Salmon Farming Benefits
Do the benefits of salmon farming outweigh any detrimental effects?
Worldwide, the salmon farming industry has witnessed extraordinary growth since the 1980’s with Chile, Canada, Norway and UK emerging as some of the largest producers (Eagle et al, 2004). Salmon farming is the process of harvesting salmon in cages or pens, usually offshore, as opposed to traditional capture fisheries.The economic and food production benefits of salmon farming (Salmo salar) will first be discussed. However there are many detrimental effects of salmon farming and this essay will predominantly take the position that the detrimental effects of salmon farming are far greater than the economic and food provision benefits. This will done by primarily focusing on …show more content…
Cataracts are common in the industry and in one study, Wall (1998) observed cataracts in 50-90% of Irish salmon. It has been suggested that many of these health problems stem from inadequate water and food & nutrition quality (Wall, 1998). Viral diseases such as infectious pancreatic necrosis are also prevalent in Norwegian and Scottish farms (Ruane et al, 2007). Thus, the health of farmed salmon can be far from ideal and this calls into question how welfare- friendly rearing farmed salmon is. Waste organic material from the farms can build up on the benthos below cages which results in shifts in the community structure and sedimentation, generally leading to decreased taxa abundance or an ‘azoic zone’. Meiofaunal communities can take in excess of 4 months to fully recover (Mazzola et al , 2000). One of the more contentious issues surrounding salmon farming is the licenced shooting of seals, to decrease seal predation. In 2014, a maximum of 1,005 seals were licensed to be shot in Scotland, primarily for protection of fish farms (B Marine Scotland, 2014). Therefore, there is a vast array of negative impacts instigated by current practices in salmon …show more content…
2006. Genetic and ecological effects of salmon farming on wild salmon: modelling from experimental results. ICES Journal of Marine Science. 63:pp 1234-1247.
Ingvarsdottir, A., Birkett, M., Duce, I., Genna, R.L., Mordue, W., Pickett, J.A., Wadhams, L.J., Mordue, J.A. 2002. Semiochemical strategies for sea louse control: host location cues. Pest Management Science. 58 (6): pp 537-545. Krkošek, M., Connors, B.M., Ford, H., Peacock, S., Mages, P., Ford, J.S., Morton, A.,Volpe, J.P., Hilborn, R., Dill, L.M., Lewis, M.A. 2011. Fish farms, parasites, and predators: implications for salmon population dynamics. Ecological Applications 21: pp897–914.
Mazzola, A., Mirto, S., La Rosa, T., Fabiano, M., Danovaro, R. 2000. Fish- farming effects on benthic community structure in coastal seddiments: analysis of meiofaunal recovery. ICES Jounal of Marine Science. 57: pp. 1454-1461.
McGinnity, P., Prodohl, P., Ferguson, A., Hynes, R., Maoileidigh, N.O., Baker, N, Cotter, D., O’Hea, B., Cooke, D., Rogan, G., Taggart, J., Cross, T. 2003. Fitness reduction and potential extinction of wild populations of Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar, as a result of interactions with escaped farmed salmon. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Biological Sciences. 270 (1532): pp
Worldwide, the salmon farming industry has witnessed extraordinary growth since the 1980’s with Chile, Canada, Norway and UK emerging as some of the largest producers (Eagle et al, 2004). Salmon farming is the process of harvesting salmon in cages or pens, usually offshore, as opposed to traditional capture fisheries.The economic and food production benefits of salmon farming (Salmo salar) will first be discussed. However there are many detrimental effects of salmon farming and this essay will predominantly take the position that the detrimental effects of salmon farming are far greater than the economic and food provision benefits. This will done by primarily focusing on …show more content…
Cataracts are common in the industry and in one study, Wall (1998) observed cataracts in 50-90% of Irish salmon. It has been suggested that many of these health problems stem from inadequate water and food & nutrition quality (Wall, 1998). Viral diseases such as infectious pancreatic necrosis are also prevalent in Norwegian and Scottish farms (Ruane et al, 2007). Thus, the health of farmed salmon can be far from ideal and this calls into question how welfare- friendly rearing farmed salmon is. Waste organic material from the farms can build up on the benthos below cages which results in shifts in the community structure and sedimentation, generally leading to decreased taxa abundance or an ‘azoic zone’. Meiofaunal communities can take in excess of 4 months to fully recover (Mazzola et al , 2000). One of the more contentious issues surrounding salmon farming is the licenced shooting of seals, to decrease seal predation. In 2014, a maximum of 1,005 seals were licensed to be shot in Scotland, primarily for protection of fish farms (B Marine Scotland, 2014). Therefore, there is a vast array of negative impacts instigated by current practices in salmon …show more content…
2006. Genetic and ecological effects of salmon farming on wild salmon: modelling from experimental results. ICES Journal of Marine Science. 63:pp 1234-1247.
Ingvarsdottir, A., Birkett, M., Duce, I., Genna, R.L., Mordue, W., Pickett, J.A., Wadhams, L.J., Mordue, J.A. 2002. Semiochemical strategies for sea louse control: host location cues. Pest Management Science. 58 (6): pp 537-545. Krkošek, M., Connors, B.M., Ford, H., Peacock, S., Mages, P., Ford, J.S., Morton, A.,Volpe, J.P., Hilborn, R., Dill, L.M., Lewis, M.A. 2011. Fish farms, parasites, and predators: implications for salmon population dynamics. Ecological Applications 21: pp897–914.
Mazzola, A., Mirto, S., La Rosa, T., Fabiano, M., Danovaro, R. 2000. Fish- farming effects on benthic community structure in coastal seddiments: analysis of meiofaunal recovery. ICES Jounal of Marine Science. 57: pp. 1454-1461.
McGinnity, P., Prodohl, P., Ferguson, A., Hynes, R., Maoileidigh, N.O., Baker, N, Cotter, D., O’Hea, B., Cooke, D., Rogan, G., Taggart, J., Cross, T. 2003. Fitness reduction and potential extinction of wild populations of Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar, as a result of interactions with escaped farmed salmon. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Biological Sciences. 270 (1532): pp