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From: Dr Roger Grace
_: 5
Date: 26-11-09
Time: 08:22
One of my biggest concerns with finfish farming is what Gary briefly mentioned, and that is feeding the farmed fish on wild-caught "trash" fish. If there was a way of keeping finfish farms on land (so there was no direct impact on sea areas) AND they could feed them on land-grown vegetable (or animal) protein, then I could probably live with finfish farming. There should also be no possibility of escape or release to the wild, coz farmed breeding stock will be a genetic bottleneck, which could create all sorts of long-term problems in wild stocks if released to the wild. I doubt there will be the required level of caution in the way forward for aquaculture, and there will be conflict with the primary biodiversity protection need for a representative network of marine reserves. So, although there are potential economic gains to be had, there are also very serious environmental and social issues. Our track record is not good at getting the balance right, and I have no doubt we will err seriously in a direction which will see the environment suffer, and create social conflict. Cheers, Roger Grace
Last changed: 26-Nov-2009