Monsanto Aiming To Feed GMO Soy To Farmed Fish

David Quilty | 23 July, 2012 | Food & Water

The GMO soy industry, headed by agriculture giant Monsanto, is expanding into aquaculture and its soy will used to feed farm-raised fish meant for human consumption.

A new report from Food & Water Watch and Food & Water Europe states that Monsanto and Cargill are joining forces to cash in on industrial offshore fish farming by using genetically-modified soy as feed. Monsanto has been doing feed trials with its soy products and Cargill has its own aquaculture division. “Factory-Fed Fish: How the Soy Industry is Expanding Into the Sea” takes a look at how soy-based aquaculture will be an environmental nightmare.

“Our seas are not Roundup ready,” said Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food & Water Watch.

Open ocean factory fish farming is often done in overcrowded cages located miles offshore and fish are typically fed fishmeal and oils from smaller fish. That method of farming, even without the addition of GMO soy into the mix, has a profound effect on the oceans and all the life within it. Concentrated fecal matter and uneaten food pollutes the surrounding area, destroys marine life, and can damage coastlines. Throw in genetically-modified soy feed, and the situation gets even worse.

According to the study, fish fed a diet of soy produce more waste than conventionally-fed fish. In addition to the extra waste, GMO feed not eaten by the farmed fish will flow directly into the environment for other marine life to consume, thereby permanently altering their genetics and viability. And if some of the fish were to escape the farm and begin breeding, well – every successive fish born after that will be filled with genetically-modified materials. There will be no going back to non-GMO fish.

Using soy to feed farm-raised fish will also lead to additional deforestation on land as companies struggle to grow more soy to fill demand.

Seafood is one of the last food sources on earth to avoid genetic manipulation by companies looking for ways to profit from our food supply, regardless of any long-term consequences. Let’s hope Monsanto and Cargill aren’t able to access and destroy that, as well.

[via Common Dreams]

Image Credit: IvanWalsh.com/Flickr

http://web.mac.com/deweaver Dallas Weaver

Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food & Water Watch, is continuing her anti-aquaculture fund raising campaign. What she says is pure PR spin supporting her Luddite positions.

The reality is that the world has 3 billion more people on the way, and they want to eat some meat. Unless you postulate a huge increase in agricultural production of soy, corn, etc., there will be a major clash between people’s needs and desires and our abilities to satisfy those desires.

The food conversion efficiency of “feed stuffs” (the things like soy, corn used to feed animals for meat production) into meat in aquaculture is 3 times better than producing pigs and chickens. Fish/shrimp don’t have to waste energy standing up or keeping warm. In addition, they don’t even need as much bone (high meat yield). A production shift from low-efficiency warm-blooded meat sources to fish and shrimp would result in enough “feed stuffs” already being produced on existing acreage to provide the meat for the 3 billion future souls as well as the already present 2 billion people who are getting richer and want better diets.

It’s difficult to avoid concluding that Hauter is simply interested in fund raising and could care less about the future of this planet and the people on this planet who are not among her well-fed band of Luddites.