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News & Analysis | REG•WATCH Blog | Press Room
Friday, May 06, 2005
Swimming upstream into risky territory
Instead of hit lists and regulatory sunsets that would weaken or eliminate the protections we need, why isn’t our government doing its part to address the public’s unmet needs? Latest case in point: farm-raised fish.
Two articles appearing the same day raise concerns about the potential harms of farm-raised salmon. One article stresses the ecological harms and calls for assessments of those risks:
The substantial risk to salmon stocks posed by salmon that escape from net-pen farms argues for risk assessments of all types of marine fish farming, according to an article published in BioScience.
Rosamond Naylor of Stanford University and nine coauthors conclude in their article that without a firm policy mandate for risk assessment of escaping farm fish, aquaculture will "almost certainly lead to extensive competition between wild fish and continuously released farm fish--or widespread establishment of exotic fish species--and thus to a further decline in wild fish stocks."
Naylor and her coauthors conclude that, despite some efforts by aquaculture companies to curtail farm salmon escapes--such as using stronger net materials-- the efforts are inadequate, as monitoring and enforcement of regulations governing escapes are weak. An estimated two million farm Atlantic salmon escape each year into the North Atlantic, and millions more have escaped on the western coasts of North American and South America. Farm Atlantic salmon are more aggressive and faster-growing than native fish, with which they compete for food.
Interbreeding with native salmon stocks leads to long-term loss of fitness and productivity in wild populations and threatens their genetic diversity.
Moreover, farmed salmon appear to have transmitted parasites and infections to wild stocks. Escaped farm salmon are now successfully breeding in the wild in Norway, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and North America. Incipient feral Atlantic salmon populations have been found in rivers in British Columbia and South America.
Meanwhile, another article stresses the dangers to human health:
It’s been known that farmed salmon fish contains high levels of PCBs and PBDEs. Now a study warns that farmed salmon is also contaminated with dioxins, another cancer-causing agent.
Consumption of farm-raised salmon poses greater health risks from dioxin and dioxin-like compounds than does the consumption of wild salmon, according to a study published in the May 2005 issue of the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
Dioxins, pollutants associated with numerous adverse health effects (most notably cancer but also extending to suppression of the immune system, learning disabilities, increased risk of cardiovascular disease, impaired prostate development, and endometriosis), have been reported to be present at higher levels in farmed salmon, possibly resulting from the levels of dioxin-like compounds (DLCs) and other organic contaminants in the feed.
Although the study authors acknowledge recommendations from the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine and the American Heart Associations that frequent consumption of fish is beneficial, the authors suggest that the risk of cancer and other health effects may outweigh the benefits that some types of seafood offer. Women who become pregnant may be at increased risk due to the effect of the toxicants on developing fetuses.
For related information, check out Public Citizen’s work on issues related to other farm-raised seafoods.
Posted by Robert Shull
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