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(CSA)?
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WILD
SALMON
NEWSLETTER
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Community Supported Agriculture
"Wild Salmon Don't Do Drugs"
While strictly
speaking wild fish do not qualify as "community agriculture,"
it is nevertheless important for our movement to support food systems
that employ sustainable methods which protect our land and ocean
environment. With increasing pollution and damage to wild species
caused by fish farms, this support is critical. A typical fish farm
of 200,000 salmon, for example, releases an amount of waste equivalent
to a town of 60,000 people. The accumulation of this waste creates
an oxygen-depleted dead zone on the sea floor underneath. Add to
this the pervasive infections and sea lice which then spread to
wild fish, the resultant use of antibiotic-laden feed and even vaccines,
and the consequences for the surrounding ecology and human health
can be disastrous. As if this is not enough, every year hundreds
of thousands of farmed fish escape from their pens and displace
wild species. In Norway just one homogeneous species of escaped
salmon now outnumbers the diverse species of wild salmon spawning
in its rivers.
The prospect of farmed salmon ruling
the global fish market also has serious consequences for workers.
With help from the WTO, farm raised salmon from Chile, where fishery
workers earn but $1.50 a day, is now dumped so cheaply in the U.S.
that Alaskan fisherman are having a hard time making a living.
But perhaps the most profound threat
to our wild fish and planet is genetic engineering. Genetic engineering
(GE), a new technology employed by the biotech industry to increase
profits and control over our food and medicines, typically involves
the transfer of genetic material, or DNA, between unrelated species
of plants, animals, bacteria, viruses, and humans. These transfers
would never occur in nature and, as a result, can lead to all sorts
of unintended and harmful consequences including creation of new
toxins and allergens, displacement and extinction of existing plant
and animal species, and creation of "superweeds" and "superpests"
immune to chemical or other controls.
There are currently over 35 species
of genetically engineered fish being developed around the world
and at least one company is presently requesting approval from the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market GE fish to consumers
as food. The GE salmon currently under review by the FDA is genetically
engineered to grow as much as thirty times faster than normal salmon.
New studies by scientists at Purdue University show that GE fish
are a virtual biological weapon: If released into the wild these
fish, due to their larger size and consequent mating advantage,
would cause the extinction of native species within only a few generations
(see www.gefish.org).
CSA members are active participants
in the campaign against genetic engineering through our food
safety arm SOS Food. For
further information on how you can become a CSA member, participate
in SOS Food, or purchase our wild Alaskan fish year-round, please
contact
Howard or Annette at the Sixth Street Community Center. |
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