Seabirds harmed by open-pen salmon farms
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● "[Salmon farming giant] Mowi seeks permission to shoot more cormorants, because they are attacking the fish at Aukan in Averøy municipality [Norway]."
● “The Tasmanian government approved the shooting of dozens of cormorants after substandard netting allowed hundreds of the birds to enter fish cages at a salmon farm near Hobart.”
“Right to Information documents released to Tasmanian Inquirer revealed that an estimated 641 cormorants entered fish cages at the Sheppards salmon lease near Coningham in November and December 2023.”
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“Little is known [in British Columbia, Canada] about the impact factory fish farms have on birds, though the industry is known to use nets in an attempt to keep avian predators out. Because people have documented bird deaths with photographs, we know death and injuries do occur but because the farms are not required under their conditions of licence to report avian deaths, the true toll is unclear.”
Fish Farms Kill: The long history and heavy toll salmon farms have had on fish and wildlife
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“The potential negative effects of salmon farming on seabirds includes entanglement, habitat exclusion and displacement from feeding grounds, disturbance and changes to the food web, disturbance of breeding colonies and birds’ feeding, blockage of the digestive tract following ingestion of foreign objects, injury or death following collision with farm structures and the spread of pathogens or pest species. The location of the farm within the range of seabirds and the conservation status (which is a measure of the risk of extinction) of those seabird species are the main factors that may lead to issues of sustainability and conservation concern.”
Environment Tasmania (2020). A Fresh Approach: Tasmanian Salmon Consumer Guide
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“The study showed underwater blasts [used to deter seals] can also kill and injure seabirds such as penguins. And there may be implications from leaving penguin nests unattended and vulnerable to predators, and leaving chicks hungry longer.”