Huffington Post article
'Eco Etiquette: 5 Farmed Fish That Get The Green Light’
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jennifer-grayson/eco-etiquette-5-farmed-fi_b_519649.html#postComment

CAIA response
April 1, 2010

Jennifer Grayson makes wise recommendations in her article ‘5 Farmed Fish That Get The Green Light’. As a representative of Canada’s aquaculture industry, I agree that shellfish don’t get the attention they deserve for being excellent sustainable seafood choices. Few consumers realize the vast majority of mussels and oysters – two species that Canadian growers sell fresh to US markets – are farmed, rather than collected in the wild. Also farmed in Canadian waters, Rainbow Trout (another ‘Green Light’ choice) are delicious, sustainable and available fresh, year-round.

However, Grayson paints a misleading and outdated picture of ‘large-scale fish farming’. For instance, farmed fish commonly grow to maturity without the use of any antibiotics – which are much more prevalent in land-based animal husbandry. Also, fish convert feed into mussel much more efficiently than beef, pork or poultry. Vegetable-based proteins like soy are indeed being used in fish feed; that’s good news, since the aquaculture industry uses less wild fish oils in their feed – while still growing healthy fish that contain high levels of heart-healthy, omega-3 fatty acids. Since the ‘waste’ she refers to is rich in nutrients, fish farmers operate in well-flushed waters, and use fallowing, crop rotation and low stocking densities to limit nutrient pollution.

With a 40 million tonne seafood shortfall predicted by 2030, we’ll need such ‘large-scale fish farming’ to feed a growing global population.

Check out www.Aquaculture.ca for the latest information.

Ruth Salmon
Executive Director
Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance