“Hi David, I have been a subscriber to your news letter since about 1986.You and now Eoin are still giving us a great service and long may it last.
It can take up to 5 kilos of wild fish or Antarctic krill to produce just one kilo of farmed salmon! In the wild a salmon can put on almost the same amount of weight from the fish they eat kilo for kilo. Rather than solving the problem of over-fishing, fish farms are literally competing with human consumption for what little wild fish there is left in the sea. All fish farming should be carried out on land based sites to control the massive pollution they cause at sea.

“Open cage salmon farms are also decimating natural salmon stocks, they have nearly wiped out the sea trout + salmon stocks in Ireland with sea Lice infections, please read. 

“Fish farms also destroy the livelihoods of fisheries across the world and have left whole fishing communities with no fish to catch because of the pollution they cause. Marine Harvest which is accused by many of been the biggest fish farm polluter in the world, are the largest producers of Farmed (also called Organic Salmon to make it more palatable to the mind) in Scotland. They want to put a fish farm which will hold 12000000 salmon in lovely Galway Bay, it will be the biggest in the world and produce the same waste as the people of Galway City except it will not be treated. Fish farming in cages at sea is a danger to the environment and may cause a serious health problem in the future. Possibly another black swan.”

David Fuller's view

Thank you for your kind words and interest in our service since 1986.

Thanks also for this informative email.  I do not question what you report, and I find it depressing, not least as fish is the preferred source of protein for many of us.  The best solution would be to restock the seas.  However this would requiring viable international agreement and a lengthy ban on commercial fishing, both of which would be virtually impossible to achieve.