The Toxic Truth

The Fin-fish or offshore aquaculture industry is a global behemoth, producing around 50% of the global seafood supply for human consumption, predominately Atlantic salmon. The companies involved are billion dollar entities with huge political influence. These companies believe in exponential growth and infinite profit growth.

This 'business first' philosophy is coming at the cost of coastal environments and communities around the globe. From Norway and Scotland to Chile and Australia, communities are watching their local bays and estuaries become befouled with weed and jellyfish species fed by hugely elevated nutrient levels, caused by fish faeces. Endemic fish species are in decline, water quality is suffering and the locals are distraught their piece of paradise is being sacrificed to corporate profits.

This film, hosted by British television personality Miriam Margolyes spells out just how toxic mass produced protein, in the form of Atlantic salmon, is as a food stuff. Toxic for human consumption, toxic for the marine environment and toxic for the community.

This next film, 'Paradise Lost' by Justin Kurzel and Connor Castles Lynch highlights these problems in the context of the small coastal communities of Tasmania in Australia - a story repeated in hundreds of communities around the world.

The book, 'Toxic' written by Man Booker Prize winning author, Richard Flanagan outlines in forensic detail the problems with farmed Atlantic salmon.

As the publisher says: “Flanagan busts open an industry that is as secretive as its practices are destructive and disturbing. If you care about what you eat, if you care about the environment, this is a book you need to read. Toxic is set to become a landmark book of the twenty-first century.”

To find out more about the fin-fish dilemma in Tasmania there are a number of organisations platformed by EarthMob, pushing back against an expanding industry.

Tasmanian Alliance for Marine Protection (TAMP)

Neighbours of Fish Farming

Bob Brown Foundation

This guide to sustainable seafood, although not comprehensive, provides a user friendly way of targeting which seafood stacks up and which seafood is best avoided. The guide is produced by the Australian Marine Conservation Society.