Marine Harvest Salmon Farms
John Fredriksen
is the principal owner of Marine Harvest and also a financial investor. A third of all commercial salmon production
worldwide is in the hands of Fredriksen. With an estimated private fortune of
13.5 billion dollars, the “salmon king” is one of the richest men on the
planet. Marine Harvest dumps 100 million salmon a year onto the global market.
The WWF entered into a partnership deal with Marine Harvest in
order to promote aquaculture as a sustainable food resource that can increase
the world’s food supply. It sounds like
a wonderful idea and aquaculture, properly managed, can indeed be a clean
method of producing fish in large quantities.
However, when they are not properly managed, problems ensue.
Be aware that there is a big difference in Marine Harvest’s
Norwegian aquafarms and their fish farms in other parts of the world like Chile
and India. The water in their Norwegian
aquafarms is much cleaner; hygiene regulations are adhered to and state
supervision is strict. Violators of environmental laws lose their licensing and Norway
operators must reapply annually for each and every individual
farm in a production area. However, Marine Harvest gets its Chilean licenses at
a rock bottom price -- 150 dollars a year for one hectare of sea area. And then
there are the low wages in Chile: about ten percent of the labor costs of
Norway. This makes Chile ripe for
exploitation and Marine Harvest picked it for just that reason.
When the individual farms are too close together and too
many salmon are crammed into each cage (200,000+), infectious disease,
namely ISA – Infectious Salmon Anemia,
can spread throughout the entire fish farm.
In poorly regulated and managed farms, these dead fish are used in fish
meal production that will be used to feed living fish. Since the salmon are heavily insured – MH
reaps profit on fish that die as well as the fish meal that is produced.
Farm-bred salmon are often referred to as “swimming
pharmacies.” Outside of Europe, where
there are laws about aquaculture management, 800 times the amount of
antibiotics are often used. These are
the same antibiotics used to treat humans.
Marine Harvest can add as much antibiotic to a single feed farm as used
by the entire Norwegian salmon industry in a year! Even eggs are treated with carcinogenic
containing substances like crystal violet and malachite green. Feeding cages are routinely painted with
“protective” agents that contain heavy metals.
Salmon need large amounts of animal protein. Feed
concentrate is dumped into the cages by the ton and is made mainly of fishmeal
and fish oil. 4-6 kilos of wild fish are
killed to make meal that produces one kilo of salmon. More than half of the world’s fish catch goes
to making feed concentrate for salmon and other animals. Since the farm bred salmon eat more animal
protein than they produce, how can that be sustainable? Since they eat diseased fish and are doused
in antibiotics, how can that be healthy?
Nelson Estrada, president of a Chilean fishing union tells reporters:
“The industry has bought up most of the fishing licenses. Our entire catch goes to the feed industry – although anchovies are very healthy and high in protein. It’s criminal. This industry disgusts me, but I have to support my family, that’s why I work for them.”
“We’re nothing but slaves of the transnational industry; there are no independent fishermen left in Chile.”
Holds on board ships contain multi-ton mountains of glistening little anchovy bodies. “I’m ashamed of this here: these fish are tiny; they haven’t even reached sexual maturity. We’re plundering the stocks before they can even reproduce. There’ll be nothing left for future generations.” As small salmon farms in Chile are unable to compete with the Marine Harvest giant, they go broke – and Marine Harvest buys them all.
Experiments are being made to increase the vegetable protein
in feeds – using soy -- genetically engineered, roundup ready soy that is the
product of Monsanto. This would provide
cheaper feed for the salmon producers looking to cut even more costs. Thus, quality is sacrificed for profit at the
expense of people’s lives, a healthy planet and eco-diversity.
Salmon, including genetically engineered salmon, often
escape their cages and since they are predators, they eat everything in the
local waters. Diseased salmon spread ISA to wild populations. The escapees also breed with the
wild salmon and this wreaks havoc on wild fish populations while genetic diversity
is lost in the process.
The seabeds beneath the salmon cages are polluted with junk,
rotten feed, salmon feces and dead marine life floating in the murky
water. The industry uses the see as a
garbage dump and nothing can live in it.
The WWF does nothing to stop it either.
The salmon industry has also begun to deplete the ocean of
its mainstay – krill. These tiny crabs
are food for countless marine animals.
Damn the consequences to the ocean’s wildlife – selling $almon is all
that matters to them.
Marine Harvest and
the Human Factor
Chile had an abundant resource of fish and shellfish. If people were employed in the traditional
fishing industry rather than in salmon farming, they would live with much more
dignity and produce a higher quality product. People and the natural environment would
thrive under proper stewardship.
However, corporate growth and greed in the food industry is destroying
our planet. Marine Harvest and other giant
food industries focus on one part of the ecosystem – salmon, or soybeans or
whatever rakes in the big money – all at the expense of people, the earth and
its flora and fauna.
WWF admits to taking money from Marine Harvest. They claim that the salmon industry will
benefit Chile’s coastal inhabitants by creating paying jobs. The salmon industry has not benefited the
coastal inhabitants one iota.
Imagine working in the stench of dead and rotting salmon
without protective clothing or face masks. The dead
salmon are packed in sacks in left until a ship can collect them so this working
environment is common.
Silos surround the fish farms. They act as oxygen compressors to give
artificial respiration to the sea and salmon. The overcrowded salmon suffocate
without enough oxygen. About 6,000 Chilean salmon divers must chase away sea
lions looking for a meal. Those sea
lions can be very territorial over a possible meal.
The divers use a garden hose type apparatus (not real scuba
diving equipment) to perform this work.
The tubes are often damaged and torn.
Divers can get tangled up in nets and are unable to resurface. Regulations state they can only dive to 20
feet, but the company forces them to dive to 40 feet. Each salmon farm must
have a decompression chamber within a radius of 500 meters but usually they
don’t exist or are defective. Dead
divers cost the company little and they do die on the job on a regular
basis.
No matter what Marine Harvest does, the justice system
protects perpetrators, not victims. And
so does the WWF.
WWF Sustainability Certification
The global “Aquaculture Dialogue” program
was another project of the WWF. The
certification would greenwash the ugly truth of poorly run $almon farms. Companies must pay for this certification so
there is money to be made by those who issue the certificates.
Certification Standards of the MSC (Marine Stewardship
Council) and ASC (Aquaculture Stewardship Council) exclude genetically modified salmon and requires disclosure of the use of any transgenic GMO material used
in feed. However, GE modified salmon will likely
obtain approval and green certification at some time.
In 2013 a US biotech company, Aquabounty, produced the first
genetically engineered salmon. The GM
salmon eggs are now mass produced and marketed. Marine Harvest claimed it would not consider
farming GE salmon. However, how could such
a corporation resist the new “frankenfish” that grow twice as fast as the old
farm-bred salmon? Don’t trust them to turn away the opportunity for twice
the profits for 2x the amount of salmon flesh.
According to the WWF website: “Always ask for sustainably
sourced salmon. Even if it isn't available, demand for sustainable seafood will
drive fisheries and retailers towards a sustainable future. Look for MSC (Marine
Stewardship Council) certification on salmon and salmon products.”
One Last Note
We have touched briefly on the salmon industry but there is more WWF-style “sustainability” in Chile. Chile’s forests
have been turned into pulp lumber operations which bear the FSC “eco-label”. The
Forest Stewardship Council certification was also co-founded by the WWF. Destruction of animal habitat for profit was
supported by them. No people can live on
the corporate lands, of course. Those that work for the pulp mills, work in sub-standard
conditions. It’s the same old story
worldwide.
References and Further Reading
Americas Program Biodiversity Report—April 2010. Carmelo Ruiz Marreo.
Certification: Watch out for the 'Abominable Salmon Council' - bringing 'responsible' farmed salmon
to a supermarket near you soon! The Global Alliance against
Sustainable Aquaculture.
Greenpeace Seafood Sustainability Report. Carting
Away the Oceans. (2013)
PandaLeaks: The Dark Side of the WWF. (Wilfried Huismann)
Some WWF Corporate benefactors:
MSC and ASC accredited Salmon Producers:
Certified Chain of Custody Suppliers are also listed in this
section
(this is not the most user friendly site - but the information is there)
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