I oppose AquaCon’s plan to build Maryland’s first land-based salmon farm in Cecil County (“After scrapping its salmon farm on the Eastern Shore, company sets sights on Cecil County,” Sept. 5). In partnership with entities including University of Maryland’s Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology, AquaCon will produce more than 10 million fish annually. The plan boasts cutting-edge sustainability initiatives that will extract millions of gallons of freshwater from the Susquehanna River, then dump upwards of 2.3 million gallons a day of treated “purge” water back into the river. The Susquehanna River supplies half of Chesapeake Bay’s fresh water. To appreciate the scale at which the plan will consume this precious resource, consider that the freshwater needed to produce one land-based salmon filet is equal to the amount of freshwater consumed by one person in a whole year.
Raising land-based salmon using Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS) has proven to be far less predictable and profitable than initially projected. Atlantic Sapphire, the largest such operation in the world, lost $56 for every pound of salmon (sold at less than $5 a pound) they produced on their main farm in Florida in 2020. System failures and operational errors resulted in multiple and complete die-offs of its salmon in 2021 and 2022. RAS are highly complex and costly to maintain, requiring constant monitoring of water filtration, oxygenation, and many other factors needed to raise fish on land. When a company experiences pressures on its financial performance, it starts cutting corners on sustainability initiatives.
I am also concerned about how AquaCon will dispose of its waste product beyond selling it as ingredients in nutritional supplements and pet foods, according to its website. The amount of waste that results from salmon farms is considerable.
For example, Chile, which has a population of more than 19 million people, must resolve the daily amount of nitrogen released by its salmon farms, an amount akin to the waste of 9 million people.
I reject the corporate-controlled, industrial model of salmon land farms for these reasons. It prioritizes profit over the ecological health of people and wildlife. AquaCon will be no different.
— Sue Mi Ko, Gaithersburg
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