Today we're pleased to share a review of Salmon Wars by STEWART LAMONT, President of Tangier Lobster Company based on Nova Scotia's Eastern Shore, Canada's leading exporter of fresh Atlantic lobster and a Founding member of the Lobster Council of Canada. You could say he knows a thing or two about the critical relationship between a pristine marine environment and quality seafood. Likewise its also no surprise Stewart also currently sits on our provincial Minister of Fisheries & Aquaculture's, Regulatory Review Advisory Committee.
Salmon Wars a Review | July 21, 2022 | By: Stewart Lamont
Good things come to those who wait?
Life imitates art?
Mother Nature has her say in the end?
I was trying to think of just the right introduction to Salmon Wars: The Dark Underbelly of our Favorite Fish recently published by Henry Holt and Company, New York.
This, the magnificent book written by Douglas Frantz and Catherine Collins (2022) husband and wife authors who live very near Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia. Their presence here is a wonderful thing…
This book will undoubtedly shake up the open net pen fish farm debate like nothing previously written. It painstakingly documents virtually every single aspect which makes this business model not only devastating for Nova Scotia, but more particularly devastating for our coastal waters and rural residents.
It painstakingly documents virtually every single aspect which makes this business model not only devastating for Nova Scotia, but more particularly devastating for our coastal waters and rural residents.
Activists such as I, who have worked on this file for over a decade, cannot believe our good fortune. The credentials of the authors alone make it an absolute must read, but the message and the story are the keys in the end. The authors demonstrate beyond doubt that open net pen industrial fish farming is not what it appears to be, and consumers and governments should literally look below the surface. If we would only delve deeply, we have so much to learn, and so much to uncover. The book is a push back against all the baloney we have heard from fish ‘farmers’ and governments over the years. I cannot begin to thank Frantz and Collins for this meticulous work and its spectacular timing.
Our coastal waters are the life blood of this region. How in the name of Cooke Aquaculture did our last 5 governments convince themselves that open net pen fish farms are a good thing? Were the decision makers and regulators duplicitous or incredibly ill-informed?
As I ‘devoured’ the book over the weekend, words carefully chosen, I celebrated the powerful telling of a desperate story. At the same time there was astonishment that it has come to this where such an expose is required. Our coastal waters are the life blood of this region. How in the name of Cooke Aquaculture did our last 5 governments convince themselves that open net pen fish farms are a good thing? Were the decision makers and regulators duplicitous or incredibly ill-informed? Sadly, there may be no other explanation in between.
And what of the new Houston government? Will they decide to make a ‘clean’ break from the open net pen madness? Will they recognize that massive pollution, fecal and food waste around net pens is totally reprehensible? Will they discover that the lack of social license in rural communities is a deal breaker? Can they acknowledge that climate change makes caged fish in either very warm or super chilled water unacceptable? Can they move this net pen model to on-land closed containment, converting under utilized seafood facilities for forty cents on the dollar? Most important of all, will they read this blockbuster book and act accordingly? Please stand by for answers to these and many more feedlot questions.
We need to finally turn the corner and get net pens out of our coastal waters….
What should we do as a matter of public policy at this late stage you might ask? Well, if we must partially subsidize the transition to on-land closed containment activity so be it…just get on with it. We need to finally turn the corner and get net pens out of our coastal waters….
A Regulatory Review of Nova Scotia Aquaculture is currently underway. The future of this dismal net pen enterprise now hangs in the balance. However, I for one remain extremely positive as to the outcome. In the end Mother Nature, documented science and good common sense will undoubtedly prevail, and it could be in the very near future if policy rolls out as it should........
If you wish to learn more regarding the distinguished background of the authors: please take a look at the attached (website linked below). When it comes to unimpeachable investigative work, they pretty much come from central casting. So, thank goodness for that as well.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS OF THE BOOK:
"Frantz spent 37 years as a newspaper editor and reporter, sharing a Pulitzer Prize at The New York Times and serving as managing editor of the Los Angeles Times. After leaving journalism, he was chief investigator for the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Assistant Secretary of State in the Obama administration, and Deputy Secretary General of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Collins was a reporter and prize-winning foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune and contributed to The New York Times and Los Angeles Times. Upon leaving her newspaper career, she became a private investigator specializing in international financial fraud and corruption.
They began work on Salmon Wars in January 2020 after hearing about the environmental dangers of salmon farming at a public meeting near their home in Nova Scotia."
This new book was released on July 12th to many impressive reviews. PLB will be hosting a presentation and book signing event with the authors in Liverpool this September so stay tuned for more details.
Below is a link for where to buy the book and search for local shops in NS that carry it, including in LaHave, Lunenburg, Annapolis Royal, and Halifax. Also avail online at Chapters and Amazon. (Note: Amazon has a free kindle reader app usable on any tablet if you prefer to buy a digital copy but don't have a kindle.) https://www.salmonwarsbook.com/buy
Visit our Facebook page for links to the Book, for comments and to join the conversation about the book and Stewart's review.