| Farmed Fish Feature Fish Lice |
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| Written by Heather McKee | |
| Monday, 03 March 2008 | |
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45% of seafood worldwide comes from fish farms now. So it’s not surprising that Canada’s new federal budget included $70 million for aquaculture research - a big chunk of which is getting sunk off the shore of Newfoundland to research how to get salmon fry out into the ocean at a younger age. But more farmed salmon is not good news for wild salmon. A study in Science found that wild salmon populations that migrate past salmon farms suffer massive population declines – usually around half - likely due to lice infestations from farmed fish being passed on to wild fish populations. (Mmm, fish lice.)
So should we have tilapia instead of salmon for dinner tonight?
Here’s a quick way to check the sustainability of your seafood: text the name of the fish or shellfish you want to buy to 30644 (thanks to NPR for this tip.) You will get a message back that grades the fish as green - good, yellow - caution, and red - don’t friggin’ eat it, based on levels of environmental pollution caused or by the potential toxicity of the flesh. Often, there are significant differences between farmed and wild fish of the same species – so check your sources.
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