Sjókvíaeldið er alls staðar að valda sama skaða, hvar sem það er í heiminum, spillir umhverfi og lífríki. Að baki þessum stóriðnaði eru sömu örfáu risafyririrtækin, hér við land og annars staðar. Alls staðar eru þau með fyrrum stjórnmálamenn á sínum snærum, menn sem hafa greiðan aðgang að fyrrum félögum af þingi og í ráðuneytum.
Við mælum eindregið með þessari úttekt Al Jazeera á sjókvíaeldisiðnaðinum í Chile.
„Atlantic salmon isn’t a native Chilean species; therefore, it isn’t the same to farm it in Norway as in Chile,“ said Estefania Gonzalez, oceans campaigns coordinator at Greenpeace Chile.
Atlantic salmon in Chile is bred in fish farms, where vast amounts of fish are crammed into football-field-sized enclosures, and chemicals are used to keep fish yields high.
„To produce [Atlantic salmon] in Chile, the same company may use up to 700 times more antibiotics than in Norway,“ Gonzalez told Al Jazeera
And while the fish may be penned in ocean-based farms, the water is not contained. It flows in and out of the enclosures, dispersing chemicals and other salmon byproducts, which is having surprising consequences. The increase in the levels of antibiotics in seawater is leading to antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria that can infect humans, according to research by Universidad Austral de Chile. Meanwhile, an unnaturally high concentration of Atlantic salmon droppings is negatively impacting the surrounding area. A combination of antibiotics and salmon droppings is lethal to marine life in areas near fish farms, according to Greenpeace.“
