When Loch Duart started the world was a very different place. Our thinking and our aims were very different. Our approach to farming was very different and we had all the enthusiasm, dynamism and impetus of a new organisation. This is not to say that we don’t have many of these things now but salmon farming is so different now. …
Where our Tuna comes from…
More thoughts from Dale Sims, co-founder of CleanFish, California-based distributor of Loch Duart salmon “It feels as if it’s melting in my mouth…” – Eric Asimov writing about maguro sushi in the New York Times As I have often said, the bluefin tuna is the most controversial fish in the ocean. It is a symbol of everything that is wonderful about fish …
It is possible to make a Farmer smile!
Sometimes salmon farming seems to be about how much of a kicking a person can absorb. If it isn’t the weather or some new disease or just plain bad luck, then it will be one of the paid activists trying to disrupt our production or our market. I have ignored the effect of government as I don’t want to start …
Suffering from ‘Same ol’ Show Syndrome’? Don’t tell the Head Buyer from Delhaize!
Last week we moved away ‘from the water’s edge’. We were in Brussels, quite far from the sea, witnessing where the world’s wonderful seafood is promoted, sold and bought. For three days each spring I walk the corridors of five halls. Each hall is 50% bigger than a football pitch. Welcome to the European Seafood Exposition, fondly known as the …
Spring has sprung
“April is the cruellest month, breeding lilacs out of dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain.” — from T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land I may not avow the cruelty of April. But, it certainly unfolds in ways that tease, confound and befuddle, particularly in northern climates. There are warm, sunny days offering a taste of spring and a glimpse of the coming summer. …
Where in the world am I now?
I have been on the road for a while now – although in the air would be more accurate. It is an odd thing to spend so much time away from home. Though you are on a wonderful continent, Africa, you still miss the comforts of home. Rachel, my wife, and I have tacked on a holiday to a business …
“Salmon in California – a Swimming Contradiction”
“He’s a walking contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction” – The Pilgrim, by Kris Kristofferson In the USA, the first day of Spring is 20th March. Easter comes early this year, on 31stMarch, immediately followed by April Fool’s Day and, before you know it, California’s wild salmon season will be upon us. Gosh! I love our Pacific salmon. For several years we …
Ending the confusion about salmon and sea lice?
As an interested observer and admittedly firmly on the side of aquaculture and salmon farming in particular, I’ve always been puzzled by the sea lice argument. Opponents of salmon farming blame salmon farms for producing the sea lice that infect and kill wild fish. They claim this is a major cause of the decline in wild stocks. The first part …
What can we learn from Horsebeef?
The horsebeef scandal has been instructive in many ways. Firstly, it shows us how far sectors of our food industry have fallen in the search for ‘cheap food’ and, with child obesity and type 2 diabetes rampant, it is a sharp reminder of the implications for us and our loved ones. Secondly, it has highlighted imperfections in the food chain. …
How would you like your fish, madam?
Choice – lots of choice. That’s what we are used to in the modern world but it wasn’t always like that and choice has two bedfellows – complexity, often accompanied by stress, and risk (of making the wrong decision). Only trial, error and experience can help you. This is how they have helped me. Choice of species More fish are …