Produced by Patagonia, ‘Artifishal’ is a film addressing wild fish, wild rivers and habitat destruction as a result of fish hatcheries and fish farms.
The film traces the impact of fish hatcheries and fish farms, an industry that hinders wild fish recovery, pollutes rivers and ‘contributes to the problem it claims to solve’. Artifishal also dives beneath the surface of the controversy, as citizens work to stop the damage done to public waters and our remaining wild salmon and sea trout.
“Humans have always thought of themselves as superior to nature and it’s got us into a lot of trouble. We think we can control nature; we can’t,” notes Yvon Chouinard, Patagonia founder. “If we value wild salmon, we need to do something now. A life without wild nature and a life without these great, iconic species is an impoverished life.”
Open net fish farms are a key contributor to the dramatic decline of wild Atlantic Salmon and the industry is set to expand exponentially in the fjords of Iceland and continues to grow around Norway, Scotland and Ireland. These massive open net pens allow the free flow of disease and pollution into the surrounding environment inhabited by wild salmon and sea trout.
In the last 40 years, the population of Atlantic Salmon has dropped from ten million to three million.
Patagonia hopes to highlight the work of local NGO’s fighting the cause – the North Atlantic Salmon Fund Iceland, the Norwegian Wild Salmon Alliance, Salmon and Trout Conservation Scotland and Salmon Watch Ireland. Together they have launched a petition to call for national bans on new open net salmon farms and the phasing out of existing ones to bring a halt to the devastation of wild fish and the surrounding ecosystems.
For film screening dates, more information on the campaign and to sign the petition head to eu.patagonia.com/artifishal
