Wild and Domestic Salmon

[imatsui]

The relationship between wild and domesticated salmon goes back to a long time ago and it’s more than just choosing which caused the decline of the other. The number of wild salmon in the past used to be abundant that it was able to sustain villages resources and meet the market’s demands. However, as human population increased and the demand for fish also increased, it became hard for the current number of wild salmons to support villages’ needs and market demands– it decreased their population. As a result, humans began domesticating fish in order to help them repopulate for our personal convenience.
Breeding fish has its own benefits and there are many opportunities that became possible because of it. For example, the introduction of Salmo domesticus to Norwegians helped them increase their farmed salmon production to half-million tons in 30 years. Domesticating salmon also increased trade as seen by how Chile became the second largest salmon producing country even though it’s in the equator where it was nonexistent before (44). However, there are also risks that should be considered when domesticating salmon. The purpose of Salmo domesticus was to help the wild Chinook salmon’s population, but these domesticated salmon caused harm too. Gjedrem found that we produce three times more farmed salmon than the harvested number of wild salmons, showing that the former salmon dominates wild salmon. When these farmed salmon escape into the wild, they dominate the area, starving the wild ones.
I believe that using artificial methods is okay if we are helping to maintain the wild population, but if the domesticated ones are taking over the wild ones, then it should be revisited and stopped if needed. I hope that it doesn’t become necessary, so in the first place, we should enforce regulations that protects the wildlife and we can leave them alone. If the population continues to decline, then we should do something.

[khteets]

I like how you state both sides of what farming fish can offer. There are, as you said, a lot of opportunities for farming fish but there are also a lot of risks and problems. I like your opinion on the subject too and I’d like to say I agree with you as well.

[Author]

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