PETA and Seaspiracy producer bid to block US aquaculture progress
Kip Anderson, the producer of discredited documentary Seaspiracy, and animal rights charity PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) have called on US President Joe Biden to reverse predecessor Donald Trump’s Executive Order designed to promote fishing and aquaculture.
PETA said Biden had reversed many of Trump’s decisions that jeopardised wildlife and the environment and claimed Executive Order 13921 – which aimed to remove much of the red tape strangling the development of fish farming in the US – did the same.
In a letter to Biden, PETA president Ingrid Newkirk and Anderson repeat many of the questionable allegations made in Seaspiracy, the Netflix documentary which has drawn widespread criticism for the use of out-dated information.
These include claims that farmed fish live in cramped, unsafe conditions, are typically fed an unnatural diet as well as dyes and unnatural supplements and are often slaughtered in a cruel way.
Claim removed
Earlier this month, Netflix ordered Seaspiracy’s makers to remove a claim that it takes 5-20kg of forage fish to make 1kg of salmon, both on their website and in the movie, following complaints from feed manufacturer BioMar. In fact, salmon farming is now a net producer of fish.
One of the film’s central claims, that the oceans will be empty of fish by 2048, was also debunked.
Although Biden has reversed some of Trump’s Executive Orders, his concern for the environment means fish farming, which has the lowest carbon footprint of any animal protein, has a strong argument in its favour.
Lobby group Stronger America Through Seafood (SATS) has previously urged the President to prioritise domestic seafood production through aquaculture as part of his administration’s oceans and climate policies.
