The Future of Aquaculture: Examples of Ethical Issues Fish Farming and Related Issues Without a doubt the aquaculture industry is going to be effected by many different complex trends over the coming years, all operating together, sometimes in very unexpected ways and producing changes in the industry that may be very rapid indeed.   The ability of the aquaculture industry to foresee and react to these trends and changes is of vital importance to the future development and success of the sector.   Island Bounty understands the mega trends already in place, and is positioned to become the industry leader. The aquaculture industry is at a crucial point. On the one hand wild fish stocks are vulnerable already to overfishing. On the other hand, research papers show quite clearly that red meat eaters can be risking their own health while fish eaters are helping to ensure themselves a long life.  The aquaculture sector has grown substantially over recent years and holds the potential to satisfy the growing demand for fish from both developed and developing markets.   The aquaculture industry also protects wild fish stocks from pressures of overfishing. Food and Energy Consumers Need to Know: The Source of Their Food However, there is a requirement for ever increasing transparency in all aspects of aquaculture production.  Consumers are more interested now that ever in the source of their food. We have all seen the effects that a single camera with 5 minutes of footage from the sea bed beneath ½ million caged fish can have when shown on one program, on one TV network.    An increasingly fussy consumer population is one of the realities the industry will have to face in future.  We are entering a world where, in the past, food was a necessity but also something of a luxury. Food like salmon is a good example of this: 20-30 years ago it was a luxury food but new technology and increasing affluence in the western world means that more people can afford to go up market in their quest for ever better food.  A 75 year old pensioner with no money worries and for whom food is a real pleasure, the source of his food can become very, very important. It may well be that he decides not to eat salmon at all because he has heard that there are pigments and other additives used in production. We can expect to see logic replaced by emotion, science replaced by feeling. There has been ample recent evidence of this in relation to food scares, every consumer worry becomes a regulation and every consumer campaign becomes a new law especially in food.  Even where there are no laws these campaigns can produce a profound shift in the behavior of food manufacturers, take the case with Genetically Modified Organisms or GMOs. In the UK many supermarkets decided to put a voluntary ban on the sale of GM foods even though they were not required to do so by the government, but preferred to run ahead of consumer’s option.  As Swiss banks found with Nazi gold, Shell found with oil rig dumping and Nestle found with baby milk products, these issues can strike hard and their impact can be hard to predict. Ethical Food Products and Clean Energy Ethical food products and clean energy is perhaps the most important aspect of all. Ethics is to do with personal values relating to how we want to live in this world and what kind of world we want to live in.  A topical example is genetically modified plants and animals such as GM modified salmon. With salmon that have been produced that contain human genes and that can grow to four times the size of non-GM salmon in a farm in 12 months, the big question is do people want to eat them? This is an ethical issue and ethics decides what people get stirred up about and how people want to live in a fast changing world. Ethics is very, very important and we are currently seeing a very big shift in people's ethics, e.g., people feel very differently now about what work they do compared to 10 years ago, in other words people’s work/life balance has become very important.  People have become more sensitized to ethical issues than they were 15 years ago, issues like motivation, spirituality are all becoming key issues in large corporations. Where do corporate values come from? The High Morale Ground Retaining and motivating key executives means more than money. Companies need to consider how to inspire and encourage, how to build a sense of family. What is coming next? Where do corporate values come from? The key for Island Bounty is being able to show how our products and services create a better kind of world, not only for individual people and their families, but also for the community and for the whole of humanity.  Those that will be able to say that their product is more 'natural' than their competitors may well win a significant share at the top end of the market. At Island Bounty, we want to keep the environment clean and sustainable; to take the high morale ground; to be better than the best; to be more ethical than ethical; more natural than natural and to go one step further than the consumers are currently demanding.   Finally, we wrap the warm blanket of solar and wind energy around this company, in order to produce clean, sustainable food products.  Contact Island Bounty SA | Global Aquaculture Investments | Aquaculture