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
