|
The HERALD 8th January 2003
VALERIE HANNAH and KEN BANKS
A PLANNED surge in Atlantic cod farming will help offset a plunge in wild stocks from Canada to Norway, the world's top producer of farmed salmon said yesterday.
Nutreco, the Dutch food group, forecast that farmed output of North Atlantic cod could rise to 600,000-700,000 tonnes by 2015, slightly less than current consumption of wild cod, from almost zero in 2002.
Nutreco is the biggest producer of farmed Atlantic salmon, accounting for about 18% of total world output of about one million tonnes.
Reid Hole, Nutreco's director of food safety, said the group aimed to produce about 100,000 tonnes of farmed cod in Norway by 2010 and would start in 2004 with about 3000 tonnes. Other fish like haddock could be candidates for farms, he said.
Cod stocks are at the lowest levels ever recorded in some parts of the north Atlantic, and last month European Union fisheries ministers agreed swingeing cuts in North Sea quotas, angering fishermen who fear bankruptcy.
Scotland's Cod Crusaders - three campaigning wives of fishermen who fear their husband's jobs will be among 40,000 lost because of EU cutbacks - yesterday called for the branding of freshly-caught North Sea fish to highlight its quality, as is done with Scotch beef.
The women called on the Scottish Executive to back their idea, allowing shoppers to support Scots fishermen.
|
