Normally a Salmon contamination would be an angling "call to arms"
By KBarton10 on Apr 4, 2008 in current events, environment
A sobering article on Chilean salmon farms is available from the New York Times, in short, after we stomp wild fish to death, we farm them in an unsanitary manner, which stomps other wild fish to death.
Salmon feces and food pellets are stripping the water of oxygen, killing other marine life and spreading disease, biologists and environmentalists say. Escaped salmon are eating other fish species and have begun invading rivers and lakes as far away as neighboring Argentina, researchers say.
Local fishermen have noted an increasing “rosy” tint to fish they catch, the source is assumed to be excess “salmon chow” that falls to the sea floor from the pens.
…the industry needed to limit the escapes of about one million salmon a year; control the use of fungicides like green malachite, a carcinogen that was prohibited in 2002; and better regulate the colorant used to make salmon more rosy, which has been associated with retina problems in humans. It also said Chile’s use of antibiotics was “excessive.”
Costco and Safeway are among the largest importers of Chilean salmon, so if you frequent either - you may want to arm yourself with the facts.
Technorati Tags: chilean salmon farms, antibiotics, salmon virus, tasty
FH | Apr 5, 2008 | Reply
Boycott salmon. There are other ways to get your omega-3s that don’t involve ecological warfare, not to mention health risks attributed to supposedly “banned” additives.
Eh, nevermind, there is no hope, might as well embrace it.
A. Wannabe Travelwriter | Apr 5, 2008 | Reply
How is it that just about everything I like to eat and drink - stuff that I am even told is GOOD for me - ends up trying to kill me?!?
Guess I’ll go back to eating the fish I am gill netting on the Little Stinking…oh wait - there’s that mercury issue.
KBarton10 | Apr 5, 2008 | Reply
Mercury is looking better and better by the moment.
AnglerNorth | Apr 6, 2008 | Reply
That’s kind of scary to be honest, because I do eat a bit of salmon. I guess it’s time to switch to eating goldfish, I can manage the quality control myself…
bw | May 11, 2008 | Reply
Having lived for 15 years in Chiles major salmon smolt producing area, I agree with the criticism the industry is now receiving. In Chile the salmon producers are so powerful that no laws are enforced that would have a negative impact on their profit. Many times I reported problems with a fish farm near my property to the government regulating dept. and was told that they were not concerned, that I didn’t know how things were done in Chile. The use of illegal chemicals is common practice. Now the consumer in other countries are judging the industry. Aside from the health reasons to not eat Chilean salmon, there is the enormous damage they are doing to the environment and and the utter disregard they have for their workers, they average about one diver fatality a month due to lack of training and no safety equipment It is good to see the industry now being judged here, where there is much less control of the media. BW