Sustainability

[Ron Sheldon]

Sustainability to me follows Solow’s definition for a bit but then diverges. I can follow along with him as he discusses investing in the future and the fact, we don’t know what or great grandchildren will be capable of. However, I disagree that using up an entire resource as long as there is a substitute is morally sound. From an economics perspective his argument makes sense but from a human perspective it is flawed in my opinion.
If we were talking about sustainability of food in general, then it could be argued that as long as there was a substitute food source then food in general is sustainable. As your scope narrows it gets much more difficult. As with anything the more you narrow down your topic then the more things must be addressed.
Although probably a very unpopular opinion I think farmed salmon are sustaining wild salmon. Farmed salmon has taken a major burden off of wild salmon stocks. Please be patient with me as I break out some of my economics class on pacific salmon. To an economist if the supply of salmon went down then the price would increase, and people would turn to a substitute good. This would then eliminate the shortage of pacific salmon and the price would reach an equilibrium. Current sustainable harvest levels say that we will harvest enough to make sure that an adequate amount remains to replenish the supply. This is accomplished through quotas and limited entry fisheries. This limited harvest creates the shortage in the market driving people to seek the substitute good which in this case is farmed fish. Since most people don’t know the difference between farmed and wild salmon, they enjoy the low cost of the substitute fish. This in turn lessens the pressure on wild salmon much to the dismay of the salmon fisherman who would like to catch more but they are limited by the quotas but more importantly the market demand. Yes, the market demand. Remember those people who don’t know the difference? They think salmon is salmon so the price in the wild market ends up getting pulled down as it gets generalized with the farmed salmon market. This causes a shift in the supply and demand curves because the fisherman can’t afford to fish for the lower

[Kyleigh McArthur]

I agree with you, I believe farmed salmon are a sustaining wild salmon. Some people simply like the taste of salmon and don’t necessarily care where it was raised. It seems that farmed salmon, and AquaAdvantage are a good substitute for wild salmon therefore sustaining salmon.

[peepple]

I do believe that the wild salmon need this much deserved break, and the farmed and AquAdvantage salmon are breed/engineered for this exact purpose. If we are to look for a future where these animals still exists, and are also thriving, we must give ease the pressure that has been growing with the growth of the global population.

[imatsui]

I liked how you brought economics perspective to understand sustainability. Like you said, a lot of people maybe including me, enjoy the cheaper price of substitute fish and that decrease the pressure on wild salmons. But at the same time, the bland of wild salmon increase and I feel like rareness still attract a lot of people. Eel is one example. Japanese eel are endangered species because of over hunt and the price keep increasing every year. Most people can’t get it for daily meal but instead they eat eel from other places. Now Japanese eel is high bland and super expensive but people don’t mind paying a lot of money to taste the “real” one.

[jltusten]

I definitely agree with your thoughts on sustainability and the future generations, as well as the flaw in Solow’s idea. I didn’t write my post in a way that agrees with what you’ve said about the salmon, but I do think your argument is more logical than mine.

[jdkelly6]

I had not considered how farmed salmon could take so much pressure off of wild salmon stock and you did a very good job of explaining how it would do that. It makes sense economically that the farmed fish would push people to stop eating wild salmon as much and help create much less of a demand for it.

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