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Halifax restaurant owner wouldn't feed farmed salmon to her dog


CHRONICLE HERALD PHOTO

Public "suckered" about farmed salmon?
Responding to a recent letter in the Chronicle Herald from self-proclaimed salmon farming expert and academic Jon Grant, Halifax restaurant owner and "clean food" specialist Lil MacPherson said that consumers have been "suckered" about the health effects of farmed salmon and that she not only refuses to serve that salmon to the thousands of loyal customersd who frequent her two popular Wooden Monkey eateries, but she would not feed it to her dog.

Grant, who in some circles is called a "pimp" for corporate salmon farming interests, penned a recent Herald piece which extolled the virtues of open net pen salmon farming, which has been challenged in recent years in every country in which it is practiced as unsustainable and damaging to marine ecosystems.

McPherson writes that, after doing a lot of her own research on farmed Atlantic salmon, her conclusion was "not to feed farmed salmon to my dog, let alone my customers."

"And yes, I have read enough to realize the only thing Cooke Aquaculture is trying to sustain is its profits," MacPherson writes. "There is nothing good nor healthy about this practice, and we have been suckered."

She says Nova Scotians are "paying a heavy price in the millions of dollars while polluting and putting at risk our beautiful shores, without care for all the employment that depends on us keeping our oceans pristine."
 
MacPherson says she truly believes that if people "really did your homework," they might say “no, thank you” to your next piece of farmed salmon.
 
She also expressed concern that "hard-earned tax dollars" given to Cooke Aquaculture ($25 million in loans and grants in recent years) could be used in coastal communities to work on "bringing our once world-class fresh Atlantic salmon back."
 
"I’d bet the bank that would create real, sustainable jobs," she added.
 
Following Grants pro-fish farming piece, the Herald ran a full page "environment" section, which was dominated by advertising and "advertorial" material supplied by the Aquaculture Association of Nova Scotia, a lobbying group for the industry. 

 

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