National Geographic, with its familiar yellow border and unforgettable photography, is an American icon. Millions around the world count on the magazine for its reports on global cultures and the natural world. But those same readers might also be learning about another great American institution: "objective" journalism that lacks the courage to tell the truth.This summer, the magazine's editors took the easy way out on the topic of salmon farming. The cover of the July issue promised an exposé on "Disappearing Salmon," but the 24-page feature failed to deliver the guilty verdict laid out by most independent scientists.
To be fair, the article does report some dire predictions. "Aquaculture is the single most serious threat to the survival of [wild] Atlantic salmon," says Donal C. O'Brien, chairman of the Atlantic Salmon Federation. "Unless it is brought under control, it will one day bring about the extinction of the species."
But how heavily does the evidence weigh against salmon farming? The article's author, Fen Montaigne, prefers to sit on the fence on every point from species extinction to the use of wild fish stocks to feed penned salmon. "Critics say it takes four pounds of fish rendered into food pellets to produce a pound of farmed salmon. Industry experts counter that it takes less feed to produce a pound of salmon than a pound of poultry or pork." In the tit-for-tat between the "critics" and "experts," the essential point disappears: salmon farming is a net-loss industry, consuming more pounds of wild fish than it produces in farmed salmon fillets.
Writing about sea lice, the parasite that plagues the industry, Montaigne points out that "studies indicate that sea lice outbreaks at fish farms can have devastating effects on wild salmon and sea trout." But he quickly softens the blow: "Aquaculture companies are now working to solve the sea lice problem." The article never mentions that sea-lice infestations and outbreaks of disease lead to the heavy application of antibiotics, fungicides and pesticides - in fact, according to independent research commissioned by the David Suzuki Foundation in Canada, farmed salmon contain more antibiotics per pound than any other kind of domestic livestock. Neither does Montaigne disclose that many of these chemicals trickle down into the surrounding marine environment. National Geographic readers might be interested to know, for example, that Ivermectin, Cypermethrin and Azamethiphos, three commonly used pesticides, have been found in the waters surrounding fish farms in concentrations lethal to other types of marine life. In Canada, government watchdogs have banned all shellfish harvesting within 300 meters of a salmon farm due to concerns about pollutants ranging from pesticides to sewage to heavy metals.
Montaigne also fails to blame aquaculture companies for other industry problems, including escaped farm fish that out-compete wild stocks. And, of course, the magazine is too polite to mention that incidents of vandalism and sabotage are on the rise in areas where aquaculture threatens other coastal livelihoods.
Because in mainstream American journalism, the future is always a hopeful one. In the article's final scene, Montaigne is fishing on the St. Jean River in Quebec, where he effortlessly reels in a 30-pound female Atlantic salmon swollen with 10,000 eggs. Ah, the eternal cycles of nature. Consider yourself free to close the cover and guiltlessly light the barbeque. Farmed salmon steaks are only the modern bounty of the sea.
Kevin Arnold
Reprinted with permission from Adbusters magazine, Nov/Dec 2003, No. 50.
