Destroying Chile's salmon industry

The market will take of this. Buyers will insist that Salmon be tagged with its origin. And then not accept product from Chile. And then the Chileans will have to clean up their act.

I also saw a program on TV on deepwater fish farming. The prototype was many miles out to sea where the wastes drop into the deep ocean trenches.

This will get fixed one way or another.

SteveM

This issue has indeed turned into a problem. It is common knowledge here that catches have lowered progressively throughout the last decade, partly because of local over harvesting and partly due to unauthorized foreign (Spanish, Russian, Japanese, etc.) fishing fleets trawling local waters, with the authorities basically powerless to stop (or even catch) them.

A large part of the problem with the salmon industry might seem a little foreign to Americans or First-Worlders in general: it's the almost complete lack of a "midlevel" control system in those regions. In most of the mentioned fishing towns, you're either a part of the salmon industry management or you work for it. There are no independent, small proprietors. The communities are so small that there is no one without a dog in the fight, so to speak. And the foreign ecologists who flock to the place and (sometimes rightly) denounce the conditions don't offer any real, workable alternatives to the local non-management population other than vague Rousseauvian admonishments to cherish their lives as good "noble savages" and live "in touch with nature" which naturally means foregoing all the conveniences of modern life they can take for granted in Spain, France and Norway.

The underlying problem isn't the salmon industry. When the salmons are gone, it'll be something else: shellfish, wood, algae, whatever. It's the lack of an adequate economic system that emphasizes responsible, small ownership (and the level of civic participation that comes with it) instead of large, foreign and Santiago-owned corporations with cozy ties to local government and the national kleptocracy.

We're not really in a position to criticize. There wouldn't need to be factory farms for salmon if North Americans hadn't destroyed most salmon poulations by constructing dams on the Columbia/Snake River system and throughout the Northern Atlantic. The salmon poulations in the Columbia alone, if restored and managed correctly, could produce millions of tons of salmon yearly. The destruction of Pacific salmon in the lower 48 is one of the saddest legacies of man's folly. Despit the political leanings of many in the northwest, they are impotent against the logging, hydropower and agribusiness interests. Yuor favorite senator, Larry Craig, has been instrumental in blocking the removal of dams on the Snake river that would restore the spawning grounds of millions of salmon and steelhead.

More and more its becoming clear to me that there just may not be any sustainable way to support the eating habits of the West as they are today, much less the exporting of our way of eating to other developing nations.

I used to think that given the options of either stripping our waters of marine life or factory farming to supply the demand, then factory farming of aquatic food animals was clearly the alternative of choice. No longer. This isnt the first time that I have heard about the abuses and excesses of this industry.

I am quickly coming 'round to the only possible conclusion. Yes, we must eat less meat and do everything that we can to support natural and sustainable means of raising and or harvesting food animals. It can only really work if there is less demand in the first place and more demand for it to be done properly and humanely.

I will never be one of those people who will say that we should all give up meat all together or that eating animals is wrong. But I will sure as heck insist that we consume meat responsibly. I have already cut back on my meat intake. I will now make sure that I do the same with fish and be choosy about where it comes from when I do buy it. That means I'll have to go veggie again when I eat out for the forseeable future as the most likely culprits for purchasing cheaply produced meats is the restaurant industry particularly fast food.

Sigh, yes I was a vegetarian once. I was never fanatical about though and it was much easier to be one in Europe where almost every place has good vegetarian options even fast food. Once I got back to Dallas, I found that most places either had no option, or the options stunk and couldn't be considered real food or a real bargain. I gradually went back to eating meat for the convenience. A move that I now deeply regret.

Oh well, if the only place I can buy meat when eating out is Chipotle, then it won't be as bad as it used to be. I'm with Rod. I really love the food there and so it won't be any loss to be forced to eat there once in a while! :-)

Support Chipotle!!!

One of my favorite bumper stickers: "Farm raised Salmon dyed for your sins". Have you ever seen the stuff without its dye? Its a pale grey. Not appetizing to the eyes nor the mouth.

I'm with Bugg too on the farm raised shrimp. They are absolutely flavorless!

I have been reading "In Defense of Food," and it's been a real eye-opener. The problem with eating fish is threefold:

- farmed fish is usually fed grain (meaning it's high in omega-6 fatty acids and low in omega-3s), and as the article pointed out, often full of contaminants.

- wild freshwater fish, at least where I live, is almost inedible due to pollutants like chlordane, other pesticides, fertilizer run-off, etc.

- wild ocean fish populations are becoming severely overfished.

Fish that's truly healthful is becoming a high-priced luxury item.

Your headline is a bit misleading. "Destroying Chile's salmon industry"? Without the farms, there would be no such industry at all. The fish are not native to Chile's rivers, and indeed are considered an invasive species there.

Though if they're thriving down there, more power to 'em. We can't seem to keep wild fish thriving here in California.

The antibiotics may be playing a role in the infectious disease too. Overuse of antibiotics in humans leaves people at risk for super infections. Its another case of killing the goose that laid the golden egg.

As you quote the article from the NYT, I think you should also point out that they posted a retraction to some of the statements in the article. Read the bottom of the first page of the article...the alleged port director turned out to be a security guard!

Cheers,

Pepe