Fish Farming

[torco]

Hello,

 

Having just read a snippet from macleans on fish farming. Aquaculture (fish farming) generated 2.1 Billion for the Canadian economy and thousands of jobs in 2007.

 

 

http://www.macleans.ca/article.jsp?content=n233617425

 

 

I thought the topic could provide for interesting and hopefully reasonable debate on the pro's and con's of what is a relatively new industry.

 

I personally have mixed feelings on these farms as it has been shown to have negative effects on wild fish, higher levels of mercury and other toxins.

 

Anyways interested to hear peoples thoughts and hopefully its kept clean doesn't go down the tube and need to be locked by the mods.

[Dara]

I know that when I was a kid, my dad planted smelts in the garden. They never grew at all.

[Roy]

I know that when I was a kid, my dad planted smelts in the garden. They never grew at all.

 

To grow, smelts need a lot of water.

[capt bruce]

Funny about the smelts(must have been lack of water) my dad used to plant carp and suckers in our garden and we had the most and largest tomatoes in the hood (maybe carp turn into tomatoes when dead). guess you just plant some roe, water and wait.

Edited April 23, 2010 by capt bruce

[Mykester]

I don't low much on the topic, but if fish farming provides cheaper food and provides less pressure on wild stocks, it can't be that bad.

[desship]

The problem is not fish farming but where they are located.Wild stocks in BC are being infected by sea lice from the farms .The salmon are fed chemical feed to make their flesh red.The market for these farm fish is the US. These farms are owned by European Countries. They had the lice problem there .

I will eat fish from Lake Ontario but when I shop at the grocery store I check where they are packaged and usually put the fish back and wait until I go fishing.

[I'mHooked]

If you want an interesting eye opening view into the "food" industry check out the movie "Food Inc." http://www.foodincmovie.com

 

They get into all areas of agriculture, farming etc.

 

It's quite interesting how many products contain corn.

 

They make reference about how they're even using corn now in feed at fish farms.

 

It's quite a story.

[cityfisher]

no joke my grandpa used to water his tomatoes with beer...once a week he would feed them beer and they would get HUGE . it actually worked but probably cost him a ton too.. he didnt care .. he loved huge tomatoes

[ketchenany]

no joke my grandpa used to water his tomatoes with beer...once a week he would feed them beer and they would get HUGE . it actually worked but probably cost him a ton too.. he didnt care .. he loved huge tomatoes

 

 

Why didn't he drink the beer and p on the tomatoes!

[shane]

no joke my grandpa used to water his tomatoes with beer...once a week he would feed them beer and they would get HUGE . it actually worked but probably cost him a ton too.. he didnt care .. he loved huge tomatoes

 

My grandpa used to water his lawn with beer.

And then it would come up 'half-cut'.

[Twocoda]

My grandpa used to water his lawn with beer.

And then it would come up 'half-cut'.

 

now that is clever....or is it alcohol abuse....

[Guest ThisPlaceSucks]

aquaculture has a lot of potential but i'm not sure how i feel about the penned aquaculture.

one neat form of aquaculture emerging is tilapia. these fish grow quick (less bioaccumulation), reproduce like rabbits (have high yields), and are raised in tanks which recycle 97% of the water used (no escaped fish).

 

btw, they are also a DELICIOUS and INEXPENSIVE fish if you haven't tried them.

[fish_fishburn]

Aquaculture to me is the same as having a floating pig farm on your lake or ocean. No offence to small scale hog farmers. Norway owns the majority of fish farms in Canada. Take a look at what aquaculture did to there wild salmon stocks. They have been totally decimated. Norway take your fish farms and go home or put them in self-contained pens on land. I would rather eat a manure sandwich than a farm raised salmon.

[bassman87]

Aquaculture to me is the same as having a floating pig farm on your lake or ocean. No offence to small scale hog farmers. Norway owns the majority of fish farms in Canada. Take a look at what aquaculture did to there wild salmon stocks. They have been totally decimated. Norway take your fish farms and go home or put them in self-contained pens on land. I would rather eat a manure sandwich than a farm raised salmon.

 

prooooove it

[Mykester]

aquaculture has a lot of potential but i'm not sure how i feel about the penned aquaculture.

one neat form of aquaculture emerging is tilapia. these fish grow quick (less bioaccumulation), reproduce like rabbits (have high yields), and are raised in tanks which recycle 97% of the water used (no escaped fish).

 

btw, they are also a DELICIOUS and INEXPENSIVE fish if you haven't tried them.

 

Isn't tilapia a garbage fish?

[bigugli]

aquaculture has a lot of potential but i'm not sure how i feel about the penned aquaculture.

one neat form of aquaculture emerging is tilapia. these fish grow quick (less bioaccumulation), reproduce like rabbits (have high yields), and are raised in tanks which recycle 97% of the water used (no escaped fish).

 

btw, they are also a DELICIOUS and INEXPENSIVE fish if you haven't tried them.

Not all Tilapia are tank raised. There are a number of Mexican lakes where tilapia have been stocked for commercial harvest.

[bigugli]

I would have no problem if fish farming was completely detached from natural and existing waterways. Tank fishing being the ideal. Only a small percentage is produced in this way. The Norwegian model is anything but harmless. In North America we also have impounds. Rearing ponds which draw fresh water from a nearby lake or stream. These are potential disasters for any inland waterway. Where do you think the current Asian carp scare begins. A dam breaks, a flood, simple carelessness, and you have instant disaster in the making. Accidental release of a genetically altered strain of trout could entirely destroy a native population.

[soggey]

For starters I work on a fish farm in Ontario. It is a land based operation raising Rainbow Trout fingerlings for the cage farms on Manitoulin Island. They grow them to market size, process them in London at Cole Munro fisheries and then are distributed through out Canada and the USA. They are fed a Natural pigment called astazaxthin (sp) wich is a naturally occuring pigment in all shellfish. Are fish are pigmented so they will sell in the grocery stores. If we didn't pigment the meat they dont look as apatizing as the nice orange flesh of wild caught salmon/trout. A main ingredient of fish food is fish meal which commonly comes from species like smelt or makerel. The increased levels of mercury found in the fish tested where found to be from the fish meal they were fed. A closer eye is now kept on exactly where ingredients for fish food comes from and they are beginning to use ingredients like corn meal to avoid this situation in the future. I also know that for sure none of the farms in Ontario both cages on Manitoulin and land based operations are owned by anyone other than Canadians.

thanks

shawn

[fish_fishburn]

Thanks for the info Shawn. I didn't know there were fish farms in Ontario. Are these floating cages on Manitoulin and how many fish do they rear? Any idea.

[Spiel]

Thanks for the info Shawn. I didn't know there were fish farms in Ontario. Are these floating cages on Manitoulin and how many fish do they rear? Any idea.

 

You may find some answers here..... ontarioaquaculture.com

 

 

[MJL]

Isn't tilapia a garbage fish?

 

When I think of tilapia, I think of that episode of ‘dirty jobs’ where the tilapia eat the feces of the other fish in the fish farm

 

Maybe their diet of feces makes the flesh more firm because I gotta admit, they are quite tasty

 

I remember watching a fishing show on tilapia…They’re being stocked in a few lakes in Arkansas for a put & take fishery there…They end up dying at the end of the season because the water gets too cold for them.

Edited April 25, 2010 by MJL

[soggey]

There are about 6-7 cage sites on Manitoulin. They range in size from 8-12 cages per site. The cages are exactly that, big floating pens 50' X 50' X 50'. Any of the sites we deal with put 40 000 Rainbow finderlings (35 - 60 grams) in each pen in the spring, actually in about a week when the ferry starts running. Our orders total 400 000 fish for the spring and then another 400 000 in late August early Sept. The sites buy them at this size and raise them to 2lbs by fall. Fish in cages dont over winter well so they like to have them out before freeze up and pull the cages out of the water for the winter. They do leave some in with smaller fish for the winter so they have fish to sell in the spring. There is also a large cage farm not on Manitoulin its on Perry Island by Perry Sound its called Aqua Cage. Very large site, and they have multiple sites. FYI 90% of the cage farms on Manitoulin are native owned and operated.

[fish_fishburn]

Thanks Speil... Think I'll pass on them rainbows as well

[torco]

Thank Spiel for the link as well as others. Found some interesting information.

 

I know I am very picky myself on buying fish at the grocery store.

 

Sometimes its hard to be omnivore!

[Musky or Specks]

HMMMM pistachio encrusted tilapia delicious