Source: SAFE For Animals
SAFE is calling for urgent action to protect vulnerable farmed salmon, ahead of what NIWA has predicted to be a “significant” marine heatwave this summer.
Marine heatwaves can have a devastating impact on marine ecosystems and animals. Without urgent action, millions of intensively farmed salmon across the country will suffer, and hundreds of thousands are expected to die.
SAFE Campaigns Manager Anna de Roo said with the scale of the impending problem, the Government must urgently action a ban on fish farming in New Zealand.
“Salmon are sentient animals, as capable of feeling pain as pigs, cows, or any other animals. They are recognised under the Animal Welfare Act and are owed protection.”
In the last marine heatwave, New Zealand King Salmon, Aotearoa’s largest salmon producer, made 160 trips to the landfill to dump 1,269 tonnes of dead salmon. The company is predicting a mortality rate of 38.8% over the next financial year.
“It’s barbaric to allow hundreds of thousands of animals to die of heat stress. Farmed salmon, who would in the wild migrate thousands of kilometres, are trapped in sea cages. They have no way to get themselves to cooler water and safety.”
“If cows or pigs were experiencing preventable mortality rates this high, there would be prosecutions. The government must protect salmon’s legal rights and bans fish factory farming – as Argentina did last year.
If not, we’re facing an animal welfare disaster on an incomprehensible scale – especially as climate change worsens conditions for farmed fish,” said de Roo.
SAFE is Aotearoa’s leading animal rights organisation.
We’re creating a future that ensures the rights of animals are respected. Our core work empowers society to make kinder choices for ourselves, animals and our planet.
Notes for editors:
Salmon farms consist of multiple underwater sea cages. These cages can vary in size, but a 30m x 40m cage that’s 15 meters deep can hold about 30,000 fishes. Stocking density is typically 25kg of biomass per 1 cubic metre of water, which would equate to a bathtub of water for each salmon.
