“Aquaculture” and word-spin

Dear Waggoner,

The following is a copy of the email I sent to the Farmed and Dangerous organization (farmedanddangerous.org, very informative). In the grand scheme of things my little pet peeve is meaningless, I know. But please give it just a little bit of thought.

Thanks,
—Scott

P.S. I love the Waggoner! A new one every year!

Dear Farmed and Dangerous,

I just returned from my first visit to the Broughton Archipelago in British Colombia. It was beautiful of course and I was, for the most part able to overlook the logging scars but I was completely unprepared for the fish farms. Again and again I would be coming around another pristine fiord-like bend and instead of seeing a magnificent work of nature I see another fish farm. Where before I had never given them any thought, I began to hate them.

After seeing a “Farmed and Dangerous” sticker on a fishing boat I looked up your website when I returned home and found many other reasons not to like fish farms. One thing I very much resent is the term “aquaculture.” If they were growing eel grass or bull kelp the term would be accurate but they are not. They are farming fish. We say “dairy farm", feed lot, pig farm, cattle ranch, etc., not "terraculture.” If your organization sold bumper stickers that said “It’s Not ‘Aquaculture’—It’s a Fish Farm” I’d buy a few.

Again and again on charts and in cruising guides I’d see the term aquaculture and I’d want them to say Fish Farm. I will be writing to the publisher of Waggoner Cruising Guide Guide and others asking them, in the name of clarity and truth to stop using the propagandic term ‘aquaculture’ and start calling fish farms what they are, fish farms.

Keep up the good work and I will pass along knowledge of your web site whenever the opportunity arises.

Sincerely,
Scott Ritchie
Seattle, W