4 | NewScientist | 3 April 2010
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Bias in animal trials Space eye fuzzy
Green angels
–The salmon of less doubt–
–Recognise this eco-friendly skyline?–
Farming fish sustainablyGREEN farmed fish may soon be on the
supermarket slab. A league table that
ranks the sustainability of fisheries
by where the food for fish farms is
sourced will help consumers assess
the environmental impact of seafood.
Farmed fish are fed oils and meal
made from other fish, including
anchovy, herring and sardines. This
has led to declines in wild populations,
and growing criticism of salmon and
shrimp farms over the impact their
use of feed has on marine ecosystems.
Now the Sustainable Fisheries
Partnership, a non-profit group based
in San Francisco, has published a
sustainability league table for the
22 fish stocks most harvested for
fish oil and fishmeal. It estimates that
67 per cent of the global catch of such
fish is from sustainable sources.
The league table could help fish
farms manage their feed supplies
and so qualify for schemes which
certify to consumers that their
produce is sustainable. Several such
schemes are in the works, and the
first could launch as early as 2012.
But Jennifer Jacquet of the
University of British Columbia
Fisheries Centre in Vancouver,
Canada, says that the partnership’s
work, though commendable, does
not get to the heart of the issue.
“It takes around 6 tonnes of wild fish
to reduce to 1 tonne of fishmeal, and
then anything from 1.5 to 3 tonnes
of meal to produce 1 tonne of farmed
salmon,” she says. “Producing
fishmeal and fish oil for fish farming
is in itself a waste of tasty fish that
could be eaten directly.”
“All animals trials should be registered before they start, so any ‘missing’ studies can be chased up”
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