Dirty Fish Farms Continue to Pollute -- Tasmania the Latest Catastophe
The latest victim of factory farming seems to be the people and wildlife of Tasmania. I was alerted to the situation by headlines reporting the escape of hundreds of thousands "farmed" Atlantic salmon into the waters off Tasmania. Now an even greater catastrophe is playing out in the sheltered waters of Macquarie and Bathurst Harbours. It's a regular shit show -- literally. Open net fisheries allow waste from the growing salmon to drop to the sea floor, disease, parasites and medications can pollute the surrounding waters and seabed. Oxygen is needed to decompose the waste, and that waste comes from the sea water. The area becomes a "dead zone". Fish simply suffocate here. The Tasmanian setup includes hatcheries which require vast amounts of clean, fresh water. At times water that is diverted to the hatcheries means that farmers go wanting and downstream from the hatcheries, the water may be too contaminated for household use.