SOTA warns about misleading Greenpeace campaign
Greenpeace is demanding that stores remove almost half of their seafood available for sale, in a marketing campaign that Salmon of the Americas said is geared towards misleading the public away from healthy protein alternatives
The farmed salmon industry has focused its efforts towards achieving harmony between aquaculture and sustainability of the oceans. Each salmon producing country works closely with their governmental fishing agencies and scientists that have pioneered many areas of research recognized for significant findings in fish health and marine ecosystems interactions.
Salmon of the Americas (SOTA), a U.S.-based non-profit association of U.S., Chilean, and Canadian salmon farming companies has issued a press release that claims Greenpeace is demanding that stores remove almost half of their seafood available for sale, in a marketing campaign that is geared towards misleading the public away from healthy protein alternatives. Although Greenpeace has expressed that their focus is on seafood sustainability, their dialogues historically manifest into acts of violence and vandalism, the release said, warning that retailers should keep in mind that Greenpeace is a radical group and not a science driven environmental organization.
The release goes on to say: "Greenpeace has ignored that the ratios of wild fisheries used in the production of fishmeal have decreased over the last few years. The farmed salmon industry continues to research feed alternatives to increase the industry's independence from fisheries. Although the use of marine resources will always be there, fish meal and fish oil, it will be in a responsible way based on the management of these species by the local policies of each government and possible certifications available.
These extremists also fail to point out that salmon farming sites occupy a tiny portion of the coastal zone areas in which they are located. Many environmental considerations are taken into account when these sites are selected and they are also monitored by strict governmental regulations during their operation, guaranteeing that any detrimental effect will be detected immediately. If necessary, regulation in different countries allows production control, avoiding any environmental potential damage.
Most importantly, consumers should be aware that Greenpeace wants to force retailers to remove a majority of their seafood from the counters for wrong reasons, alleging the unsustainability of the industry, this is false. More to the point, Greenpeace is not showing consumers the recommendations made for example, by the American Heart Association and The Institute of Medicine and the National Academies urging people to routinely include seafood as part of a healthy diet.
Their misleading information and agenda driven ideals create consumer uncertainty despite the vast improvements and strictly regulated industry of salmon aquaculture".
