A load of cods?
Norway’s Institute of Marine Research is highly critical of cod farming but its views are not backed by evidence, argues Dr Martin Jaffa.
A row is brewing in Norway over farmed cod. On one side is the new cod farming sector and on the other side are the northern representatives of the fishing industry. However, the real villains of this row are actually the scientists at the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research (IMR). Having used dubious science to malign salmon farmers, they are now adopting a similar approach to undermine Norway’s cod farmers.
An article appeared in a Norwegian newspaper in June that suggested that there has never been a better time to farm cod. This was the view of a Norwegian cod farming company, and the reason is because Norwegian and Russian scientists are asking for a cut of 31% in the cod quota for next year. It is expected prices will skyrocket on already high demand and boost the earnings of those farming cod in Norway.
The northern section of the fishing industry is unhappy that what is still a small cod farming industry could benefit against a background of a vulnerable cod population and a fishing fleet already on its knees.
Yet, a cut in the quota might mean smaller catches but prices could be much higher so it’s not all potentially bad news for catch fishing. The sad truth, however, is that if the fish are simply not there to catch, the fishing industry cannot catch them.
The fishing sector believes that what cod is available could be at risk from farmed cod, not just as competition in the market but also in the sea. Salmon farmers will be not just familiar with, but also sick of hearing, the same misleading nonsense that the scientists from IMR and others spout about the so-called negative impacts of aquaculture on wild fish.
Employee at cod farmer Norcod
The alleged environmental risks of cod farming have been widely reported. IMR has rarely been as clear in its warnings as when describing the environmental risk of cod farming, and it says it has determined that cod farming can pose a real risk to wild cod stocks.
The greatest threat comes from escapes because the escape of farmed cod or the spawning of farmed cod in the pens can change the wild cod’s genetics and biological characteristics. IMR says that if this change occurs it is largely irreversible, and this will have the potential for adverse genetic influence on wild cod from farmed cod stocks.
It also says that the impact of genetic changes to wild cod is significantly greater than between farmed and wild salmon. The fishing industry representatives fear that farmed cod will eradicate coastal cod or replace it with a genetic hybrid.
One has to wonder how an imaginary threat perceived by some salmon anglers as a way of blaming salmon farming for decline in wild salmon numbers has so easily transferred to another sector of the aquaculture industry. In my opinion, it is the fault of scientists who have little understanding of aquaculture but see significant opportunities to benefit from long-term research projects.
Misunderstood genetics
The subject of genetic introgression arose because anglers wrongly believe that the fish they hunt in their river are genetically different from salmon in other rivers. This is despite the results of the £1m FASMOP (Focusing Atlantic Salmon Management on Populations) project in 2012 finding no genetic differences.
Anglers also appear to believe that farmed salmon are genetically different from their wild counterparts. Yet, there is not a shred of evidence that escaped salmon have been responsible for the decline in wild fish numbers. That, however, is no reason why science cannot be used to encourage a “good” story against cod farming.
This has meant that the alleged narrative about the genetic differences between wild salmon in different rivers is now extended to farmed cod, especially now that stocks of wild cod are so low. It’s a puzzle how the scientists promoting the threat from farmed fish never seem to have heard of Darwinian evolution or the survival of the fittest. They also seem unaware that cod farming is a very recent development, beginning within the last 20 years. The original pioneers of farmed cod failed to make it work, so the companies operating now have only been in production for a handful of years.
Cod farmer Ode
How different can the genetics of the fish really be in that short time?
In addition to escapes, IMR is also worried about transmission of disease, and surely it will not be long before the Institute starts to suggest that external parasites are also considered a threat.
The cod farming sector says that portraying it as the source of the problem facing the wild fish sector is an undignified and cowardly abdication of responsibility. They say that fishermen, researchers and the authorities must accept their rightful responsibility for the fact that stocks are currently weak, and it is up to them to improve the situation instead of blaming others.
The reality is that, for several years, more cod has been fished that the science it suggests it should have been. It is not just coastal cod, but also north-east Arctic cod that have been subjected to systematic and deliberate overfishing.
The threat of reduced quotas and the potential loss of environmental certifications has prompted this attack on the farming sector. It does not help that IMR is stoking the fire against the aquaculture sector with its misinformed science. It seems that it doesn’t matter what species its scientists “research”; it is only interested in maintaining a steady income of research funding rather than actually trying to understand why Norwegian coastal cod is now so threatened.
Of course, the story sounds so familiar to those engaged in farming salmon. The row between those representing wild and farmed salmon continues after over 30 years of similar scientific misrepresentation. Hopefully, the row over farmed cod can be resolved more quickly, but it is unlikely that the scientific community will be the ones to do so.
