Industry tactics include bullying and silencing
Four investigative books describe the far-reaching negative impacts of the salmon farming industry
All four books can be borrowed from the Christie Community Library in Stanley
Canada: Not on My Watch by marine biologist Alexandra Morton; 23 March, 2021, Penguin Random House Canada; reference [1]
Tasmania: Toxic: The Rotting Underbelly of the Tasmanian Salmon Industry by award-winning author Richard Flanagan; 26 April, 2021, Penguin Random House, Australia; reference [2]
Norway: The New Fish: The Truth about Farmed Salmon and the Consequences We Can No Longer Ignore by journalists Simen Sætre and Kjetil Østli, 15 October, 2021 as Den Nye Fisken, Spartacus, Norway and 2023 as The New Fish, Patagonia Works; reference [3]
USA: Salmon Wars by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and professional investigator Douglas Frantz & Catherine Collins; 12 July, 2022, Henry Holt and Company, USA; reference [4]
Each book describes…
how regions and communities are affected by industrial open-pen salmon farming
how the salmon industry intimidates citizens, silences scientists and floods all opposition with endless litigation while endangering the environment
how governments around the world continue to fail to meaningfully regulate this industry
how, everywhere it goes, salmon farming in open pens starts small and local, to later be taken over by multi-national investors
Quotes from the books and other sources:
How the salmon farming industry operates worldwide
“The pattern was clear. In each new place, local people were the first to apply for the fish farm tenures, perhaps believing the farms were an opportunity for small coastal communities. When these inexperienced operators inevitably went bankrupt due to fish disease outbreaks, the big companies, generally Norwegian, bought their assets gaining control of the precious tenures. Then the lobbying began. The standard tactics: Insert industry-friendly people at all levels where decisions were being made about the industry. Keep personnel sliding back and forth between industry and government, effectively making government a branch of the industry. Ridicule any scientist who speaks about the negative impact of the industry.”
- Reference [1] pages 64-65
Norway
Writing in The Norwegian Veterinary Journal, a peer-reviewed scientific publication, six Norwegian veterinarians admit they “feel lonely in the fight, precisely because it's too scary to criticise the country's second largest industry.”
These veterinarians know that many colleagues have the same professional concerns about salmon farming, but “who for various reasons find it safest to be anonymous. Critical reflection on the aquaculture industry can have negative consequences for the work situation and future careers.” Reference
Too scary to criticise…
“Salmon farming […] has developed into a large cynical, greedy and sought-after industry with immense power.
“Leading politicians are bought, unpleasant findings are hidden and critical professional voices are bullied into silence. Fish suffer and die on an enormous scale, and our own [Norwegian] coastal environments as well as others in the world are destroyed.”
Quote from a review of the Norwegian book The New Fish by investigative journalists Simen Sætre and Kjetil Østli
Bullied into silence…
“The salmon industry has a poor reputation [in Norway]. The criticism comes not only from activists, but from experts at the Norwegian Veterinary Institute, the Norwegian Food Safety Authority, the National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime in Norway, the Office of the Auditor General of Norway, and from veterinarians who work in the industry.”
“Even so, farmers are making a fortune. Fully armed with lawyers, lobbyists, PR advisers, and industry-financed research, they face the critics.” - Reference [3] pages 331-332
Armed with lawyers…
“One researcher said that critical research and going to the press with your findings could harm your career.” […] “Others talked about careers grinding to a halt and the feeling of being ostracized.” […] “Standing in the way of the salmon dream had a cost, it seemed.” - Reference [3] page 295
Could harm your career…
Iceland
“We sense that people here [in Iceland’s salmon farming regions] are wary. Distrust is common in all aquaculture countries, …” - Reference [3] pages 283-284
“The Icelandic Chefs Association issued a press release with an apology: ‘The Icelandic Chefs Association regrets that Arnarlax [a salmon producer] has been unfairly criticized because of this matter.’ […] Björn Bragi Bragason, the president of the Icelandic Chefs Association, who signed the press release […] won’t say whether the group was threatened with legal actions, just that ‘it was a difficult situation,’ adding that, ‘Arnarlax talked to their lawyers, and we talked to ours, and we found the best solution.’” - Reference [3] page 292
Apologising to the industry…
British Columbia, Canada
“The people we talked to said they felt like they had let a predator into their communities. They were also afraid. No one wanted to speak with us on camera [about salmon farms]; fishermen said if they did, their boats might be damaged.” - Reference [1] page 169
Predator in the community…
“‘Things happen when people speak up about what goes on near salmon farms.’“ - Reference [1] pages 173-174
North America
“We tell the stories of several people who challenged the salmon farming giants and wound up losing their jobs or facing lawsuits.”
Interview with Salmon Wars authors Douglas Frantz & Catherine Collins
Facing lawsuits…
"The more we dug, the more the salmon farming industry began to seem like a combination of Big Tobacco and Big Agribusiness. Just as cigarette manufacturers spent decades discrediting critics and concealing research, Big Fish employs counter-science and public relations campaigns to undermine scientists and environmentalists who challenge its practices and products." - Reference [4] page 5
Undermining scientists…
“Among the challenges was how to govern multinationals, which had expanded beyond the control of any single government.” - Reference [4] page 110
Beyond government control…
“The public pays the price for the damage while the companies and their investors reap the profits.” - Reference [4] page 301
Single-minded pursuits of profits…
“In a single-minded pursuit of profit, the multinational corporations behind salmon farming exploit public resources and ignore public health.”
Interview with Salmon Wars authors Douglas Frantz & Catherine Collins
Tasmania
“When it came to the salmon industry, we found ourselves with no rights as citizens.” - Reference [2] page 7
No rights as citizens…
“When it comes to Tasmanian salmon [farming], money doesn't talk – it silences. The use of contracts to buy the silence of those who feel they have had their lives devastated has proven to be a well-tried and successful tactic by the salmon industry.” - Reference [2] page 130
Silencing critics…
"The industry is very good at silencing its critics and the book details a long history of threats, intimidation and the use of legal ploys such as non-disclosure agreements to silence any criticism escaping." - Richard Flanagan, about his book Toxic.
The authors and the people they describe are not activists in any negative sense. They are active only because they care. More often than not, they speak out at great personal risk. They draw no financial gain from speaking out, they do it only because of what they have already lost.