Worldwide call to remove farmed Atlantic salmon and other carnivorous fish from UN sustainable list

Tasmanian-produced video fronts global campaign: the work of Tasmanian video producer, LOWCO, is featured prominently in a new global campaign to remove farmed Atlantic salmon and other carnivorous fish from the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation's (FAO) definition of "sustainable" aquaculture.

More than 160 NGOs, think tanks and scientists from six continents are making the call on World Ocean Day, June 8.

Tasmanian-based LOWCO producers, Mike Sampey and Kirsten Bacon have produced a short, impactful video, commissioned by the US-based Rauch Foundation, as a key element of the global campaign (view video here) it will be promoted worldwide.

In an open letter and petition to FAO's head of Fisheries, the campaign cites growing evidence of the widespread damage caused by the industry and increasing concerns the FAO is being driven by the industry to downplay its environmental impacts.

NOFF is a signatory to the petition and the open letter to the FAO.

"The fight to halt the destructive practices of open-net fish farming is now strongly global and growing," says Peter George, president of NOFF. "The destructive nature of the Atlantic salmon industry in Tasmania is replicated worldwide and and the myth of 'sustainability' has been well and truly exploded."

LOWCO's 1min 12sec campaign video makes the call: "Let's tell our world leaders to stop this destructive industry."

Mike Sampey and Kirsten Bacon of LOWCO recently worked on the Greek island of Poros to shoot a 36-minute documentary on the local population's fight against multinational fish farms expanding around the island's coast. Their film was launched at the international Seas of Change Summit in Athens in April. See the trailer here.

• More information: Peter George: 0426 150 369 president@noff.au