Green Around the Gills

Kofi's United Nations of Aquaculture

 

When Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations, visited Norway this week (12 June) to promote aquaculture he was flanked by security guards and refused to be photographed or be interviewed by the media.




Media who wanted to film Mr. Annan, the keynote speaker at the Nutreco-sponsored conference Aqua Vision, were only permitted to film briefly, were not allowed to ask questions and had to sign a confidentiality agreement.




Outside the conference in Stavanger, photographers and journalists who refused to sign the gagging order mingled with protestors who were forced to wait outside the hotel venue.



Protestors included the Green Warriors of Norway questioning Mr. Annan's support for salmon farming and Syrians making their voices heard about Mr. Annan's role as a peacekeeper in Syria. 





Watch TV2 News - online here

 

“We welcome Kofi Annan to Norway,” said Kurt Oddekalv, leader of the Green Warriors of Norway.  “However, promoting salmon aquaculture as a solution to the world food crisis is socially and environmentally irresponsible.  Farming salmon is stealing precious protein from the mouths of hungry people in Africa and South America.  Salmon farmers are modern day pirates of the seven seas.” 

 

Read more via "Farming salmon is stealing food from poor people and our oceans"

 

When a TV2 News reporter tried to ask a question she was brushed aside by security.

 

 

Once inside the conference venue, Kofi Annan delivered his keynote presentation to 400 delegates who incldued the CEOs of Marine Harvest, Skretting, Nutreco and Grieg as well as Norway's Minister of Fisheries Lisbeth Berg-Hansen (herself a salmon farm owner):

 

 

Photo approval had to be sanctioned by the conference sponsors Skretting:

 

 

Approved photos showed exceutives laughing and joking whilst protestors were locked outside:

 

 

Unapproved photos shot by a press association photographer who refused to sign the confidentiality agreement showed the view from through the window:

 

 

Protestors waited patiently outside but Mr. Annan was too busy eating his farmed salmon luncheon to bother meeting the public:

 

 

Norway's state broadcaster NRK also reported from outside the conference - watch online here

 

NRK News (12 June) also interviewed Kurt Oddekalv of the Green Warriors of Norway who was refused entry to the conference by security - watch online here

 

 

 

Mr. Annan's refusal to be photographed or interviewed,  described as "very strange" by a Norwegian press association, is all the more surprising due to his history of openness and transparency with the media - here he is taking photos of the press gallery at a summit in Rio in 2002:

 

 

Mr. Annan also refused a request by the Green Warriors of Norway to a meeting prior to the conference - instead choosing to hide inside his hotel and refusing to speak to the waiting media. 

 

 

Read a letter sent to Kofi Annan by the Green Warriors - online here

 

The letter includes:

 

“Put simply, we should be eating forage fish directly to feed the malnourished around the world rather than feeding forage fish to salmon farms to produce a ‘luxury’ product to feed the engorged in Europe, the United States and Japan.  If you are serious about sustainability then you should cut out the middle-man and stop the flow of forage fish to the salmon farming industry.”

 

“It is clear that the conference organizers and sponsor – the feed companies Nutreco and Skretting – have a vested interest in presenting salmon aquaculture as ‘sustainable’ as well as socially and environmentally acceptable.  However, you would be doing the hungry people of the world a serious injustice if you presented salmon farming as anything other than what Dr. Daniel Pauly calls “a giant Ponzi scheme” which is robbing our oceans of fish to feed the rich.”

 

Read in full online here

 

 

 

 

 

Something is Rotten in the State of Norway

 

 

 

William Shakespeare was a tad off in his play ‘Hamlet’ – it’s not the state of Denmark where something is rotten but the state of neighbouring Norway. 

 

 

Don’t blame The Bard for bad geography though – the Kingdom of Denmark included Norway from 1536 to 1814.  It was only in 1905, after a union with Sweden, that Norway finally won independence.  Over one hundred years later Norway is ruled by a powerful salmon farming elite to rival Macbeth, Julius Caesar, Henry IV, Richard III and Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, himself. 

 

[From left to right: Prime Minister of Norway, Jens Stoltenberg; Norway's Minister of Fisheries Lisbeth Berg-Hansen; Prince Haakon of Norway]

 

Last week’s highly charged events in Hardangerfjord illustrated everything that is rotten about the state of salmon farming in Norway.  Following a life-threatening incident where a salmon farmer sabotaged a high-voltage video cable, the Norwegian Government had the gall to blame the Green Warriors of Norway for filming near a salmon farm not the dangerous actions of the farmer (read more via ‘Salmon Wars – When Farmers Attack!’).    

 

 

If Shakespeare had been alive today the state of Norway would have provided him with enough material for a tempest of tragedies – with dirty oil exploration in the Tar Sands and sea lice infestation bringing international shame on the proud nation of Norway. 

 

 

Norwegian salmon farming is rotten to the core and festering with the moral and political corruption Shakespeare wrote about.  In the play ‘Hamlet’, there’s a reason Shakespeare refers to the ‘state of Denmark’ rather than just Denmark: according to scholars “the fish is rotting from the head down - all is not well at the top of the political hierarchy.” 

 

 

In modern day Norway, the political hierarchy is controlled by the so-called “Oppdretternes Maktgarn” (“Salmon Farmers’ Mafia). 

 

 

According to the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet (who published the graphic above in 2010), the “Salmon Farmers’ Mafia” is headed by the Minister of Fisheries Lisbeth Berg-Hansen – a salmon farming owner and former head of the Norwegian salmon farmers’ trade association. 

 

 

Ms. Berg-Hansen – dubbed ‘Lusebeth’ (Licebeth) – has a vested business interest and conflict of interest in promoting salmon farming leading to criticisms in the Norwegian media and political circles of her being ‘inhabil’ (incompetent). 

 

 

Other rotten fish-heads in the Norwegian Government include shady-looking Minister of Finance Sigbjorn Johnsen - the former chairman of Norway’s state-owned salmon farming company Cermaq.

 

Lars Peder Brekk, the Minister of Agriculture & Food, also has business interests in salmon farming via the Salmon Group. 

 

 

As the Minister of Agriculture & Food, Lars Peder Brekk promotes Norwegian farmed salmon all around the world. 

 

 

The Prime Minister of Norway, Jens Stoltenberg, also travels around the world never missing a photo opportunity to promote Norwegian farmed salmon.

 

 

Prince Haakon of Norway gets in on the act too as a global ambassador promoting Norwegian farmed salmon – photographed here in South Korea in 2010. 

 

 

In 2008, the Prince of Norway was planning to promote Marine Harvest’s farmed salmon during a visit to Chile but had to pull out at the last minute following protests. 

 

 

Not to be outdone, the King of Norway regularly endorses rotten Norwegian farmed salmon as part of his state duties. 

 

 

 

The King of Norway promotes Norwegian farmed salmon even though he is fully aware that Norwegian-owned salmon farms are killing wild salmon. 

 

 

Read a letter sent to the King of Norway and watch a film exposing Norwegian salmon farming. 

 

Other big fish named as heading the “Salmon Farmers’ Mafia” include Ole-Eirik Leroy who is Chairman of the Board of Directors at Marine Harvest (the world’s largest salmon farming company controlled by Norway’s richest man John Fredriksen – worth $11.3 billion and 75^th on the Forbes ‘The World’s Billionnaires’ list) and Elisabeth Grieg whose powerful family controls the salmon farming giant Grieg Seafood.      

 

 

According to a recent report by the Green Warriors of Norway:

 

 

The “Salmon Farmers’ Mafia” have also been investigated by the police for violating various laws and by the Norwegian National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime (ØKOKRIM). 

 

 

Read more details via a report on Norwegian salmon farming – online here

 

 

When you exert control over the Ministry of Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture & Food and Ministry of Finance it is difficult for the “Salmon Farmers’ Mafia” to fall foul of agencies of the Norwegian Government.  However, the Norwegian salmon farming industry has flouted the law so flagrantly that the Office of the Auditor General reprimanded the Ministry of Fisheries in a damning report to the Storting (Norwegian Parliament) in March. 

 

Which brings us back to the potentially shocking incident last week (5 June) in the Hardangerfjord when an irate salmon farmer saw red over underwater filming near his salmon farm:

 

 

Read photo story in full via: "Salmon Wars: Anger in Hardangerfjord!”

 

Instead of publicly reprimanding the salmon farmer for endangering the lives of the crew of the Eco-Queen (and his own crew), the Directorate of Fisheries issued a press release (6 June) warning against the filming near salmon farms as there was a risk of escapes.  

 

“The Directorate of Fisheries asks farmers to adapt preparedness and staffing in the Hardangerfjord in relation to the fisheries rules and increased risk for organized violation of the duty to caution near salmon farms,” read the warning.  “The Directorate of Fisheries has received reports of the Green Warrior’s vessel the Miljødronningen (Eco-Queen) coming close to fish farms in the Hardangerfjord as it prepares to release a ROV (Remote Operated Vehicle).  On their web-site you will find that there are photos and video from under a fish farm in Os and the action will continue in Hardangerjord.” 

 

In a further statement reported today in Norwegian Fish Farmer magazine (11 June) the Directorate of Fisheries claimed that the filming threatened the safety of salmon farm workers (ignoring the fact that it was the actions of the salmon farmer which endangered safety)!

 

Vidar Ulriksen, former state secretary and now with the Directorate of Fisheries, came to the defence of the salmon farming industry in an interview on TV2 News (7 June). 

 

 

The salmon farming industry’s spokesman Oyvind Andre Haram also claimed that the underwater filming endangered the farm and risked an escape.    

 

 

Watch footage via TV2 News

 

It is understood that the Green Warriors of Norway are now consulting lawyers with a view to a formal complaint and prosecution.  “They want to protect their own industry, this is corruption,” said Kurt Oddekalv, leader of the Green Warriors of Norway in an interview with Bergens Tidende (6 June).  “We will continue the campaign and equip the boat with paintball equipment.  Farmers who began pulling on a 1000 volt cable set both himself and us in mortal danger.  I like to shoot someone in the ass with a paintball gun to avoid such dangerous situations from occurring again.  But most farmers are intelligent people so I do not expect more such incidents.”

 

 

That the Directorate of Fisheries had the temerity to warn the Green Warriors of Norway for filming due to the risks of an escape reveals how the Norwegian Government arrogantly believes it is above the law.  In fact, in 2010, the Minister of Fisheries was even investigated by the environmental police (ØKOKRIM) following a complaint by the Green Warriors of Norway for violating the rules on reporting escapes.   

 

“What the Agency says is just a lie!” said Kurt Oddekalv, leader of the Green Warriors of Norway on TV2 News (7 June).  

“Is there a full-scale war?” asked TV2 reporter Siril Melling.  “Yes, definitely,” replied Oddeklav with a smile.

 

 

Read photo story in full via: "Salmon Wars: Anger in Hardangerfjord!"

 

And watch out later this week (13 June) for the premiere of the documentary ‘Salmon Wars: Salmon Farms, Wild Fish and the Future of Communities’ which features the escalating protests against salmon farming in Canada. 

 

Watch a trailer online here

 

“This year promises to be the year of the ‘Salmon Wars’ as the fight against the Norwegian-owned empire reaches a climax,” reported the Superheroes 4 Salmon in January.  “The Norwegian behemoth is so much more powerful but good always triumphs in the end - even if the odds appear insurmountable.”

 

Read more via ‘Salmon Wars: Return of the GAAIA’

 

The hostile reaction to filming under a Norwegian salmon farms begs the question: what does the “Salmon Farmers’ Mafia” have to hide?

 

 

The answer is simple – unlike the Norwegian Government, the underwater video camera does not lie. 

 

 

As Shakespeare’s predecessor, the Greek tragic dramatist Aeschylus, wrote: “In war, truth is the first casualty.” 

 

Judge for yourself who it telling the truth: the Minister of Fisheries of Norway (as owner of a salmon farming company) or the Green Warriors of Norway?

 

Watch videos of the waste mountains under salmon farms in Norway – online here and online here

 

 

Damning video evidence is also available from Canada, Scotland and Chile. 

 

In New Zealand, a dive last month under a salmon farm in the Marlborough Sounds provoked a similarly hostile reaction from King Salmon – who used the risk of spreading disease as an excuse for not diving.  According to the Marlborough Express (22 May) the salmon farmer reported the divers to Biosecurity New Zealand, the Primary Industry Ministry and the Labour Department. 

 

More details via “Shocking New Footage Reveals Devastation Beneath Salmon Farms” and “Shame Below the Waves”

 

Even King Canute – ruler of Denmark, Norway and England in the 11^th Century – would not have dared to try to turn back the tide of bad press about Norwegian salmon farming. 

 

 

The stench of Norwegian farmed salmon is now being detected as far away as China where Norwegian farmed salmon “lies rotting in Chinese warehouses” following repeated snubs of Norway’s Minister of Fisheries.  Last month, Russia imposed a ban on the ‘dangerous produce’ after laboratory tests found salmonella and other coliform bacteria, “poor safety controls” and “repeated instances of microbe pollution.”

 

In 2010, a formal complaint was filed with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection against Norwegian farmed salmon for deceptive advertising.   “Farmed salmon are fed an unnatural diet which can contain pesticides, artificial colorings, antibiotics and a man-made industrial diet of feed pellets sourced from fish oil and fish meal which has been shown to be contaminated with PCBs and other chemicals,” wrote the complainants.

 

Scientific research co-authored by Norwegian scientists at the National Institute of Nutrition and Seafood Research (NIFES) revealed recently that due to contamination with persistent organic pollutants (POPs): “Male rats fed fish oil from farmed salmon developed insulin resistance, obesity and related health issues.” 

 

For more details on the dangers of Norwegian farmed salmon watch “Hazardous Norwegian Salmon Dinner”

 

 

It seems that Norwegian farmed salmon is about as popular these days as the Black Death bubonic plague in Shakespeare’s day.  Indeed, the pathogen responsible for the spread of Black Death bubonic plague via rats (Yersinia) has plagued salmon farms all over the world (read more via ‘Fish Farmageddon: The Infectious Salmon Aquacalypse’).  In Norway, an outbreak of Pancreas Disease (PD) is now spreading throughout the country with such venom that even the state-controlled media cannot ignore reporting on the outbreaks.   

 

Last year, the Green Warriors of Norway dropped a ‘stinkbomber’ (stink bomb) at the AquaNor trade show when they returned stinky salmon farm wastes back to the Norwegian salmon farming industry. 

 

 

Delegates at the trade show promoting rotten Norwegian farmed salmon included the King of Norway and Norway’s Minister of Fisheries Lisbeth Berg-Hansen. 

 

 

The smell was so bad the farmed salmon shit had to be hosed away from the entrance!

 

 

In Canada, Salmon Are Sacred also returned salmon farm waste to the Norwegian-owned companies Marine Harvest and Cermaq at their head offices in British Columbia in April 2011 as part of a ‘Cut the Crap’ protest. 

 

 

Watch online via CTV News!

 

 

A delegation of Norwegian MPs and officials from the ‘Kingdom of Norway’ visiting Canada in March this year were also left with a lasting impression of the rotten public perception of Norwegian-owned salmon farming.   Norway’s state broadcaster NRK featured the protests under the headline “Go Home, We Don’t Want Your Virus!”

 

The take home message is a simple one:

 

 

Read more background about Norwegian-owned companies operating in Scotland!

- 2012: Scottish Salmon Company: online here

- 2012: Scottish Seafarms (Shetland only): online here

 - 2012: Scottish Seafarms (Mainland only): online here

- 2012: Scottish Seafarms (Orkney only): online here

- 2011 data from Marine Harvest: online here

- 2011 data from Hjaltland (Grieg): online here

- 2011 data from Scottish Seafarms (Mainland only): online here

- 2011 data from Scottish Seafarms (Shetland only): online here

- 2011 data from the Scottish Seafarms (Orkney only): online here

 

And the Scottish-owned  'Sustainable Salmon' Company - Loch Duart:

- 2011: Loch Duart (Mainland only): online here

 

Salmon Wars - Anger in Hardangerfjord!

Salmon farmers in Hardangerfjord turned hostile today (5 June) when the Green Warriors of Norway filmed (perfectly legally) under a salmon farm.    

 

What did the salmon farmers have to hide? 

 

Download photo story online here!

 Water wars ensued!

Download the photo story in full online here!

Salmon Farms Get Out of Hardangerfjord!

 

The Green Warriors of Norway are inspecting salmon farms in the Hardangerfjord in Western Norway this week as part of their new campaign: "Salmon Farms: Get Out of Hardangerfjord!" 

 

Such is the scale of salmon farming production that Hardangerfjord is known as the world's 5th largest producer (after Norway, Chile, Scotland and Canada) - there's more salmon farming production (80,000 tonnes +) in this one fjord than in the whole of British Columbia!  H marks the spot. 

 

A Remote Operated Video (ROV) was launched yesterday in the outer Hardangerfjord under a salmon farm. 

 

The ROV dived down over 50 metres under the salmon farm:

 

Video footage was relayed back to the boat - the Eco-Queen (a 100ft catamaran). 

 

 

Watch this space for pictures of the devastating consequences of salmon farming.

 

"The Green Warriors are always watching," said leader Kurt Oddekalv.  "We need to stand guard to protect wild salmon from disease-ridden salmon farms!"

 

The Eco-Queen is spearheading the fight against salmon farming in Norway and will be touring around more salmon farms later today and tomorrow. 

 

 

"It's like shooting fish in a barrel," said Don Staniford of the Global Alliance Against Industrial Aquaculture who has joined the Green Warriors of Norway.  "There's so many salmon farms crammed into this one fjord that infectious diseases and sea lice are spreading like wildfire."

 

The message from the Eco-Queen and the Green Warriors of Norway is crystal clear!

 

 

"Get Out" is the same in any language!

 

 

For more details read "Norway's Salmon Shame"

 

Marine Harmfest

 

Marine Harvest was today (4 June) challenged to come clean on the extent of their disease problem in British Columbia, Canada.

"Surely Marine Harvest should disclose to shareholders, investors and the general public what diseases and viruses are affecting farmed salmon on sale for human consumption?" asked the Global Alliance Against Industrial Aquaculture in a letter to Marine Harvest's CEO Alf-Helge Aarskog.  "What % of Marine Harvest farmed salmon sold for human consumption is disease-ridden?  What disease problems are Marine Harvest attempting to shield from the public eye?" 

Read the letter in full online here

 

Marine Harvest, the world's largest salmon farming company, is hosting their Annual General Meeting today (4 June) in Bergen, Norway. 

 

 

It is clear that there are escalating problems in British Columbia.  “The BC coast is rife with rumours right now that one of the companies is having an enormous, exploding problem with disease,” wrote Alexandra Morton only last week (30 May).

 

What problems are Marine Harvest hiding? 

 

 

Marine Harvest's lawyers in Canada have been desperately trying to prevent the release of damning disease data.  In 2008, Marine Harvest Canada claimed in a submission to the Office of the Information & Privacy Commissioner that release of disease information “would cause significant commercial harm”, “undue financial loss” and that “Marine Harvest Canada’s reputation could be tarnished and sales volume reduced”

 

The letter stated further that disclosure of disease data would be so damaging that people would stop buying farmed salmon and that Marine Harvest’s share prices would be affected:

 

 

Read letter in full online here

 

Similar statements were made by the BC Salmon Farmers Association (BCSFA) in submissions to the Cohen Inquiry in May 2011.  The industry lobby group conceded that should disease data be disclosed publicly there would be a “likelihood of misuse and irrevocable damage to the economic interests and reputations of participants and individuals” (which included Marine Harvest).  In another submission the BCSFA admitted that: “Irreparable damage will occur to the reputations and economic interests of the BCSFA’s member companies and their shareholders.”

 

Read more via ‘Farmed Salmon Confidential: The Cover Up’

 

It's not as if Marine Harvest has not been warned.  In 2009, Alexandra Morton attended Marine Harvest's AGM in Oslo along with Chief Bob Chamberlin.

 

Alexandra Morton told Marine Harvest shareholders and the Board of Directors: “You need to just leave British Columbia or move into closed containment.”

 

Sadly, Marine Harvest’s chairman (Sven Aaser) replied: "I have to disappoint you - we are not going to leave Canada."

Watch a video report online here and via the film ‘Farmed Salmon Exposed’

 

The stench coming from Marine Harvest’s operations in British Columbia is so nauseating that it is not surprising that many people want the company to leave Canada.   The Marine Harvest board of directors has been painfully aware of disease problems in Canada for years with a number of protests outside Marine Harvest Canada’s offices – including the return of escaped farmed salmon and the return of salmon farm waste.    

 

 

Watch video report online here

 

In 2008, a film – “Dear Marine Harvest” – raised the issue of disease risks in Canada and implored Marine Harvest’s owner and the board of directors to stop killing wild salmon.

Marine Harvest’s owner John Fredriksen was asked, following comments he made in Norway, to relocate salmon farms away from wild salmon due to the threat posed by infectious diseases (including sea lice).  Since Mr. Fredriksen is reportedly worth $11.3 billion surely it is not too much to ask that Marine Harvest is honest and transparent in terms of disease reporting?  The lesson from the ISA crisis in Chile surely suggests that it pays in the long term to disclose disease data?  Indeed, investors, shareholders, the Oslo Stock Exchange and the general public demand it.    

 

 

The crystal clear message to Marine Harvest is this: cut the crap and come clean on infectious diseases! 

 

 

Pepé Le Pew Loves Farmed Salmon!

 

 

The current stench coming from the disease-ridden salmon farming industry is enough to turn the nose of Pepé Le Pew – but seemingly not Pew Environment Group who is embracing farmed salmon like a smitten kitten.

 

In an exclusive interview, Pew Environment Group’s Deputy Director Tom Wathen revealed that Pew is supporting the certification of farmed salmon via the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC).

 

“Pew supports the farmed salmon standards finalized by the Salmon Aquaculture Dialogue but we're keeping a low profile,” admitted Pew’s Tom Wathen in a phone call this week. “We felt that the standards were sufficiently strong to warrant Pew's support.”

 

“Pew ended up where we ended up,” continued Pew Environment Group’s Deputy Director.  “I think if we get criticized for our support for farmed salmon then that's fair game.”

 

By supporting the Salmon Aquaculture Dialogue's standards, Pew dismissed the concerns of the 'Global Aquaculture Performance Index' which Pew itself funded via the Lenfest Ocean Program.  In fact, the standards performed so badly that a report published in December 2011 ranked them not even close to a 'green' ranking!

 

 

The rotten decision to support farmed salmon was taken earlier this year by Pew Environment Group's Managing Director Joshua Reichert.

 

 

Pew’s Joshua Reichert is privately known by his colleagues as ‘The Seagull’ on account of his habit of swooping down on people’s projects and crapping on them. 

 

How Pew came to support farmed salmon is a sordid tale involving dirty oil money, big industrial NGOs (so-called BINGOs) and corporate greenwashing. 

 

 

Pew Environment Group is part of the Pew Charitable Trusts which claims to “work globally to establish pragmatic, science-based policies that protect our oceans.”

 

In fact, Pew owe their origins and $5 billion fortune to oil.  Joseph Pew founded US oil company Sun Oil (now Sunoco) and Pew still has significant investments in Exxon Mobil, Chevron and other  oil companies.  

Read more via 'Can Pew's Charity Be Trusted?'

 

Pew's love affair with farmed salmon - which it has previously denounced as unsustainable and laden with cancer-causing contaminants - is a real heartbreaker. 

 

Pew endorsed the final draft of WWF’s farmed salmon standards in February despite objections from the Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform (CAAR) in British Columbia that is did “not adequately protect wild salmon and the environment”.  

 

“Unfortunately, there are too many uncertainties to say it is strong enough to protect wild salmon or marine ecosystems and, for the CAAR groups, that is our bottom line,” commented Jay Ritchlin, Director of Marine Conservation at CAAR member group the David Suzuki Foundation, and a Steering Committee member of the Salmon Aquaculture Dialogue. 

 

Pew still remains on the Steering Committee of the ‘Salmon Aquaculture Dialogue’ along with Marine Harvest, the Chilean salmon farmers association, the Norwegian salmon farmers association and the Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance (which includes the BC Salmon Farmers Association).  Earlier this month, CAAR broke off dialogue with Marine Harvest for failing to honour commitments via their ‘Framework for Dialogue’. 

 

Pew’s support for farmed salmon leaves the so-called 'environmental' group out in the cold along with the much maligned World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).  Nevertheless, Pew’s support could prove crucial as the ASC seeks to certify farmed salmon as ‘responsible’, ‘sustainable’ and ‘environmental’. 

 

 Pew’s Hank Cauley is certainly well placed to ensure the certification of farmed salmon goes swimmingly – he sits on the ASC’s supervisory board.   According to Pew's Tom Wathen, however: "Pew has no plans as an institution to come out in support of the ASC."

 

Yet by supporting the Salmon Aquaculture Dialogue standards, Pew has screwed the environment and shackled itself to the certification of farmed salmon by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council. 

 

 

By supporting the final draft of WWF’s farmed salmon standards, Pew is effectively sanctioning the:

 

- use of toxic chemicals and pesticides

- untreated discharge of waste pollution

- the killing of marine mammals

- the spread of infectious diseases and parasites

- the unsustainable use of wild fish for feed

 

Read more via ‘The Abominable Salmon Council: Buyer Beware!’

 

Pew’s endorsement of the killing of marine mammals flies in the face animal welfare issues as well as the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act.  In fact, a legal opinion sought by Pew’s Gerald Leape in 2005 stated that “the shooting of seals at salmon farm pens is clearly prohibited.”  This legal opinion was cited in a formal complaint to the U.S. Department of Commerce filed by the Global Alliance Against Industrial Aquaculture in 2011. 

 

Read more via ‘Salmon Farming Kills Marine Mammals’

 

The Pure Salmon Campaign (which included Pew as 'global partners') also campaigned against the killing of seals by Marine Harvest (a company Pew is now working with via the Salmon Aquaculture Dialogue).

 

Pew’s Managing Director Joshua Reichert also sits (rather uneasily given his support for the killing of marine mammals) on the board of directors of the Humane Society of the United States. 

 

 

Pew’s support for salmon feedlots is all the more surprising given their ‘Reforming Industrial Animal Agriculture’ campaign against factory farming on land. 

 

Pew’s shameful decision to support the certification of farmed salmon represents a slap in the face to all the scientific research Pew has funded over the decade.  In fact, research supported by Pew has proved that salmon farming is not only unsustainable but farmed salmon is also contaminated with cancer-causing chemicals.  Peer-reviewed scientific research funded by Pew has also shown that salmon farming kills wild salmon all around the world.

 

Pew funds the Lenfest Ocean Program which “supports scientific research aimed at forging solutions to the challenges facing the global marine environment”.  Aquaculture projects funded by Pew’s science program include ‘Effects of Aquaculture Pens on Coastal Water Quality’, ‘Competition Between Catch of Forage Fish for Fishmeal and Human Consumption’ and ‘Evaluating the Impacts of Antibiotic Use in Chilean Salmon Aquaculture’. 

 

Pew concedes that salmon farming is killing wild salmon and spreading infectious diseases.    

 

“In Chile, up to 50 percent of salmon concentrated in aquaculture facilities die from infections linked to poor water quality and sanitation,” states one Pew-funded program.  “Consequently, the aquaculture industry proactively adds antibiotics to the salmon feed each year, which passes into the water column and surrounding sediment through uneaten fish food and feces.”

 

In 2009, Pew also exposed the illegal use of chemicals on Chilean salmon farms by companies including the world’s largest, Marine Harvest.

 

 

Read more via ‘U.S. FDA Reports Show Unapproved Chemicals Used by Largest Chilean Salmon Farms’

 

Pew also hosted a screening of the film “Farmed Salmon Exposed” in Washington DC as part of the Pure Salmon Campaign’s ‘Global Week of Action’ in 2009.  The film exposed the shameful practices of Norwegian companies operating in Chile, Canada, Scotland and Ireland.

 

“I've visited salmon farms, read scientific articles, and interviewed the multi-billion-dollar industry's advocates and detractors, but never have I encountered anything as graphic as the film Farmed Salmon Exposed by Canadian filmmaker Damien Gillis, which will be available online later this week as part of the Pure Salmon Campaign's Global Week of Action,” wrote food writer Barry Estabrook in The Atlantic. “Be warned, there are some extremely disturbing images in the clip, and the film in its entirety is positively gut-wrenching.”

 

Sadly, Pew pulled the plug on the Pure Salmon Campaign and their ‘Salmon Aquaculture Reform’ campaign in 2010.

 

Pew-funded research in 2008 found “a widespread negative impact of aquaculture farms on wild salmon survival.”  Peer-reviewed research published in 2007 - funded via Pew’s ‘Marine Extinction Project’ – also found that “parasites from fish farms may drive some wild salmon populations towards local extinction.” 

 

Another Pew-funded program publicly admits that: “Wastes and nutrients from fish pens may be altering the character of the surrounding ecosystems and potentially posing a hazard to human health.” 

 

“As the aquaculture industry grows, so will the number of pens that create pollution,” said Professor Roz Naylor of Stanford University in 2011.   “We discovered that the natural environment around fish pens can dramatically affect how far waste plumes travel from the source,” explained her Pew-funded colleague Jeffrey Koseff. 

 

Pew concedes that salmon farming not only causes waste pollution and produces a contaminated product but also is inherently unsustainable.  Pew’s forage fish program, for example, demonstrates that salmon farming is draining the oceans of wild fish and is quite literally stealing precious protein such as anchovies out of the mouths of hungry Africans and Latin Americans. 

 

“The more farmed fish we produce, the less fish there is,” wrote Dr. Daniel Pauly of the Pew-funded ‘Sea Around Us’ project at the University of British Columbia in 2009.  “This is akin to robbing Pedro to pay Paul.”

 

“We need fish meals not fishmeal,” said another Pew-funded researcher Dr. Patricia Majluf at the Seafood Summit in 2011.  “Put simply – fish feed multinationals are stealing perfectly healthy food out of the mouths of Peruvians.”  As Dr. Jennifer Jacquet from the University of British Columbia – another Pew-funded researcher - put it: “If you’re farming a predator you’ll always get less out than you put in.”

 

Read more via ‘Fighting for Fish Meals Not Fishmeal’ 

 

Moreover, the fishmeal and fish oil used for salmon farming is contaminated with cancer-causing chemicals.  A Pew-funded study published in the journal Science in 2004 “found significantly higher levels of cancer-causing and other health-related contaminants in farm raised salmon than in their wild counterparts.”

 

“Farmed salmon should be consumed in limited amounts,” recommended the study authors which included Dr. Ronald Hites, Director of Indiana University’s Environmental Science Research Center.  “Consumers should be aware that consumption of even one or two meals of farmed salmon per month may exceed acceptable contaminant levels.”

Other scientific studies have clearly shown that farmed salmon is an unhealthy choice for consumers. 

 

 

How Pew can now support the Aquaculture Stewardship Council as a "credible consumer label" which will brand farmed salmon as a "responsible" choice for consumers is beyond reason.   Promoting a product which contains cancer-causing contaminants and contributes to several metabolic disorders linked to diabetes and obesity is clearly irresponsible and a breach of public trust. 

 

Pew’s decision to endorse the Aquaculture Stewardship Council in promoting farmed salmon as ‘responsible’, ‘sustainable’ and ‘environmental’ is nauseating and difficult to swallow.  

 

Pew’s U-turn on farmed salmon means the organization is now careering headlong into a public relations car wreck. 

 

 

Pew’s CEO Rebecca Rimel and Joshua Reichert won’t be smiling as Pew's name is dragged through the mud.

 

Pew’s CEO Rebecca Rimel has faced her fair share of criticism.  According to Vivian Krause, a former employee of fish feed giant Nutreco (a former owner of Marine Harvest):

 

 

Pew’s CEO replied:

 

 

Why Pew is now ignoring their own science and backing salmon farming is unreasonable.  Rebecca Rimel, however, is not a person to argue with. 

 

“There's a word for people like Rebecca W. Rimel (especially when it's used, and pronounced, the way the French apply it to a certain kind of woman): formidable,” reported The Wall Street Journal in 2007. 

 

“Ms. Rimel, 55, has led the Pew Charitable Trusts since 1994. With some $5.2 billion in assets, the Pew, a legacy of the family that started Sun Oil, expects to disburse almost $250 million this fiscal year.  By any standard, it would be a heavyweight in the foundation world, except that the Pew is no longer a grant-giving foundation.  In 2004, it transformed itself into a public charity, putting itself into the program business, enabling it to spend sizable sums on lobbying, and enhancing its power.” 

 

 

Pew's support for PCB-contaminated farmed salmon may therefore represent another power play.  But truth be told, the people don't want 'sustainable' and 'responsible' farmed salmon rammed down their throats.    Full stop.  Period.  End of story.  That's all folks!