Not so long ago, I put up an article here on the site in which I briefly discussed some of the problems with aquaculture and farmed fish. In the post, I included a disturbing video, a documentary film to be more specific, that explores the dark side of the seafood industry.
Shortly after I’d put up the post, I remember being notified by a reader that the video had been taken down. He’d found a new copy on YouTube, which he linked to in the comment section. From what I can remember, I looked into the issue and discovered that the video I’d posted wasn’t the only copy of the film that had been removed from the internet. Several others had been taken down as well.
Fast forward to a couple of days ago, and I received the following e-mail from another reader of Darwinian-Medicine.com:
Greetings Eirik,
This documentary “Poisonous Fish: The Big Health Lie” must really be a hot scathing chop to the powerful “Farmed Fishing Industry” in order for YouTube to drop the account it was associated with. So, can you please tell me where I can view it or purchase a copy of it for download, thank you.
Ron
I just checked, and it appears that the video that was posted in the comment section of my earlier post has been removed from YouTube as well. I don’t know that much about YouTube’s policies regarding what’s required to get content removed. I had a quick look at the general policy statements on their website, but I’m not sure what types of practises that they actually adhere to. Nevertheless, the fact that the documentary keeps being taken down leads me to suspect that…
- … it’s publication on streaming services such as YouTube is in violation of copyright laws and/or
- … it contains information that is false and potentially damaging (or at least information that some people claim is hazardous) and/or
- … certain seafood manufacturers or lobbyists are actively trying to prevent information regarding the dark side of aquaculture and farmed fish to be circulated.
I don’t know that much about how the seafood industry operates. I’m sure there’s some shady stuff going on, but I don’t know the specifics. It goes without saying that manufacturers of farmed fish are not seeking bad press, but whether or not they’re actively trying to suppress the truth, which is that there are a number of health concerns associated with the consumption of farmed fish, is less clear.
I did manage to find a copy of the video that’s still accessible though. Whether or not this one stays alive for longer than the previous ones remains to be seen. Here’s the documentary, in case you want to watch it:
From what I can gather online, Kurt Oddekalv – one of the individuals featured in the documentary – has been criticized by some as being a fearmonger. That doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s wrong about aquaculture though, or that it isn’t problematic to eat farmed fish. As shown in the video, he’s far from the only one who’s concerned about the health effects of eating farmed fish.
Personally, I don’t eat farmed fish if I can avoid it. When I was younger, I ate farmed salmon fairly regularly, in large part because seafood manufacturers, via their clever marketing campaigns, had led me to believe that doing so is healthy. No more though. I’ve long recognized that here’s something inherently wrong with the way it tastes. It doesn’t taste the way food is supposed to taste. I’m obviously concerned about its abnormal fatty acid content and profile; however, several other issues associated with the production of fish under unnatural conditions make me uneasy as well, including the potential accumulation of toxins and drug residues.
Part of the reason why I decided to put up this post is that it may help draw attention to these issues and perhaps get someone who knows more about what may be going on with respects to the documentary film and the farmed fish industry to express their views. If you know something, feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section or send me an e-mail.
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