Farmed Salmon and Seafood News

Now that Newfoundland and Labrador is serious about farmed fish - it is important that people in the province hear about results in this sector from other jurisdictions. Once a month Sue's Blog will try to post News about farmed fish.

This Month's Headlines come from Seafood Intelligence

Environment : Warning: Comparative NASA study shows that climate warming reduces Ocean food supply
Posted by: Administrator on 07 December 2006 07:00
In a new study using "alarming new satellite data" scientists from the US National Aeronautics Space Adminstration (NASA) have concluded that when Earth's climate warms, there is a reduction in the ocean's primary food supply. “This poses a potential threat to fisheries and ecosystems,” says NASA. By comparing nearly a decade of global ocean satellite data with several records of Earth's changing climate, scientists found that whenever climate temperatures warmed, marine plant life in the form of microscopic phytoplankton declined. Whenever climate temperatures cooled, marine plant life became more vigorous or productive. “The evidence is pretty clear that the Earth's climate is changing dramatically, and in this NASA research we see a specific consequence of that change,” said oceanographer and study co-author Gene Carl Feldman of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt.

'Wild vs. Farmed' : Shaw & al., Dr Carpenter study finds that organic salmon from Norway has highest PCBs concentrations
Posted by: Administrator on 08 December 2006 09:54
A recent article co-authored by Dr David Carpenter reviewed PCBs, PCDD/Fs, and organochlorine pesticides in farmed Atlantic salmon from Maine (USA), Eastern Canada, and Norway; and wild salmon from Alaska. It found that “Organically farmed Norwegian salmon had the highest concentrations of PCBs (mean: 27 ng/g, ww) and WHO PCB TEQs (2.85 pg/g,ww); their TEQ [Toxic Equivalents] values are in the higher range of those reported in farmed salmon from around the world.” The authors comment that “these observations suggest that purchasing higher priced organically farmed salmon, even when monitoring results are provided, does not necessarily protect the consumer from toxic exposure.” The article also highlights that PCB and WHO PCB TEQ concentrations in farmed salmon from eastern Canada (mostly New Brunswick) were lower than those reported in samples collected two years earlier, “possibly reflecting recent industry efforts to lower contaminant concentrations in feed.” Meanwhile, wild Atlantic salmon from Ireland was found to have higher PCB WHO TEQ levels (both in pg/g wet & lipid weight) than farmed salmon from the Canadian East and West coast, Maine and Chile.

Politics : Scottish authorities publish salmon disease contingency control plan; ‘Could wipe out 2,000 jobs’
Posted by: Administrator on 08 December 2006 09:12
A contingency plan to tackle a disease “which could wipe out 2000 jobs if it contaminated Scottish salmon stocks” was published yesterday (December 7th) by the Scottish authorities. Gyrodactylus salaries (Gs), a deadly parasite of Atlantic salmon, is not present in Scotland but is found in Scandinavia. The authorities note that it is deemed “highly improbable that the infection could enter the country by natural means” and that “the risk of introducing Gs from infected areas via leisure equipment (fishing tackle, canoes etc.) has been assessed as extremely low.” This hints that the remaining potential threat could come from importation of live salmonids and of non-disinfected ova from areas of lower health status (which is illegal). The Contingency Plan sets out steps that would be taken if an outbreak were to occur in Scotland. Several of the actions needed to eradicate an outbreak of Gs require additional powers that are included in the Aquaculture and Fisheries (Scotland) Bill currently before the Scottish Parliament.