Um, just because it wasn’t in the letter doesn’t mean that disease and lice aren’t issues. But keep selling you pro-farming stance. I just don’t see too many here buying.

And I sure hope they’re not buying those fish in the store; their diet is full of who-knows-what? Antibiotics and hormones, no doubt. You see, they are just getting around to TESTING all the recently captured fish that had escaped to find out just how full of disease and harmful additives they are full of. Seems the salmon farming industry isn’t too keen on sharing what they know.

As for your argument that “they’re cheaper,” sure. I’ll give you that. But at what cost? Sorry, but saving the wild fish stocks and the clean waters (fresh and salt) they need is the only real answer. Shortcuts are dangerous. Sorry if it hurts your personal checking account (just my guess).

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go donate to Save Bristol Bay dot org. Seems there’s these (Canadian) miners in Alaska who’d like to put a huge open pit copper mine on the headwaters  of one of the world’s last remaining wild salmon fisheries. I’m sure they think they can just raise farmed fish after the earthen dam full of polluted tailings breaks wide open. And here’s a funny little secret: there has never been an open pit mine that hasn’t polluted. They don’t put that in the brochure, tho.

Sorry to be so heavy here, but the enough is enough. At some point we have to start paying attention to our NATURAL world, and quick trying to outsmart it. Just say NO to farmed salmon.

Some handy facts about Atlantic salmon aquaculture in the PNW…it’s not that bad:

http://wdfw.wa.gov/ais/salmo_salar/

http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/aquaculture/archive/10myths.html

Anonyme–I’m not sure I understand your argument. So do we need to ban everything that isn’t necessary for human survival? 

What makes you believe that releases of farmed Atlantic salmon cause “environmental devastation”? Here are some links from some reputable sources if you want to gain some basic knowledge on this subject.

http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/aquaculture/archive/10myths.html

http://wdfw.wa.gov/ais/salmo_salar/

“Reasonably be predicted to cause environmental devastation”. 

How?
 

It is insane to risk another accident that can reasonably be predicted to cause environmental devastation.  The argument that there isn’t an 100% guarantee of harm, and therefore the greed should be allowed to spread unchecked, is absurd.  Sounds like Wall Street talking.

Seals and sea lions eat wild salmon.

Humans eat wild salmon.

More seals, more sea lions, more humans = More competition for the same food.

Resident orcas eat wild salmon.

Southern Resident Killer Whales – the endangered local population – do not eat marine mammals. Transient orcas do. They are distinct populations.

http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/op-ed/comment-science-continues-to-show-b-c-salmon-farms-are-safe-1.23101758

Hard to live off of wild-caught tofu but yes that would be great if possible. Just not very practical, and most of the human population would die without farming.

Some other considerations…

-Farmed fish is generally cheaper than wild fish, so it is more affordable for less affluent people

-Eating farmed fish is better for your health than eating no fish at all (Google it).

It’s more nuanced than that. Is this about what is best for humans or what is best for wild fish and orcas? If we just care about ourselves, then yes let’s eat all the wild fish in the ocean. If it’s about the struggling wild salmon, then maybe eating them is a bad idea. 

Yes farmed salmon eat food, sometimes ocean-derived food. But what do you think wild fish eat and from where do you think their food is derived?