I work for a wild Alaskan seafood company, and I just shared this with all of my coworkers. Finfish farming has been illegal in the state since 1990, so Alaskans are very pro-wild-salmon. It's not a perfect industry even with a salmon farming ban in place, but that regulation has done so much—especially, to protect the many species of salmon that are native to the Alaska.
Gaaaaah, hearing this makes it even more devestating that the Icelandic parliament is going to go along with this, when there are good examples of ways to NOT. Thanks for reading, sharing and commenting - give your coworkers my best regards!
thank you so very much amy! i should have included this petition in the newsletter, so if you feel like putting your name down the petition is to be found here: https://letsundothis.com/
yes, i've been hearing quite a lot about that tasmanian salmon after i wrote the report. also i didn't realise until i lived in new zealand that salmon is kind of considered a staple by many down under, right? that puts a big pressure on.. well, salmon! there are some positive stories from governments banning open-net fish farming, both in argentina and alaska. one can hope! oh and sign a petition: https://letsundothis.com/
I'd love to see a follow up regarding the affect farmed salmon feed has on the environments it is taken from! It is something I have been meaning to spend time educating myself on. How much wild fish turned into feed does it take to raise one healthy-enough farmed Atlantic? Can it possibly be energy efficient/ sustainable/ to take wild fish from somewhere else in the world, process it into feed, add back lost nutrient then ship to fish farms where it's inefficiently fed to caged fish?
I think the common argument from farmers to any criticism to their feed is "well one day we'll make it out of bugs/ artificially" but as far as I know that is something that hasn't been done yet and it's still yet to be seen if it could be done.
I wouldn't be surprised if I'd rather eat the fish they are feeding farmed salmon than the farmed salmon.
Yes! That’s a very interesting topic, an angle that could be like you say, its own report. The farmed salmon in Norway and Iceland is fed (to the best of my knowledge and research) with pellets made out of mostly soy (sometimes also/or rapeseed, corn or other vegetable/grain products grown who knows where and at what cost) and then part fishmeal. The fishmeal is made out of fish rests unfit for human consumption. That could in itself be a good use of lesser-grade produce. Still, I have been told that in Iceland, the sick and injured salmon that dies in those open nets is scooped up to the degree possible, and millions of tons of this self-dead toxic fish mash are then shipped back to Norway to be made into pellets. Those pellets are then shipped back to Iceland to be used as feed to the surviving farmed salmon. Mindblowing stuff!
Thank you, Rán! That is my new favorite praise: that you can feel the viking in it. 🥰 I watched most of your House of Bird video and am excited to watch the rest. It’s very inspiring! I hope you really do the 1000 words of summer!
thank you for reading! crony capitalism is hereby added to my vocabulary.
i will think about your comic idea. i find it quite intriguing, because the world has for the LONGEST time been without open-net farming. and then there is the other thing, if we got rid off all open-net farming over night, the demand for cheap and accessible protein would simply be moved to some other horrible industry, right? meaning the problem in the end is us (the global consumerist north or whatever we like to call it) and our relationship to our food, our bodies, our environment. yes, sir! i will make a comic about this.
Well, that's depressing! Thanks for the information. At least I can modify my eating habits, and at best I can try to learn more about can be done by non-Icelandic folks.
haha, yep. that is VERY depressing. but i am somehow finding it helpful to find things both depressing AND funny at the same time? anyway, thanks for reading, and if you feel like it you can sign a petition here: https://letsundothis.com/ Not eating farmed fish helps too (but only if it isn't replaced by some other industrially farmed poor mammals, so that one is tricky too), voting and sharing the word helps as well!
I work for a wild Alaskan seafood company, and I just shared this with all of my coworkers. Finfish farming has been illegal in the state since 1990, so Alaskans are very pro-wild-salmon. It's not a perfect industry even with a salmon farming ban in place, but that regulation has done so much—especially, to protect the many species of salmon that are native to the Alaska.
Gaaaaah, hearing this makes it even more devestating that the Icelandic parliament is going to go along with this, when there are good examples of ways to NOT. Thanks for reading, sharing and commenting - give your coworkers my best regards!
one of my coworkers even turned your salmon "nope" square into an emoji for us to use on our slack channel <3
hahahaha love it!!!!
Reading this inspired me to get involved. I found this petition: https://letsundothis.com/
signed!
I was too late to respond, you found it! Thanks for reading and signing and getting involved.
I love this so much and I'm so totally impressed with what you do. Many thanks for sharing.
thank you so very much amy! i should have included this petition in the newsletter, so if you feel like putting your name down the petition is to be found here: https://letsundothis.com/
thanks for sharing! I wouldnt know without you drawing the report.
Horrible. Similar issues in Tasmania, Australia. I will not eat Tasmanian salmon now.
yes, i've been hearing quite a lot about that tasmanian salmon after i wrote the report. also i didn't realise until i lived in new zealand that salmon is kind of considered a staple by many down under, right? that puts a big pressure on.. well, salmon! there are some positive stories from governments banning open-net fish farming, both in argentina and alaska. one can hope! oh and sign a petition: https://letsundothis.com/
how can i help if im not from iceland?
hello emily! did you find it? there is a petiton you can sign here: https://letsundothis.com/
also sharing the information, voting green and not eating farmed fish helps too. To some extent at least :)
Thank you!!
I'd love to see a follow up regarding the affect farmed salmon feed has on the environments it is taken from! It is something I have been meaning to spend time educating myself on. How much wild fish turned into feed does it take to raise one healthy-enough farmed Atlantic? Can it possibly be energy efficient/ sustainable/ to take wild fish from somewhere else in the world, process it into feed, add back lost nutrient then ship to fish farms where it's inefficiently fed to caged fish?
I think the common argument from farmers to any criticism to their feed is "well one day we'll make it out of bugs/ artificially" but as far as I know that is something that hasn't been done yet and it's still yet to be seen if it could be done.
I wouldn't be surprised if I'd rather eat the fish they are feeding farmed salmon than the farmed salmon.
Yes! That’s a very interesting topic, an angle that could be like you say, its own report. The farmed salmon in Norway and Iceland is fed (to the best of my knowledge and research) with pellets made out of mostly soy (sometimes also/or rapeseed, corn or other vegetable/grain products grown who knows where and at what cost) and then part fishmeal. The fishmeal is made out of fish rests unfit for human consumption. That could in itself be a good use of lesser-grade produce. Still, I have been told that in Iceland, the sick and injured salmon that dies in those open nets is scooped up to the degree possible, and millions of tons of this self-dead toxic fish mash are then shipped back to Norway to be made into pellets. Those pellets are then shipped back to Iceland to be used as feed to the surviving farmed salmon. Mindblowing stuff!
GAY MONTH!!!!
Wow, thank you for this. I'm so glad to have stumbled upon your wonderful Substack! I do illustrated posts too. And have some Viking in me :)
Likewise Kelcey, so happy to have found yours! I can feel the viking in it!
(and now I am going to do the 1000 words of summer challenge too)
Thank you, Rán! That is my new favorite praise: that you can feel the viking in it. 🥰 I watched most of your House of Bird video and am excited to watch the rest. It’s very inspiring! I hope you really do the 1000 words of summer!
I appreciate the work you put into this.
Here in 'Merica, we have another term for 'regulatory capture'; we call it 'crony capitalism'.
Maybe you could do a comic about what you think a world without open-net farming looks like. What would be the impact to the consumer?
thank you for reading! crony capitalism is hereby added to my vocabulary.
i will think about your comic idea. i find it quite intriguing, because the world has for the LONGEST time been without open-net farming. and then there is the other thing, if we got rid off all open-net farming over night, the demand for cheap and accessible protein would simply be moved to some other horrible industry, right? meaning the problem in the end is us (the global consumerist north or whatever we like to call it) and our relationship to our food, our bodies, our environment. yes, sir! i will make a comic about this.
I don’t know that I agree with your position, but I do appreciate the passion you put into explaining it.
Wow! I had NO idea all that was going on with my Atlantic salmon! Thank you for informing me!
thank you so very much for reading! and if you feel like it, you can sign a petition here: https://letsundothis.com/
Well, that's depressing! Thanks for the information. At least I can modify my eating habits, and at best I can try to learn more about can be done by non-Icelandic folks.
haha, yep. that is VERY depressing. but i am somehow finding it helpful to find things both depressing AND funny at the same time? anyway, thanks for reading, and if you feel like it you can sign a petition here: https://letsundothis.com/ Not eating farmed fish helps too (but only if it isn't replaced by some other industrially farmed poor mammals, so that one is tricky too), voting and sharing the word helps as well!