Aquaculture: Conserve oceans, seafood security

Kudos to W. Ron Allen’s Op-Ed “Farming native fish in the Salish Sea can be done safely, responsibly” [Aug. 31, Opinion].

The anti-aquaculture backlash is just weird to proponents. Misinformation promulgated by activists, usually with little context or scientific foundation (regardless of claims), is puzzling. For instance, the fearmongering of illness switch from farmed to wild fish is commonly utilized by opponents as justification to be cautious.

Professional and credentialed fish-health professionals (the 300-plus member American Affiliation of Fish Veterinarians, the 200-plus member Fish Well being Part of the American Fisheries Society and the general public hatchery facility centered Pacific Northwest Fish Well being Safety Committee) have by no means objected or expressed concern concerning web pen illnesses. Nonetheless, activists and normative scientists have personally attacked these professionals (myself included) who’ve critiqued their narratives.

What’s going on? We do know that business fishing and aquaculture may be each massive enterprise and fierce rivals, however is the basis of this battle merely monetarily based mostly? The significance to conserving our oceans (extra farms imply extra devoted ocean preserves doable) and our seafood safety (the U.S. has an $18 billion greenback seafood deficit with half of that being overseas farmed fish) are causes alone to assist and promote accountable aquaculture in Puget Sound.

Hugh Mitchell, D.V.M., Kirkland