Blog Post 3

Environmental Solutions for Salmon Production

One possible way that Salmon fishing can reduce the environmental impacts on a national scale would be the type of diet that is fed to the fish. For example, along Norway’s coast which is one of the worlds largest Salmon producers, off the Hitra Island, “cultivated salmon are fed a diet that is two-thirds plant-derived and one third fish meal and fish oil—a reversal of the previous ratio, in a bid to limit depletion of marine resources.” This information comes from phys.org in an article titled, “Taking the environmental bite out of salmon farming,” written by Celin Serrat.  On a local scale, although Salmon isn’t an export out of Milwaukee or even one of the top meat products purchased here, there still are some ways to reduce the environment impacts associated. For example, smaller grocery stores would carry smaller amounts of Salmon in their inventory because fresh caught Salmon only lasts for a day or two which leaves a lot of room for stores to be throwing away a lot of it if it’s not purchased. There could be even a day out of the week or a few where the store is known to carry Salmon which is better at showing the demand needed for the fish as well as the store cutting costs from their supplier. This would incentives a “get it while you can” push and want for customers to not only cut down on the amount of fish produced and sold but would leave room for other types of fish and meat to be purchased at the market. Having this option would also have buyers possibly try other kinds of fish to alleviate the push for Salmon and diversify the market of types of fish purchased. Although I do understand the providing a good or product everyday in a supermarket is ideal for the store because it allows for individuals to purchase it whenever they please, it should be considered the amount of savings the store would have if they decided to produce less.

Although I do understand with buying fresh fish it needs to be used within a day or two or else it isn’t good anymore, I don’t buy frozen fish because I believe that way people are purchasing more than they need and keeping it for storage. Whenever I personally decide to buy a bag of frozen Salmon it usually sits in my freezer longer than it should and I sometimes don’t end up using it because it doesn't taste the best and ends up going in the garbage. By purchasing just one of two Salmon filets for myself and cooking it the day of it leaves a smaller chance that I won’t use all of it and there won’t be waste involved. In general though, I eat a mostly vegetarian diet with eating fish maybe once a week or even once every other which I believe is the best way to positively impact the environment and produce less waste. The types of food I mainly consume have a less carbon footprint because there aren't as many resources involved with raising and growing the type of food I eat daily. 

Resources used:

https://phys.org/news/2016-09-environmental-salmon-farming.html