I guess I can agree with you on most of what you say Banx. But you must also agree that, as big as the sport fishing industry is, we sport fishers kill a lot of wild and hatchery salmon for profit that would have put nutrients in the rivers and streams, fed the bears, eagles and trees, where I can not find proof of salmon farmers killing them. Just myths, fables, hearsay and lies. 
Btw, I know a few people in the sport fishing industry and they have second winter jobs because the industry is seasonal and does not sustain a year around income. Some head south and spend their hard earned money out of Canada and in a warmer climate. Seems to me that salmon farming is year around work in Canada and most of all in coastal communities that need and do benefit from it.
Now I have to ask you Banx, just why have we been pointing our fingers at salmon farmers when we have no direct Industrial competition with them? Also the same feed companies supply both hatcheries and farms giving them year around employment. Also I do not hear complaints from sport fishers about what is in the hatchery feed or the chemicals used to keep the smolts healthy that are released into the wild that we catch and eat. It looks like we have been misled with a double standard.
I'm sure there are farmers who sport fish, just like there are likely cattle ranchers who shoot moose and deer.
someones employment is a choice they make. there are also plenty of seasonal workers in other capacities. also, to say that steady employment is a justification for having a farm in an open ocean is ludicrous at best.
regarding feed, yes I feel your correct on a lot of it. But I'm sure, and this is only opinion but a wild or hatchery fish will look and taste better than its farmed counterpart. Just like cattle, pork, chicken etc. what they eat has a huge affect on flavour. having eaten pellets from birth to death it probably lacks the umani that a salmon would chasing down its prey in the ocean.
in the 8647 pages on this thread I have never blamed the farms for the demise of wild salmon. there are way worse things out there. way worse. But that doesn't mean we should turn a blind eye to the practice. There has to be a better way. There HAS to be.
for me there are serious red flags in the practice of having a pen in the ocean. There are also serious unknowns that could have lasting implications. It's very unlikely that some sort of virus or pathogen can transfer from fish to humans. But there is a very strong possibility that there could be mutation and transfer to other species in the oceans.
swine flu, mad cow disease, avian flu, these are things that farmers never anticipated. to say that things like that could not happen on a salmon farm is living on a prayer for sure. We have been domesticating animals for centuries, land based ones, and other than the ancient chinese no other culture was doing any form of aquaculture. In the short time frame (relatively) that these types of farms have been in operation there have been serious serious problems.
and saying oh its BC were the best at it, nothing is going to happen..... let me remind you that these farms are not infallible, they are not god. you can not predict the future or insure the ocean.
Magnitude and Trends in Abundance of Hatchery and Wild Pink Salmon, Chum Salmon, and Sockeye Salmon in the North Pacific Ocean
http://afs.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1577/C09-054.1
thanks for the link. I did come across a selfie you took steve. I had to save it.
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Topic: Get your facts straight? (Read 1630916 times)