As part of Terra Madre, we’re hosting a webinar on November 10 in conjunction with Feedblack Global: Plenty of Fish in the Sea? Exploring Aquaculture’s Appetite for Wild Fish, focusing on the enormous and growing industry of farmed fish, particularly farmed salmon, which are fed on a diet of small, wild-caught “forage fish” that are turned into fishmeal: a highly inefficient process that’s a disaster both socially and ecologically. Feedback’s latest research examines whether we could get the same nutritional benefits if we simply ate the wild fish we feed to salmon, and cut out the “middle fish”. To get a bit of background, we spoke to Campaign & Communications Manager Christina O’Sullivan, who runs the Fishy Business campaign.
PEOPLE TEND TO THINK OF FARMED FISH AS BEING MORE SUSTAINABLE THAN FISHING WILD SPECIES. IS THAT TRUE?
I think most people think aquaculture is better because it reduces pressure on wild species, that’s what I thought before I started working in this area. However, lots of aquaculture, including farmed salmon is reliant on large amounts of wild-caught fish for feed.