According to the CBC, hereditary chief George
Quocksister Jr., from the Laich-Kwil-Tach Nation, has spent the past month
traveling to salmon farms along the east coast of Vancouver Island documenting the horrific conditions.
Quocksister’s investigation caught the attention of
biologist and marine activist Alexandra Morton. She told the CBC: “I’ve
been at this for at least 25 years, very, very intensively, and I’ve never seen
footage like this. I made the point in the film, this isn’t one farm, it’s all
of them.
The footage reveals blind, emaciated salmon swimming in
their own feces. According to the video, a 17-year report discovered that sea
lice from one of the fish farms had been killing young wild salmon.
See for yourself.
When a net at a fish factory farm in Washington recently failed,
thousands
of nonnative Atlantic salmon got loose just off the state’s northwestern
San Juan Islands. Officials are concerned this could put wild populations at
risk for disease as the sea lice from Quocksister’s investigation did.
Factory farms are filthy and overcrowded, making them the
perfect breeding grounds for parasites. Last year an outbreak of sea lice stretched from
Scandinavia to Chile. Now nearly half of Scotland’s salmon farms are infested
with the parasite, which feeds on blood, skin, and slime.
But filth and infestations are just the beginning.
A study in the Journal of Experimental Biology found
that salmon bred and raised at fish factory farms are
forced to grow at such an accelerated rate that more than half go partially
deaf. Another study found that many farmed salmon suffer from severe depression.
Known as “drop outs, depressed salmon float lifelessly.
After their terrible lives at factory farms, many fish face
particularly gruesome deaths. Despite fishes’ capacity for pain, the seafood industry treats
these innocent beings as mere objects.
A Mercy For Animals undercover investigation at a fish
slaughter facility exposed fish
being skinned alive. The fish thrashed and fought to escape the workers’
knives. As they gasped for oxygen, workers ripped their skin off with pliers.
The best way to help fish is to leave them off our plates
and switch to a compassionate vegan diet. Click here to learn more. And check out
these cruelty-free, sea-inspired recipes.