A summary of the horrors of eating any farm-raised fish.
Here are the main concerns about aquaculture:
1) Creating fish feed for farmed fish depletes other fish species and upsets the balance of the ecosystem. It takes two to five pounds of wild small fish to produce one pound of farmed salmon, for example.
2) Farmed fish may contain high levels of contaminants like PCBs, and polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE). According to research published by the Environmental Working Group, PCBs found in farmed salmon (at levels 16 times higher than in wild salmon) in U.S. grocery stores are in levels high enough to pose an increased risk for cancer.
3) Fish farms can damage neighboring ecosystems, too, like marshes and forests at the water’s edge.
4) Antibiotics and other drugs used in fish farming sift to the sea floor and seep into open waters. As with antibiotic use in feedlots, there’s serious concern that overuse can create drug-resistant strains of disease that can wipe out wild
populations.
5) A dye called canthaxanthin is also used to color farm salmon, which would otherwise be grey. (Salmon in the wild absorb carotenoids from eating pink krill; this contributes to their naturally pink color.) This dye has been shown to adversely affect sight when consumed in large quantities.
6)Sea lice, which thrive in fish farms, threaten large numbers of wild fish that migrate past the area. (Fish farmers respond to sea lice by adding a pesticide to the fish feed.)
7) Waste from fish farms pollutes.
8) Fish farms threaten other fish and wildlife. Sea birds can become ensnared in netting and sea lions that try to eat farmed fish are sometimes shot. Farm fish that escape compete with wild fish for food and habitat, and they spread disease.
9) Farmed fish are generally less nutritious than wild fish…