Visiting again with friend Kevin, Uncle Weed discusses the negative impact salmon fish farms impart on the local aquaculture. Specifically, Atlantic salmon living in pens attract hazardous sea lice, are unable to spawn, are fed with small fish imported from South America, and are dyed to appear more attractive in the supermarket. Further the politically controversial fish farms add little benefit to the local economy.

Downcast podload: Salmon Swimming Free – Rainforest Dispatches, chapter 7/9 – 16:00

Participate
Your input on this topic is invited – particularly if you participated in the protests or traveled to this area. Consider leaving a comment and/or recording an audio missive of your own to use in a future episode. Let me know where you stashed your blockade memories or other rainforest thoughts by emailing: choogleon (at) uncleweed (dot) net or via Twitter @choogleon and/or @uncleweed, etc.

Music
Theme: Bex – “Lonesome (Lost) Traveler”
Segue: Wm. Lenker – excerpts from “Heaven Holds a Place”
Interludes: Grateful Dead – “Throwing Stones”
Insert: Bob and Doug McKenzie (recorded from CBC TV) thanks to @JMV

Background
This is Part 7 of 9 (or more) in the Rainforest Dispatches series on Choogle On with Uncle Weed a series of explorations and soliloquies from the Clayoquot Sound area on the west coast of Vancouver Island during a summertime water outage in the midst of a temperate rainforest. While figuring out what happened, Uncle Weed recollects the tense logging blockades in early 1990s and compares current conditions through lens of deep ecology and sustainable development practices.

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More

Clayoquot Reading via Amazon

A Lousey Time in Clayoquot Sound By Mike Price, Biologist, Raincoast Wild Salmon Project

CLAYOQUOT SOUND: WHAT’S REALLY GOING ON? – First Nations Environmental Network

Escaping farmed salmon pose risks – David Suzuki Foundation

Endangered Salmon- Sea Lice is a Problem – Clayoquot Wilderness resort

Farmed Salmon – Facts and Footnotes

Friends of Clayoqout Sound – Fish Farming

The Five Fundamental Flaws of Sea Cage Fish Farming

The sea cage farming of carnivorous finfish such as salmon, tuna, cod and sablefish is fundamentally flawed in five ways:

1. the wastes produced by farming
2. the fish that escape
3. the diseases and parasites that occur in farms
4. the chemicals used to treat diseased fish
5. the problems of stock depletion and contamination of feed.

Join/Contribute FOCS

North Island Gazette – Usual suspects in the salmon crisis.

Citing the usual suspects in the Pacific salmon crisis

By Tom Fletcher – Kamloops This Week

Published: October 26, 2009 3:00 PM
Updated: October 26, 2009 3:53 PM

An example of an aquaculture farm in open water, used from the greenlifesaver.wordpress.com blog.

This week, I’ve been busy researching aquaculture for an article I’m writing.  I visited a school that has an aquaculture facility and saw some of the new technology for recirculating systems – each one contains a large tank to grow fish, and other equipment to eliminate waste in the water – at the Center of Marine Biotechnology.  These two sites grow fish for educational purposes only. 

But it got me thinking about aquaculture for consumption.  About half of the seafood we consume comes from aquaculture farms, according to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  While fish farming seems like a great way to solve the problem of our dwindling seafood supply, many farming practices are harmful to the environment. 

Here are three of the biggest issues in aquaculture production for consumption: 

1. Water Pollution and Disease:  If fish are farmed in open net pens or cages in oceans or lakes, for example, byproducts like fish waste and antibiotics used on the fish are released into the environment.  The fish waste adds extra nutrients to the ecosystem, according to the Ocean Conservancy, which can harm biodiversity.  Antibiotics and chemicals can affect wild fish.
2. Escaped Fish:  Millions of fish escape from aquaculture operations every year.  When this happens, the farmed fish compete with wild fish for food and, in the worse cases, breed with native fish, “changing forever the gene pool of the native species,” according to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. 
3. Wild Fish:  Many fish are carnivores, eating diets comprised of other fish.  “On average it takes over three pounds of wild fish to grow a pound of farmed salmon,” writes the Monterey Bay Aquarium. 

Reading all this overwhelms me:  before eating fish, should we ask if it’s wild and, if so, a significantly depleted species?  Or if it’s farmed, should we find out what type of farming method was used?  Either way, we could also ask where the fish comes from:  in 2008, imports made up 83% of the seafood consumed in the U.S., according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 

There are some resources that can help.  The Monterey Bay Aquarium publishes Seafood Watch, a list of the best, most sustainable choices we can make when eating fish.  You could try using this guide as a starting point, but Mark Bittman, who writes The Minimalist column for The New York Times, says it’s difficult to follow.   

You can eat the few remaining fish species that are not troubled, which are sardines, mackerel, and squid, according to Bittman.  

Or you can read Bittman’s article to learn more about the fish industry and the rules he follows when consuming fish, and make your decisions from there.  If you’re interested in aquaculture issues, the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the Ocean Conservancy offer helpful information. 

Also, it should be noted that not all farmed fish are bad.  It seems to depend on how they are farmed.  Which further complicates things.  To me, sustainable, healthy, and environmentally-friendly fish consumption is the most confusing issue in conscious eating.

If you have any ideas/thoughts about aquaculture and seafood sustainability, please tell us about them.

Their description of the surrounding Milwaukee neighborhood was hellish. “A grocery-store desert,” they called it. Nothing for two miles in any direction.

Now that’s where Will Allen’s urban farm, Growing Power, is now selling microgreens, perch, tilapia, pumpkins, beets, honey. And tours.

They sure know how to use space.

Farmed fish is anathema in Alaska for so many reasons. That they eat so much wild fish, for one. That they (the salmon, at least) might escape and enter the wild-fish breeding population, for another. And, of course, that they pose substantial competition to Alaskan fishermen.

Alaskans call fish like this 'bait.'

I’m all for experimenting with urban farming systems that incorporate fish … how I love fish … but I’d need to hear more to be convinced that this could be scaled up, or repeated many times over, in a sustainable way. I’ll look into it.

The watercress above is filtering the fish-water from below. Ignore the lettuce, which was only there because the frost was coming.

W. still wants to raise Dolly Vardens in our basement.

Red wigglers in their sumptuous castings.

“They said it couldn’t be done,” said the staffer leading the tour, proudly displaying a giant pile of worms on the side of a greenhouse that stays warm and vital through the Wisconsin winter.

Novella instantly started making plans to scale up her California wigglers by orders of magnitude.

Inside, the worms are working their way through more than a million pounds of food waste a week (from restaurants, breweries, grocery stores and wholesale distributors). Outside, the worms are getting a mix of coffee and brewing malt, and moving up or down in the several-feet-high pile to get to the best food or the nicest temperature.

By: Rafe Mair
The Tyee
July 6, 2009
http://thetyee.ca/Views/2009/07/06/KasloNo/

A couple of weeks ago, there seemed to be cause for celebration for those who join with marine researcher Alexandra Morton in wanting to see the end of fish farming in British Columbia.

Morton had won a Supreme Court judgment that, among other things, ruled that only the federal government had jurisdiction over fish farms.

Marine Harvest, the principal Norwegian fish farmer operating British Columbia, appealed aspects of the decision, but not the constitutional finding that only the federal government calls the shots for fish farms.

This caused rejoicing among many fish farm opponents.

But others, including me, smelled a rat.

Well, a rat there indeed was.

I have been reliably informed that the provincial government has already made the necessary bureaucratic moves to transfer this file back to the tender mercies of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) and that Marine Harvest abandoned the constitutional part of their appeal having been assured that nothing would change.

Both the provincial and federal governments, after the Liberals won the last election with 22 per cent of registered voters, have arrogantly assumed that the battle for our rivers and fish has ended.

In fact, it has barely begun.

From the coast to Kaslo

It continues, for example, in the Kootenays.

A death in the family prevented me from attending a meeting in Kaslo on June 23. However, my colleague, filmmaker Damien Gillis, was there and reports:

“It was a watershed moment in the campaign to protect B.C.’s rivers from private river power projects as 1,100 citizens packed the high school gym in Kaslo, (a town of just 1,000!) to speak out for their  rivers at one of three public comment meetings regarding the environmental assessment application for the largest proposed project in the Kootenays — a 125-megawatt, five-river diversion referred to as  the Glacier/Howser project, in the spectacular Purcell wilderness northeast of Kootenay Lake. Not a single one in three hours spoke for the project.”

The government representatives and proponent Axor Group — a Montreal-based construction giant — had refused myriad requests from citizens and local politicians to hold one of the meetings in nearby Nelson, the unofficial capital of the region, which would have afforded access to a much larger population base.

The move clearly backfired, reminding me of the time last year when the promoter of a comparable proposal on the Upper Pitt  River booked a tiny venue in Pitt Meadows only to see hundreds show up, forcing the fire marshal to shut the meeting down and the company to hold another meeting in a larger venue. This time more than 1,000 showed up and the following day the environment minister pulled the plug on the project’s controversial transmission line through a Class A provincial park.

That night, I remarked to a colleague that this would be the end of the project. It was a fatal misstep by the promoter.

I had a similar feeling from Kaslo, though this one is hardly over.

A resounding No

Far from being deterred by the denial of a meeting in Nelson, local environmental groups banded together to provide bus transportation and other means for getting people to the Kaslo meeting. The result was staggering.

People of all ages came with costumes, banners, marching bands, meticulously researched and passionately articulated speeches. First they rallied outside the school before the  meeting, then they lined up one after another at the microphone to say a resounding “no” to the project and the whole idea of privatizing our rivers for power we don’t need and can’t use. Why can’t we use it? Because the bulk of this power would come in spring, the time of our lowest demand and highest supply) vowing that this project would be stopped.

As local NDP MLA Michelle Mungall told the company to rousing applause, “These people are not uneducated about your project.  They understand it.  They don’t like it.  They don’t want it.”

After a disappointing provincial election for those who care about protecting our rivers, fish and wildlife, this night served to re-energize the movement around the province and showed this battle is really just getting started. And the people of the Kootenays, famous for their love of nature and commitment to protecting it, are once again leading by example.

Civil disobedience ahead

I do not and never have condoned violence but it would be irresponsible of me, after my experience as official spokesperson for the Save Our Rivers Society, not to warn that people around the province are fighting mad about both the rivers and fish farm issue, which are two sides of the same coin.

They are not prepared to allow companies with the blessings of the governments they have helped finance, destroy our rivers and wipe out our salmon.

What will happen is all too clear. There will be people lying down in front of dirt movers, followed by a lawsuit by the companies who will then get injunctions from a court. Turning civil disobedience into a crime in this way is the usual gimmick employed by environment-ravishing companies with the blessing of governments.

Under such circumstance, Harriet Nahanee and Betty Krawczyk went to jail for attempting to block the destruction of nature on Eagleridge Bluff in West Vancouver.

This time around it will not just be two very courageous women ready to risk the consequences. As I assess the situation, it will be many — to the point of endless — protesters.

Inconvenient facts

It would be a different matter if the fish farm and rivers issues were simply controversies where one side said they were right and the other side said, no, they were right.

But in this case, the science and the facts are not in issue.

Every single independent fisheries scientist to be found confirms Alexandra Morton’s findings on the slaughter of migrating Pink and Chum salmon by lice from fish farms which is only the worst of many environmental assaults made by Marine Harvest and friends.

Nor can it be denied that huge environmental damage is done by independent power projects as they dam and divert to produce power for the profit of shareholders of large corporations.

It cannot be denied that this independent power can, for the most part, only be produced during the spring run-off when BC Hydro doesn’t need the power. The president of one of the largest companies, Plutonic, has said “one would have to be in a coma” not to know this power was for export. The record is clear that this power has been bought by BC Hydro, on instructions of the Campbell government, at prices double or more the amount BC Hydro can sell it for into the U.S.

Fulfilling these orders, now in excess of $31 billion, obviously will drive our electricity bills, both industrial and at home, through the roof and bankrupt BC Hydro.

*******************

BCWF ALERT
ohn B. Holdstock
BC Wildlife Federation
Kelowna, B.C.

The world is run by those who show up.

A UBC fisheries expert’s warning from the 1990s now sounds prophetic with this summer’s poor returns of Fraser River sockeye. UBC professor Scott Hinch predicted 15 years ago that warming sea-surface temperatures due to climate change would result in smaller and less abundant sockeye.

via Hotter water linked to poor sockeye returns | Vancouver, Canada | Straight.com.

Houston Today – Fish farms not responsible for missing million in the Bulkley

Published: August 26, 2009 5:00 AM

The missing million in the Bulkley are not due to fish farms.

Ian Roberts with Marine Harvest Canada said the idea that sea lice from fish farms could result in one million missing fish in the Bulkley River is logistically impossible, as the sockeye salmon that travel our rivers come down from Alaska, nowhere near the nearest fish farm, which is by Swindle Island.

“Your river systems will never come into contact with fish farms,” Roberts said.

Stan Proboszcz, a fish biologist with the Watershed Watch Salmon Society, said this was correct, that when he made reference to sea lice being a potential cause for the missing sockeye he was only referring to the Fraser River, and not the Skeena.

Roberts added that while some of the Fraser River sockeye do come into contact with fish farms, attributing the 90 per cent decrease in the expected run to sea lice contracted by the fish is unlikely.

“We are not adding to the natural occurring sea lice,” Roberts said.

The fish farms are heavily monitored, especially around April and March when the salmon begin their journey upstream. Drugs and other preventative measures are taken to minimize the sea lice population. Sockeye salmon, in particular, are also quite large, so not overly susceptible to death by sea lice. There are also naturally occurring sea lice from herring and halibut.

“The question is, are we adding to this [the sea lice]?” said Roberts.

This blog has featured Vital Choice Wild Seafood and Organics a couple of times. We’ve exposed the fact that this company promotes its products by attacking the competition. You know, the ‘ol “only eat wild, don’t eat farmed” rhetoric.

It’s obvious why – by attacking your largest competitor you can sell more of your product. Hey, it’s how politicians get elected and governments are formed!

But, someone the other day challenged us – do you have proof? So, we went looking…it didn’t take us long.

Here’s a quote from their website:

“Vital Choice contributes a portion of its net profits to the Weil Foundation, Raincoast Research Society, the Live Strong Foundation, The Monterey Bay Aquarium, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and other causes devoted to improving the health and well being of people and the planet that sustains us.”

So let us explain the significance of three of these “payouts” – and it ain’t because they improve the health of people and planet.

The Weil Foundation: Dr. Andrew Weil (Nutritionist for clients such as Oprah Winfrey) is paid to endorse Vital Choice products. Fair enough. Simply endorsing is one thing BUT this is the guy that appeared on Larry King Live in January of 2004 and pleaded for people to stay away from unhealthy foods which included pop, chips and…..farm-raised salmon. Come on Andrew, can you be any more obvious?

Raincoast Research Society: This Society is being paid by commercial fishing interest groups to attack farm-raised salmon. The latest study produced by this Society claimed up to 95% (the low number in the range was 9%, but no one uses that number!) of out-migrating juvenile salmon were perishing from farm produced sea lice (sea lice are found naturally on wild juvenile salmon by the way). The study was ripped apart by no less than twenty of the world’s leading fisheries scientists as a completely unfounded claim.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium: Ok, these guys produce the Seafood Watch pamphlets. So, MBA gives wild salmon a “green light” (the main product for Vital Choice) while it’s main competitor, farm-raised salmon, gets a “red light”. Vital Choice smiles and hands over the dough. A match made in heaven.

WARNING! All this back scratching is going to leave a mark.

Attorney Sanders says, "Giant Foods should be congratulated on this decision!"

In a welcomed good news story, Giant Food, is working in cooperation with the New England Aquarium, to increase access to sustainable seafood available from seafood farms, hatcheries and processing plants that follow a program of environmental improvement and social consciousness. The New England Aquarium is a recognized international leader in ocean conservation, education, and research.

Members of the Giant Food seafood buying team, alongside a New England Aquarium shrimp specialist, traveled to Indonesia and Thailand to collaborate with Giant Food’s shrimp vendor partners on environmental improvements. By doing so, this gives Giant and the New England Aquarium a way to identify “best practices” within individual businesses and work toward applying these practices to all vendors.

This program reflects a nearly decade-long commitment to improve, strengthen and expand a sustainable seafood program, centering on the creation of a 10-point policy for seafood purchasing and sales based on social, ecological and economic considerations.

Giant Food no longer sells Chilean sea bass, orange roughy, or any shark species because of the environmental concerns surrounding these fisheries.  Instead, it promote items such as Pacific long-line-caught cod, farmed Arctic char, and farmed tilapia that come from well-managed fisheries and farms.

For additional information on Giant’s sustainable seafood efforts, consumers can visit http://www.giantfood.com/living_well/healthy_living/seafood.htm.

Giant Food LLC, headquartered in Landover, MD, operates 181 supermarkets in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and the District of Columbia.. For more on Giant, visit www.giantfood.com.

Hello Kroger Headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio?  Are you guys listening?

What a poet…what a fisherman!

William Shatner has boldly gone where no actor has gone before: B.C.’s controversial fish farms.

The Canadian actor has written to Prime Minister Stephen Harper asking that salmon farms be removed from crucial wild-salmon migration routes off northern Vancouver Island.

Shatner said salmon farms are having a disastrous impact on “one of Earth’s most precious assets, the wild salmon and steelhead of B.C.” in the letter, which was also sent to Fisheries Minister Gail Shea, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff and B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell.

“There is one thing you could do tomorrow that would benefit the wild stocks enormously and all your citizens who depend on this fish — remove salmon farms from wild salmon and steelhead migration routes and encourage the industry to reinvent itself on land where other, more sustainable species could be trialled,” wrote Shatner, an avid sports fisherman.

Read the rest of the article here.

This may be confusing, so pay attention…

The United States (U.S.) is spending about $50 million on a fish food stimulus package to help fish farmers that are hit by higher fish feed costs in the last year.

Laine Welch - Fish Talk

So Laine Welch writes about this in her column for the Anchorage Daily News and says, “Let’s hope that the feed purchasers will “go green’ and “buy American” by sourcing some of that fish food from Alaska!”

Interesting thought Laine. For a state that poo-poos “fish farming”, you’re sure quick to get onside when there’s a buck to be made.

Laine continues, “Ironically, Alaska spends $20 million each year on fish feed for its 35 salmon hatcheries”.

Another interesting thought Laine. So, you do admit that you  ‘farm’ salmon – by way of 35 state salmon hatcheries.

Laine, are you thinking what we’re thinking…? You could take the waste from your Alaskan farm-raised salmon (60 million each year by the way) and render it into fish feed and feed it back into the 35 state hatcheries. Now apply for some of that ’stimulus’ money and save yourself about $20 million per year!

That scenario would be a heck of lot better than you’re current practice of dumping fish waste at sea. Yeah, that’s right, dumping fish waste at sea. We’ll talk about that dirty little secret on an upcoming blog. Stay tuned.

Stealhead salmon en route to their spawning grounds. (Photo: John McMillan)

ScienceDaily – Steelhead trout that are originally bred in hatcheries are so genetically impaired that, even if they survive and reproduce in the wild, their offspring will also be significantly less successful at reproducing, according to a new study. Full story

I received an email asking me my thoughts on farmed fish.

Don’t buy it.

It’s disgusting when you think about it. Thousands of fish, penned together in underwater cages, so close that they rarely are not in contact with at least one other fish. Please don’t think these fish are swimming unmolested in some huge aquaculture cage. They are crushed together and swimming in a murky swamp of antibiotics, hormones, pesticides and their own excrement.

The health hazards haven’t been document yet, but it doesn’t mean it isn’t a hazard.

Also 70% of all farmed fish comes from China so you can only imagine what’s in that stew. I’ve asked ten fish market owners if they eat farmed fish. All ten said no.

One said- “Are you kidding me? Have you ever been to a fish farm?”

Free swimming fish, in ocean, lakes, river and streams, while not mashed together as if already in a can, have their own problems. The waters are so polluted with mercury and other toxins that free swimming fish are also contaminated. I asked a Montauk fisherman if he eats any of his catch. He said yes, but won’t serve it to his kids.

We are also in the dawn of the era of genetically engineered fish. Tilapia is among the breeds that have been modified to be created in a lab. One look at the almost identical shapes and sizes of all tilapia fillets at your supermarket should confirm that genetically engineered fish is probably being sold to us.

What to do?

Decide for yourself if it’s worth it. There are tradeoffs in life and an uncontaminated fish is truly a super food. Weigh the pros and cons. Sorry, that’s the best I can do one this one.

I eat fish for dinner once a week on Fridays. Branzino, Shrimp, Octopus. I eat sardines out of the can for lunch once week as well (wild caught from Mediterranean). I also take one tablespoon a day of purified Cod Liver Oil (Just like our grandmothers said to)

 It ain’t easy being a fish these days.

Ray Salomone     Personal Trainer and Wellness Activist

Blog: www.GrecoRomanWellness.wordpress.com

The Most Provocative Wellness Blog on the internet

Eat Fresh, Whole Foods. Exercise Intensely

MOVE LIKE YOU MEAN IT!!!!

Coming Soon to bookstores:

The Greco Roman Road to Wellness by Ray Salomone and Dr. Katina Ioannidis

Amazon link:

http://www.amazon.com/Greco-Roman-Road-Wellness-Old-World-Times/dp/0982139209/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243604904&sr=8-1

 For a FREE copy of my WARRIORS AND GOODDESSES WORKOUT PLAN,

The regimen being used by over 150,000 men and women around the world to

GET IN AND STAY IN THE BEST SHAPE OF THEIR LIVES

send me an email at Ray@GrecoRomanWellness.com

Fellas,
I frequent another blog busterwantstofish.com please check out one of their more recent post on the problems with salmon farming. Don’t eat farm raised salmon ever.

“…for wild salmon to survive we must eat them.”

- David James Duncan

vs

::a

If a person spends enough time in school to obtain a Ph.D., wouldn’t you assume they’re very good at studying a subject?  Apparently not if your name is Tina Wellman. On this “Truth Test”, Tina gets an “F” (for “False”).

Ms. Wellman recently published an opinion piece in Total Health magazine entitled “Nature’s Ideal Health Food” where she attempts to boost up the image of Alaskan ‘wild’ salmon.

Tina Wellman, Ph.D.

Let’s be clear – we agree with Ms. Wellman that salmon is a superior protein source and high in healthy Omega-3 fatty acids. We also agree that salmon should be consumed once or twice a week. But, that’s about all we agree with. Her opinion then falls into the classic, “I was asked to sponsor a product and this is what I was told to say” piece. Come on Tina – study the damn subject before you make a complete arse of yourself!

Oh, where to start?  Got it! Let’s start at the beginning and we’ll finish at the end.

• Tina Wellman says: “In contrast to farmed salmon, sockeye salmon derived from the pristine waters of Alaska grows unaldulterated by antibiotics, pesticides, growth hormones, synthetic coloring agents and genetically modified organisms”.
• We say: Holy crap Tina, everything in that comment is absolute rubbish. You’d think with that bit of verbal diarhea, you might hit one out of five atleast? Now, the facts;

Antibiotics – up to 50% of Alaska salmon may have been born in a plastic tray in a hatchery and fed pellets in net pens for up to half their life. This is called salmon ranching. If ranched salmon become sick during captivity, they may be fed antibiotics to cure the illness (don’t panic, it’s well regulated and very legal).

Pesticides – no pesticides are used in salmon farming (or salmon ranching).

Growth hormones – no growth hormones are used in salmon farming (or salmon ranching).

Synthetic coloring agents – 50% of Alaskan salmon are ranched (as mentioned above). When cultured in net pens, they are fed a feed that contains a carotene pigment (called astaxanthin).  This is the same beta-carotene that is fed to farmed salmon.  This pigment turns the salmon’s flesh a reddish colour. Whether ranched, farmed or wild – the process of pigmentation is the same. 

Genetically modified organisms (GMO’s) – again, up to 50% of Alaskan salmon will be held in captivity and fed pellets derived from fish meal and other plant proteins. This diet is very similar to what farmed salmon will eat and may or may not include proteins derived from GMO crops – so if you’re accusing farmed salmon of eating GMO’s, then Alaskan salmon may as well.

• Tina Wellman says: “Alaskan salmon are wild; there are no salmon farms in Alaska”. 
• We say: actually, we don’t say anything.  We’ll just show you a picture of a salmon farm in Alaska.

Prince William Sound Aquaculture Corporation, Alaska

Tina Wellman, even though there are another dozen “errors” in your uneducated diatribe, we’ll stop here. But, we’ll be keeping an eye on you to see if we can improve your failing grade in our “Truth Test”.

Dr. Andrew Weil not only looks like Santa Claus, but he also gifts like old Saint Nick too – well, as long as you pay him!

Dr. Weil, the self proclaimed “health advisor” has long touted the benefits of eating salmon.  But apparently not just any salmon will do – you’ve got to “stick to wild Alaskan salmon” he says. Citing no credible scientific data to support this very specific diet, it got us wondering: why would such a well respected health guru (heck, this guy is responsible for keeping Oprah Winfrey’s figure within the frame of your 52″ TV!) blatantly promote a commercial product? Well, the answer is so painfully obvious that even the best prescription from Dr. Weil couldn’t subside the cramps. The answer is…wait for it…here it comes…Dr. Andrew Weil is paid by Vital Choice Wild Seafoods (a wholesale company that sells Alaskan fish) to promote their product.

In 2004, the PEW Foundation (a feverishly protectionist group from the U.S.A. that will spend millions to help promote Alaskan salmon) commissioned a study that looks at the level of contaminants in all types of salmon around the world. The study actually found that all salmon tested was well below international allowable limits of 2000 parts per billion (ppb). Levels for farmed, ranched, enhanced and wild salmon were found to be in the range of between 2 ppb and 50 ppb. But, as your old science teacher probably reminded you over and over again – data can be manipulated to conclude what ever you want. So, the stinkers at the Pew Foundation took the highest farmed salmon results and compared it to the lowest Alaska salmon results and concluded that farmed salmon were ‘multiples’ higher in contaminant levels than Alaska salmon. But, even though the number ‘20′ is “double” the number ‘10′, it’s still only ‘20′.  And when you put ‘20′ on a scale of 2000 it’s still only 1% of the allowable limit. 

“Pew, that really stinks”

So, the same day that this ’study’ is released, Dr. Father Christmas appears on ‘Larry King Live’ and tells America that one of the worst foods to eat is farmed salmon. But he doesn’t stop there. He recommends that the best salmon one can eat is, of course, wild Alaska salmon. He apparently forgot to mention two very important things (hey, money can make a man very forgetful);

1. Up to 50% of Alaska salmon is cultured and not actually ‘wild’.
2. A previous study by Ewald et al. (1998) found that Alaska’s famed Copper River Sockeye salmon were much higher in organic pollutants than any one fish in the Pew Foundations study. Not surprisingly, as bad news makes great news, the Ewald study was quickly promoted in national news outlets. For fairness, we have attached the response to the study released by the Alaska government.

So, the next time Dr. Andrew Weil promotes a product that’s intended to promote healthy living, first ask him – how long’s the term on the business contract?

Note: to read a critique of the Pew Foundation study (January 9th, 2004), click here.

Vital Choice Wild Seafood President, Randy Hartnell

Shouldn’t advertising be truthful?  We certainly think so.  But Vital Choice Wild Seafoods and Organics is just one of many wholesale seafood businesses that keeps the truth buried well below the ocean floor. They insist that all their product is ‘wild’.  But, we know that up to half of their salmon can be raised by man (or woman of course!) for up to half their life. It’s called salmon ranching.

So, if a cow jumps the fence, roams in the forest for a year, then miraculously returns back to the barn, can the farmer really sell his bovine is ‘wild’?  Holy cow, we don’t think so.

We’re not attacking Vital Choice products.  All we ask is that Vital Choice Wild Seafoods be honest with their customers - it’s that simple. 

Send Randy Hartnell (President of Vital Choice) an email and tell him to be honest!