Post by account_disabled on Mar 13, 2024 0:04:10 GMT -5
About , farmed salmon swam free on Monday after a fire melted part of their enclosure off the coast of Tasmania.
The salmon escape has sparked concerns from local environmentalists, who are concerned about the impact of farmed fish on wildlife and native ecosystems. While the farm owners insist the impact will be minimal and the fish will be quickly eaten by seals or caught by recreational fishermen, others disagree.
"It's like claiming that a sewage spill is good because it releases nutrients into the food chain," Neighbors of Fish Farming president Peter George told The Guardian.
The fire that allowed the fish to escape broke out Monday morning at a coastal enclosure owned by Huon Aquaculture, Australia's ABC News reported. The fire damaged about a third of a pen by b Caseno Email List urning and melting the pen both above and below the waterline, allowing fish to escape. The company estimates that between , and , fish weighing four kilograms each escaped.
Huon Aquaculture still does not know what caused the fire.
"We have electrical equipment in our pens, but in years of farming we have never had an electrical fire in a fish pen, so the cause has baffled us," chief executive Peter Bender told the Australian Associated Press.
The escaped fish represent less than one percent of Huon's stock and the company has no plans to recover them, according to The Guardian. But company representatives were confident the fish would not harm Tasmanian ecosystems .
Pene Snashall, corporate communications and community relations manager at Huon Aquaculture, pointed to a Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) report that found escaped farmed fish tend not to eat native fauna.
«Farmed salmon generally do not seem to feed on native species. While some fish survived for a few months, this did not necessarily mean that these fish were thriving,” Snashall told The Guardian.
But environmentalists disagreed.
"An IMAS (Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies) study found that % of escaped salmon were living off wild fish, that's , of this escape, and they occur regularly," Environment Tasmania's Laura Kelly told The Guardian. «Then there are animal welfare problems, with thousands of animals dying of starvation. “Huon needs to follow global investment patterns and move its feedlots out of the ocean and onto land.”
And competition for food is not the only concern.
"There is also concern that these introduced species will establish populations in the wild," Dr. Christine Materia, also from Fish Farming Neighbors, told ABC News.
Jeremy Lyle, associate professor at IMAS, said evidence showed the impact of fish farm escapes like this was “not that significant”, but also said any release of non-native species could pose problems.
"Any event like this is cause for concern," he told ABC News. "Keeping introduced animals contained is more desirable."
The escape has attracted many recreational fishing enthusiasts to try to catch some of the salmon. Materia thought the company should compensate them for their efforts to contain the leak. Meanwhile, Lyle asked anyone who caught a fish to report its stomach contents to IMAS for investigation.
The salmon escape has sparked concerns from local environmentalists, who are concerned about the impact of farmed fish on wildlife and native ecosystems. While the farm owners insist the impact will be minimal and the fish will be quickly eaten by seals or caught by recreational fishermen, others disagree.
"It's like claiming that a sewage spill is good because it releases nutrients into the food chain," Neighbors of Fish Farming president Peter George told The Guardian.
The fire that allowed the fish to escape broke out Monday morning at a coastal enclosure owned by Huon Aquaculture, Australia's ABC News reported. The fire damaged about a third of a pen by b Caseno Email List urning and melting the pen both above and below the waterline, allowing fish to escape. The company estimates that between , and , fish weighing four kilograms each escaped.
Huon Aquaculture still does not know what caused the fire.
"We have electrical equipment in our pens, but in years of farming we have never had an electrical fire in a fish pen, so the cause has baffled us," chief executive Peter Bender told the Australian Associated Press.
The escaped fish represent less than one percent of Huon's stock and the company has no plans to recover them, according to The Guardian. But company representatives were confident the fish would not harm Tasmanian ecosystems .
Pene Snashall, corporate communications and community relations manager at Huon Aquaculture, pointed to a Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) report that found escaped farmed fish tend not to eat native fauna.
«Farmed salmon generally do not seem to feed on native species. While some fish survived for a few months, this did not necessarily mean that these fish were thriving,” Snashall told The Guardian.
But environmentalists disagreed.
"An IMAS (Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies) study found that % of escaped salmon were living off wild fish, that's , of this escape, and they occur regularly," Environment Tasmania's Laura Kelly told The Guardian. «Then there are animal welfare problems, with thousands of animals dying of starvation. “Huon needs to follow global investment patterns and move its feedlots out of the ocean and onto land.”
And competition for food is not the only concern.
"There is also concern that these introduced species will establish populations in the wild," Dr. Christine Materia, also from Fish Farming Neighbors, told ABC News.
Jeremy Lyle, associate professor at IMAS, said evidence showed the impact of fish farm escapes like this was “not that significant”, but also said any release of non-native species could pose problems.
"Any event like this is cause for concern," he told ABC News. "Keeping introduced animals contained is more desirable."
The escape has attracted many recreational fishing enthusiasts to try to catch some of the salmon. Materia thought the company should compensate them for their efforts to contain the leak. Meanwhile, Lyle asked anyone who caught a fish to report its stomach contents to IMAS for investigation.