Farmed Salmon Exposed

[marian farrell]

MEDIA ADVISORY – 5th November 2009

The End of the Line for Open Net Cage Salmon Farming?

- New film premieres around the world during next week’s Global Week of Action

A new short documentary produced by Canadian film-maker Damien Gillis lifts the lid on the problems caused by open net cage salmon farms worldwide. “Farmed Salmon Exposed: The Global Reach of the Norwegian Salmon Farming Industry” reveals the pervasive nature of the issues plaguing salmon aquaculture and features testimonials by witnesses discussing the environmental and socio-economic damage caused by poorly managed salmon farms.

The film features ghillie Brian Fraser from Scotland; John Mulcahy from Save The Swilly in Ireland; Orri Vigfusson from the North Atlantic Salmon Fund in Iceland; Alexandra Morton and Dr Daniel Pauly from British Columbia; Dr Matthias Gorny from Oceana in Chile as well as Sven Helge Pedersen, King Harald and Vegard Heggem in Norway.

Premieres will take place in Edinburgh (9th), Dundonnell (10th) and Oban (11th) in Scotland; Dublin (12th) in Ireland; Santiago (11th) in Chile; Washington DC (12th) in the United States; Vancouver (12th) in Canada; and Oslo (13th) and Bergen (16th) in Norway. Further screenings in Orkney, Shetland, Arran, London, Las Vegas, Santa Cruz, Puerto Varas, Ancud and on Vancouver Island are planned later in November.

A 3 minute excerpt is online now:

Damien Gillis, Canadian film-maker: “Norway - land of breathtaking natural beauty, a country with pronounced policies of environmental stewardship. At least that’s how it appears on the surface. Norway is also headquarters of the multi billion dollar global salmon farming industry including the world’s two largest producers of farmed salmon: Cermaq, whose largest shareholder is the Norwegian Government; and Marine Harvest. These firms are leaving a trail of environmental, socio-economic and cultural problems around the world”.

Alexandra Morton, biologist, Raincoast Research (Canada): “Fish farms are killing off wild salmon”.

John Mulcahy, Chairman of Save the Swilly (Ireland): “What gives them the right to destroy livelihoods in countries far away?”

Alex Munoz, Vice President of Oceana Chile (Chile): “Their shareholders should know that their businesses are having a great impact on our Chilean environment”.

Orri Vigfusson, Chairman of the North Atlantic Salmon Fund (Iceland): “It's not sustainable. That is why I would like to see the salmon farms taken out of the sea where they cannot be controlled and put on the coast or the land where they can be controlled”.

Brian Fraser, Scottish ghillie (fishing guide): “How long can we keep raping the seas of these white fish to produce food to produce salmon. I don't think it's sustainable”.

Damien Gillis, Canadian film-maker: “All of these issues have led to an undeniable tipping point and the pressure is now on the industry to either to continue repeating the same mistakes of the past or chart a new course to a more sustainable future”.


From November 9 - 14, campaign partners around the world will participate in the Pure Salmon Campaign’s fourth annual Global Week of Action.

The Pure Salmon Campaign is a global project with partners in Scotland, Ireland, Norway, United States, Canada, Australia and Chile all working to raise standards on salmon farms.

For more information about the Pure Salmon Campaign and the fourth annual Global Week of Action, go to www.puresalmon.org and www.farmedsalmonexposed.org

For more details please contact:

Don Staniford (Global Coordinator for the Pure Salmon Campaign): [e-mail] ([phone] - UK time zone)