Boycott Farmed Salmon

If you eat salmon at all, please do NOT purchase farmed salmon.  EVER.  All over the coasts of British Columbia, the American Northwest, Chile and Northern Europe, farmed salmon have been spreading a deadly virus that’s wiped out millions of wild salmon.

Wild caught salmon might cost a bit more than farm-raised salmon, but there are several supermarket brands of canned salmon (e.g. Safeway) that are wild caught and not expensive.

Salmon are considered a Keystone species.  They’re at the center of their entire eco-system.  Bears and birds of prey would not survive without them.

And the survival of countless local economies depends on a thriving salmon population.

As terrible as these facts are, the scariest part is the government and industry repression of this information.  You don’t generally think of fish farms as being part of some giant syndicate.  But with the power and ferocity that the Canadian government is repressing this information, it sounds like the fish farming industry is powerful and omnipotent enough to make America’s factory farm syndicate look like Ma and Pa Kettle.

Salmon Confidential is the documentary I saw last night.  Alexandra Morton is the biologist whose research has linked a virus spread by salmon farms to the deaths millions of wild salmon.  The government and industry campaign of repression and intimidation against Alexandra Morton and her colleagues is straight out of the wackiest spy and intrigue movies.

For anyone who thinks Canada is just a tiny bit less of a corporate police state than the United States:  sorry, bad news.  If you think the “Ag Gag” laws in Iowa and Utah are bad — and they are — Canada almost passed a federal law making it a crime to report the fact that you found a farmed salmon that was diseased.  This law was aimed specifically at Alexandra Morton.  One of her tactics was to go into a supermarket, buy several whole salmon (farmed-raised) and test them for diseases.  Not only did they test positive, but they looked so deformed and hideous, from the effects of the virus, that you’d have to wonder why anyone would buy them.

This new Canadian law would mandate a 2-year prison sentence and a huge fine for simply reporting the fact that you found a farm-raised salmon that was diseased.  The law hasn’t been passed yet, but it was never officially withdrawn either.  It could be passed any time.

Salmon Are Sacred is an organization that’s working to save the wild salmon population.

Like all powerful syndicates, the fish farming industry has its share of Astroturf front groups, pretending to be just regular folks who can’t imagine what these wacky scientists are going on about.

Here’s just one example.  (I left a comment there, but it didn’t get published for some strange reason.)