How Sustainable is BC’s Fishing Industry?

1. Choose a species of fish and explain which ones you should consume and which ones you should avoid.

The Cockle species

Do Eat:

-The Austrovenus Stutchburyi Cockle is a safe and healthy species of fish to consume as it is dredged and hand-harvested in New Zealand and has an overall rating of 3.4-3.5 out of 5 according to Ocean Wise

-The Cerastoderm Educe Cockle is the most common cockle and is typically wild. This type of cockle is hand raked and/ or hand-harvested in places such as the U.K and the Netherlands. This type of method used for extracting the Cerastoderm Educe Cockle has been certified sustainable seafood by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC).

Don’t Eat:

-The Cerastoderm Educe Cockle extracted in Poole Harbour, UK appears to have a certification by the MSC, however, Ocean Wise claims that this is not recommended for consumption. The method used for extraction is dredging which consists of large metal baskets that are dragged over the ocean floor behind a moving vessel in which large metal teeth dig into the ocean floor and lift clams or shellfish buried in the sand.

2. With reference to the video “Salmon Confidential” and your own research about the advantages and disadvantages of salmon farming, assess how sustainable aquaculture is.

Based on the video, “Salmon Confidential,” the main problem with salmon farming in British Columbia is the dishonesty between the government and the public. As shown in the documentary, the salmon farms are developed in large quantities all along the Fraser River and as stated in the video, “kept in narrow channels” which are contaminating wild fish surrounding the fishing farms and are infecting other fish farms. The young salmon collected by Alexandra Morton (biologist) has been infected with parasitic sea lice from being exposed to these fish farms, which brings the question as to why these fish farms are not being questioned. There is confidentiality amongst the DFO in Canada and there is no justice to the research being made by high-level scientists (ISA example within the video). The advantage of salmon farming is the pace of production, it replenishes our food supply faster, allowing producers to keep up with high demand. The disadvantage of salmon farming is that in some cases, the farms will contain many viruses and/or bacteria that will heavily affect the surrounding areas in the same environment. I believe that aquaculture can be sustainable if big producers are aware of their impact on the environment; hopefully, there will be a development in the technology used today to help reduce the pollution caused by large productions extracting marine life. For example, salmon farming should be indoors with large pools of water that are under a controlled environment so wild fish are not impacted by viruses or bacteria.

https://seafood.ocean.org/seafood/type/cockle/#common-cockle-2