Boycott Farmed Salmon Campaign Welcomes Slow Food International Support

Press Release - Thursday 18 December 2014 - Friends Of The Irish Environment

The Environmental groups which support the ‘Boycott Farmed Salmon campaign at Christmas’ have welcomed Slow Food international’s declaration of its opposition to intensive open pen fish farms.

‘Give a Gift to the Environment – Boycott Farmed Salmon’, was launched in 2012 and last year picketed the Irish Good Food Ireland Awards, where farmed salmon featured on the evening menu.

Friends of the Irish Environment, who coordinate the campaign in Ireland, have welcomed Slow Food’s unequivocal statement. Piero Sardo the President of the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity confirmed that ‘Slow Food does not consider open net pen fish farms an environmentally sound practice’.

Slow Food is a global, grassroots organization with supporters in 150 countries around the world who are ‘linking the pleasure of good food with a commitment to their community and the environment.’

The Slow Food statement says that: "Open net pen aquaculture is not a solution to the problem of overfishing: It damages natural ecosystems on a local and a global level, including wild stocks, habitats and water quality. Feeding carnivorous salmon in farms means other wild species must also be harvested, resulting in a larger carbon footprint - since the fish feed must be fished, processed and transported".

In Ireland, Slow Food counts amongst it members Bridgestone’s Sally McKenna and that icon of Irish sustainable food, Darina Allen. ‘To have the support of these top names in Ireland in our campaign to bring about sustainable aquaculture is a real boost’, said a spokesman for FIE.

FIE claims that it is not only the loss of wild fish to make food for salmon farms, but the transmission of diseases and parasites to wild fish and the escapes from the cages, such as this years loss of 222,000 salmon in Bantry Bay. ‘Escapees dilute the genetic integrity of our wild stocks and out compete native fish, inflating river counts, leading to claims that our salmon stocks are healthy’, the group claims.

At the original launch of the campaign, IFA Aquaculture Executive Richie Flynn called the campaign ‘reckless posturing’, claiming the campaign ‘was an ill-thought out and malicious protest, an act of sabotage against marine communities’.

‘We are simply asking people to forgo one of their favorite Christmas fare to support the call to protect our wild salmon and its waters,’ said Friends of the Irish Environment.

The campaign website www.wildfish.ie provides free stickers and posters for supporters to use to spread the message.

Slow Food Statement:
http://www.slowfood.com/slowfish/pagine/eng/news/dettag...n=119

Tony Lowes 353 (0)27 74771 / 353 (0)87 2176316

Friends of the Irish Environment is a non-profit company limited by guarantee registered in Ireland.
It is a member of the European Environmental Bureau and the Irish Environmental Network.
Registered Office: Kilcatherine, Eyeries, Co Cork, Ireland. Company No. 326985.
Tel & Fax: 353 (0)27 74771 Email: admin@friendsoftheirishenvironment.org