In an article on FIS.com, "Greenpeace founder defends shrimp, salmon farming", Patrick Moore (Greenpeace founder, former salmon farmer and now Chairman and Chief Scientist at Greenspirit Strategies Ltd.) talks about the importance of aquaculture for providing healthy food that takes pressure off of wild stocks.
Moore provides context to concerns about antibiotic use in salmon farming stating "Whereas these [traditional food animal] livestock are on low-dose antibiotics for more than 50 per cent of their lives, only 3 per cent of salmon feed is medicated. Many salmon farms are now completely antibiotic-free and some are able to qualify for 'organic' status."
He responds to the issue of waste production with "Activists compare salmon farms to cities of 500,000 people dumping their raw sewage into the environment. The primary reason for concern about untreated human waste is disease transfer, not the waste itself. Once human waste is treated and sterilized it is a perfectly good fertilizer, and fish waste is no different except that there are no diseases that can be transmitted from fish to people."
The article finishes with a statement by Moore about the vast negative coverage of aquaculture and his wish to provide a more positive vision as "the negative side already has way too much airtime."
Moore provides context to concerns about antibiotic use in salmon farming stating "Whereas these [traditional food animal] livestock are on low-dose antibiotics for more than 50 per cent of their lives, only 3 per cent of salmon feed is medicated. Many salmon farms are now completely antibiotic-free and some are able to qualify for 'organic' status."
He responds to the issue of waste production with "Activists compare salmon farms to cities of 500,000 people dumping their raw sewage into the environment. The primary reason for concern about untreated human waste is disease transfer, not the waste itself. Once human waste is treated and sterilized it is a perfectly good fertilizer, and fish waste is no different except that there are no diseases that can be transmitted from fish to people."
The article finishes with a statement by Moore about the vast negative coverage of aquaculture and his wish to provide a more positive vision as "the negative side already has way too much airtime."
