Monterey Bay Aquarium should stick to mating guppies

In a world filled with confusing marketing campaigns and mixed messages, the Monterey Bay Aquarium may win first prize for pulling the wool over our fish consuming eyes.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium (MBA) produces a report card on fish – what’s apparently good and bad to eat – called the ‘Seafood Watch’. We are now exposing an important and blatant omission on their report card when it comes to salmon.

They give a ‘best choice’ rating to ‘wild-caught’ salmon from Alaska (more on ‘wild-caught’ in an upcoming blog). Only salmon from Alaska get the green light, salmon from Washington and California state, Canada and Europe don’t get the same courtesy. Yep, only Alaska. So why the apparent sponsorship deal for Alaska and what are they not telling us?

What is Monterey Bay Aquarium hiding?

In their rush to sponsor Alaska salmon, it seems as though the 116 page report on the state of Pacific salmon from Alaska has forgotten to discuss the fact that over 40% of the salmon returning to Alaska rivers are actually hatchery raised in plastic trays, net pen reared, pellet feeding, vaccination receiving little guys (and gals). They also forgot to cite in their report the multiple studies that voice concern over the impact of letting go 1.5 billion extra salmon into the ocean’s basin (called salmon ranching). Why is this important information? Well, these cultured salmon do eat small fish, do poop and do have the balls (well, not literally) to breed with natural wild salmon. But more importantly, what do they have to lose by simply admitting that not all Alaska salmon is wild? Lots. The whole marketing game would be up.

So, why would a respectable organization like Monterey Bay Aquarium lie to us (some call it omissions, we call it a lie)?

The Seafood Watch report card is produced with funds from the Dave and Lucile Packard Foundation. This Foundation spends millions of dollars to promote Alaska salmon. When the funding agency has an agenda, you already know the result. Just one example is the $225,000 granted in 2007 to the Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform (CAAR). According to David Suzuki of the David Suzuki Foundation (one of CAAR’s member groups), competing salmon to Alaska’s salmon are “poison”. Wow, ain’t that scientific Dr. Suzuki? Nothing better to promote yourself than by attacking the competition. 

There will be much more on this subject in the near future.  Stay tuned.