Fishy news of sundry sorts
by John Kinsman
Staniford
Don Staniford, the pro-wild-salmon campaigner, is to be deported from Canada for daring to compare the promotion of farmed salmon to health-risky ads for tobacco products. Don intends to come to Scotland and continue his work here. Canada’s loss, our gain.
Over-fishing – a hard-nosed view
The New Economics Foundation reports that poor management of fish stocks is draining jobs and profits. The report, titled Jobs Lost At Sea, says that 43 European fish stocks are at a low level, and claims that restoring them to their maximum sustainable level would be worth £2.7 billion per year to all countries. It holds that restoring these fish stocks could support 100,790 new jobs in the EU fishing sector.
The author of the report, Rupert Crilly, said: “Over-fishing is bad for the economy. European fisheries ministers are wiping out millions of pounds and thousands of jobs each year by allowing over-fishing to continue.”
Franken-fish
A fight in America against genetically engineered (GE) salmon rages on. Three consumer groups have submitted a formal petition asking the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to classify and evaluate AquaBounty’s GE salmon and all of its components as a food additive. They point out that Aquabounty’s own study showed that ‘GE salmon may contain increased levels of IGF-1, a hormone that helps accelerate the growth of the transgenic fish and is linked to breast, colon, prostate, and lung cancer.’
The groups assert that a proper review process would require GE salmon to undergo comprehensive toxicological studies, specifically those developed to ensure that foods entering the market are safe to consume and are properly labelled.
Meanwhile …
The Fishing and Aquaculture and Fishing Expo 2012 will take place at the SECC in Glasgow on March 22nd-24th. John Kinsman, our Marine Editor, says it will include boat displays, sea food demonstrations, family entertainment ‘and much more’. It will take place from 22nd-24th March 2012 at the SECC in Glasgow from 10am to 5pm Thursday and Friday and 10am to 4pm Saturday.
