Time to remove farmed salmon from our tables
FOUR years ago I gave up eating salmon. Tinned, smoked, fillets – the lot.
When I was a child, it was seen more as a luxury. Primarily sourced from rivers and seas through fishing, it was a delicacy limited by its natural availability.
But that all changed as the number of salmon farms worldwide soared. Our 200-plus fish farms have now made salmon Britain’s biggest food export, far ahead of cheddar cheese, in second place, as well as beef and lamb.
Almost all of the salmon you will find on sale in supermarkets is from fish farms.
But this type of intensive farming comes at a huge cost. A record 17 million fish died prematurely on UK farms alone last year, up 193% on 2020.
It is hardly surprising when outbreaks of sea lice, which effectively eat the fish alive, and other diseases are rife on some farms contaminating pens. Those who escape can also infect wild salmon populations, with UK Atlantic salmon now on a list of species at threat of extinction.
The farmed-fish industry body blamed the high number of deaths on microscopic jellyfish blooms and record ocean temperatures. But charity Animal Equality said they were dying because of “unnatural conditions” not because of weather cycles.
Another concern is what they are fed. Around a fifth of the world’s annual fish catch – approximately 18 million tons – is made into fishmeal and fish oil, with 70% going to farms. As a result, developing countries see their stocks depleted to feed this demand.
Excess food and fish waste then increase the levels of nutrients in the water and have the potential to lead to oxygen-deprived waters impacting other aquatic life.
As the seas become warmer with record temperatures last year linked to El Nino, the problems get worse.
Just as we are now switched onto the horrors of factory-farming, fish farms now must be given the same attention. Chris Packham stepped up the pressure by urging shoppers to give up farmed salmon saying it should be “taken off the table for good”.
Until stronger regulations are in place to ensure suffering and marine damage is stopped, I will be sticking with my boycott.
‘‘ More than 17 million fish died on UK farms in 2020, up 193% EasyJet holidays will no longer sell tickets for zoos, marine parks, wildlife performances and rides. It comes after the Mirror told last summer how dolphins, made to do tricks for tourists, suffered in tanks.