Sun, Sea and Suspicious Fish Farms – contrasting impressions from two oceans conferences

Two locations, five days and an unquantifiable number of meaningful conversations — the Feedback team has just returned from Greece where we attended the Our Oceans conference in Athens and the Seas of Change Summit on Industrial Fish Farming in Poros, a small island in the Saronic Gulf fighting plans to install sea bass farms along a quarter of its stunning coastline.

On the surface of it both events set out with the same objectives: to bring together the global community to discuss and address the challenges that face our oceans, ranging from climate change to overfishing and environmental degradation. However, after diving into both events, we’ve resurfaced with very contrasting impressions.

Our Oceans

The Our Ocean Conference (OOC) was first launched under the initiative of the U.S. Department of State and the Secretary of State John Kerry in 2014. This year was the 9th Our Ocean conference hosted in Athens, Greece. The theme for this year’s conference was ‘An Ocean of Potential’, claiming the conference ‘presents an opportunity for all stakeholders to join forces in delivering accelerated, transformative action.’

Governments and international bodies uncritically back the expansion of (industrial) aquaculture 

We were shocked by the uncritical embrace of aquaculture on display at the Our Ocean conference, despite the sector’s many well-documented social and environmental impacts.  

Our recent Blue Empire report details how Norwegian salmon farms are depleting our seas as a result of farmed salmon’s voracious appetite for wild fish, depriving millions in the Global South of vital nutrients. But when we attended a side event on food security and blue foods (the only event specifically addressing fish farming), all we heard from the panellists was a headlong enthusiasm for the growth of aquaculture worldwide, without offering any critical perspectives.  

From the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) representative to the Norwegian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, there was a complete lack of nuance or consideration of the damage intensive fish farming is wreaking to wild fish populations, the environment and people’s livelihoods in some of our most vulnerable communities. 

Climate justice needs to be central

Despite various events centring voices from those most affected by the climate crisis, we found that climate justice was deprived of the centre stage it deserves. 

Events that offered climate justice perspectives tended to be hosted at either lunch time or at the end of the day with the result that they attracted smaller audiences than others. For example, a plenary of the with Heads of State and Government of small island states, which are facing a truly existential threat as a result of climate change, was scheduled as the last event of the day, meaning it was poorly attended. The audience for the most important event of the day dwindled to a handful of people by the end of the session. Climate justice needs to be at the heart of every discussion on climate.  

Seas of Change

The Seas of Change summit in Poros, Greece was the highlight of our trip, bringing together communities, political representatives, scientists and NGOs from across the world, ranging from Greece and Spain to far-flung Argentina and Tasmania. The aim of the event was to discuss the growing threat of industrial carnivorous fish farming on our shores, in particular in the EU.

Industrial fish farming is increasingly dominated by multi-billion-dollar corporations 

Globally, large multinational corporations are aggressively driving the charge on the expansion of fish farming. From Avramar in Europe; MOWI in Norway, Scotland and Chile; JBS in Tasmania, the expansion of destructive fish farming shows no signs of slowing down. Across the world, corporations are taking advantage of the ocean, which is supposed to be a global public good, demonstrating their ruthless pursuit of profit at the expense of communities and the environment.  

Despite challenges from communities on the negative local environmental and economic impacts, the companies, backed by huge financing from banks and in the form of public subsidies, continue to push for rapid growth, whilst presenting their industry as the solution to feeding the world.  

The movement against destructive fish farming is global and growing

As the industry has expanded worldwide, affecting people at every stage of the supply chain, destructive fish farming has become a global issue. Given how destructive the industry is, it is no surprise that campaigning against intensive fish farming is also going global, uniting communities worldwide around a common cause.  

We were lucky enough to meet people actively resisting destructive fish farming around the world, from Argentina, Tasmania, Norway, US, Spain and the UK. The diversity of the movement was reflected in the diversity of tactics used in campaigns. We saw examples of documentaries, art installations, demonstrations, petitions, academic research, legal action, surveys and lobbying. As corporates are growing, the resistance movement is growing in strength too. 

We were particularly inspired by the local organisations in Argentina, now known as the Global Salmon Farming Resistance (GSFR), who successfully campaigned for industrial salmon farming to be banned. Their story demonstrated the power of persistent campaigning.  

With public awareness rising on the negative impacts of fish farming and the growing global momentum, we can remain ‘stubbornly optimistic’ that we will continue to see even more examples of successful campaigns. 

This was the first time the summit had taken place, but participants collectively brought decades of expertise and experience to the table, leaving us feeling energised and ready to embark on the next stage of our work together as a movement.