Conley's paper on the history of the industry is an interesting read. I was involved in the "gold rush" days of the industry as one of the first of the trained group of workers trying to bring some rationality to the pursuit of riches and can attest that he is mostly accurate in his summation. As he suggests, as a consequence of the work of anti-farm activists, public opinion and understanding hasn't kept pace with the development of the industry and has resulted in an extremely unproductive conflict between the ideals and opinions of the activists and the real on the ground consequences of the industry. That conflict isn't going to be resolved until it is focused on the "realities" instead of the "potentials" and it certainly isn't going to be resolved by online pissing matches in sport fishing forums.
A Danish friend ran the Hagensborg tank farm and I had a good deal of both personal and business involvement with the operation so I am quite familiar with the requirements for making those operations work. I watched the operation eat between 20 and 30 million dollars of investor money including 3/4 of a million dollars of public money before it's eventual demise and since it is about a kilometer from my home, have kept close track of the various subsequent attempts to make it viable since then. It is currently operating as an algae farm with some space leased to to an investor funded operation trying to develop cultivation techniques for Black Cod. The only reason it is still in existence is that the current owner acquired it at pennies on the dollar and used largely Indian Affairs money to acquire those pennies with the stated intent to use it as a shellfish depuration facility. That lasted until the non-native owner screwed over his native partners and walked away with full ownership and a good beating. It is not a pretty business nor a particularly ethical one.
I understand your sentiments about funding those things you disagree with. I, along with everyone else, am funding the attempts by Harper to remake this country in his own image, Charter of Rights and the underclasses be damned.
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Topic: Get your facts straight? (Read 1340089 times)