Does the rapid growth of fish lead to production diseases and deformities?
In fact, the fastest growing farmed salmon only reach harvestable size a few months earlier than the fastest growing wild salmon. Research made by Nutreco Aquaculture investigated the occurrence of cataracts and other abnormalities. The incident that raised cataracts as an issue was in 1995, when a number of fish in Ireland and Scotlandwere found to have them. Nutreco Aquaculture research showed that they were caused by wide fluctuations in the water temperature, which led to a doubling of the dietary requirement for a specific amino acid, histidine. 1995 was an unusually hot summer and no one had been aware of this effect before. We should mention that cataracts do occur in the wild salmon population as well. Diet adjustments have been made, increasing the levels of histidine, and cataract occurrence has not been a problem since that time. On the question of abnormalities caused by the rate of growth, no evidence exists for this hypothesis. While abnormalities are sometimes found in f
