The next time you buy salmon from your local supermarket, think about the hidden costs in each succulent fillet. Compared to wild fish, farmed salmon is far less likely to burden your wallet. But by buying it, you may be placing a much larger burden on the environment. Fish stocks around the world are declining due to over-fishing and 'aquaculture' - the farming of fish - was originally thought to help. But farming brings with it a host of ecological problems.
If the farmed fish are meat-eaters, as salmon are, they must be fed on the proteins and oils of wild fish, which does nothing to alleviate the stress on wild populations. Domesticated farmed fish are also genetically different to their free counterparts, and escapees risk spreading their genes and replacing local genetic diversity.
But the biggest and most immediate problem may be to do with the spread of parasites. ...
