CK, I know all about sustainability and a triple bottom line philosophy and use this for both my own business and personal life.
Aquaculture interests me because I feel that it actually can be done in a sustainable way. When I say this, I am including commercial and recreational/food fishing along with hatchery production, habitat protection and enhancement, which I personally(take it for what you will) think is the only way for sustainable aquaculture to exist on a large scale, long term.
The way I see it, is that there is a spectrum ranging from one end having completely natural systems being harvested with no enhancement(herring roe fishery would be an example) to the opposite end where you have completely artificial and closed systems such as open net pens(and closed containment for that matter). I see neither of these extreme ends of the spectrum being sustainable in the long term with the ever increasing demand for quality protein. It's pretty obvious why an industry that kills the unborn future generations to be sold as a delicacy across the world is unsustainable. I also feel that an unnatural system like the net pen salmon aquaculture is unsustainable because of the incredible amount of resources that it requires and are subsidized by nature in so many ways(waste removal, free rent, and most of all the amount of food that it takes to produce them(the other 70% of the herring from the roe fishery once the eggs are removed). The disease and health issues caused by having so many fish in such tight quarters just seems like the biggest barriers though. I can't even imagine how much you guys spend on dealing with the health issues. And without the currents that are free from the ocean....the problems would be incredible. Closed containment doesn't solve that problem and as you have pointed out is cost prohibitive.
I feel the only long term sustainable way for aquaculture to exist in the long term, is by finding the right balance in the middle. The natural systems are incredible and can support so much if only they were enhanced instead of abused. And enhancing one species isn't going to do it. It is all connected through the entire food web and all of the habitat that is required to support such a web. Salmon are only one piece of the whole puzzle, but certainly a key(stone) part.
The open pen aquaculture seems to love to bash the Alaskan salmon ranching method so much, but to me this is a MUCH more sustainable end of the spectrum to be than the way that you guys do it. Ranching may not be the perfect solution but it does fall somewhere in the middle of the spectrum and I see as being far more sustainable than the way that your industry does it or DFO's approach of commercial harvest while trying to cut costs by shutting down hatcheries. CK, I would love to hear your explanation of how you could see your industry as being more sustainable that the ranching method.
IMO, the most sustainable balance for long term aquaculture lies a bit further towards the natural state, but with a great amount of habitat enhancement(including artificial breeding grounds(hatcheries)). This must be applied to all areas though; enhancing the entire food web or it all crumbles(as we are clearly seeing around the world).
So, I can clearly see that your industry is trying to be MORE sustainable for it’s pure survival as a ‘species at risk’ so to speak, but that does not mean that it IS sustainable. I simply don’t see how it is possible. Please enlighten or deflect, take your choice.
How will you solve the issues of:
1. Disease within your population along with transfer both to and from fish outside the net? How are you going to reduce antibiotics?
2. Lice infestations?
3. Raping the worlds oceans to feed them?
4. The high toxicity found in your product as a result of bioaccumulation from the highly concentrated fish oil that goes into the fish?
5. Waste(land) below farms?
That’s amazing to hear that there is open transparency. Where can most information be found by a guy like me?
There is one question that you have avoided a few times when I have asked….and that is: is the recent raising and releasing of the fish that were raised at the Omega Pacific Hatchery that your company is clearly involved with any indication of what we can expect from your industry in the future? Is this a foreshadowing of things to come? I am not asking this because I think it is a bad direction, and from all I have said above, I would obviously think this is an industry step in the right direction.
I will close this rant with a little video, which I feel is far closer to a sustainable form of aquaculture that the current open net pen system that your industry currently uses.
I look forward to hearing how your are going to make your industry sustainable rather than just MORE sustainable.
http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_barber_how_i_fell_in_love_with_a_fish.html
Respectfully,
Ap
