Bricknell quoted in BDN article on proposed fish food study
Ian Bricknell, a professor of aquaculture and founding director of the University of Maine’s Aquaculture Research Institute, was quoted in the Bangor Daily News article, “Fish food study floated by salmon farm foes challenged as ‘bad science.’” A national organization that strongly opposes siting a land-based salmon farm in Belfast has released an analysis that argues the way the fish are fed will be inefficient, unsustainable and potentially unhealthy to people and oceans, according to the article. However, Nordic Aquafarms, the Norwegian-based company that would like to build one of the world’s largest indoor salmon farms, has decried the analysis, deeming it misleading, inaccurate and based on bad science, the article states. Bricknell agreed with Nordic Aquafarms, and said he found the analysis to be confusing and misleading. “If it was going to an educated audience, this was dubious at best and should really be disregarded,” he said. “But the problem is it isn’t going to an educated audience. It’s probably going to the public, and it’s one of the ones that’s fueling the misinformation, by taking scientific information, confusing it and saying that everything’s up in the air,” he said. MSN News carried the BDN report.