Salmons are iconic to Canada as one of the most important food resources. They contribute to not only dietary needs but also cultural values. Given the attention paid to salmons as food resources, the government likes to fund research that focuses on salmon production and salmon farming. I have had a conversation with my friend who works in a lab that does research on salmons. She cuts thousands of salmons during the summer for research purposes, and all the leftover parts of the salmons got thrown away. She even satirized that her research only focuses on salmons, and it’s my responsibility as an Environmental Science student to deal with the waste. My point is not to judge the nature of research because I know how research can contribute to a better understanding of the ecosystem. However, I’m hoping that the concept of environmental protection can be integrated into all fields of science as well as our daily life. We can raise public awareness of appreciating natural resources and minimizing unnecessary waste.
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Hi Shirley, this helps me to reflect back to my post about crop waste from agricultural research in Canada. I feel as though there has to be more sustainable ways that these research practices can be performed.
Wow! I had never heard of this issue I'm so glad that you brought it to light. This is definitely something we need to raise awareness of!
Hi Shirley, I have worked with the provincial government for the past 2 summers focusing on lake research and you would not believe the amount of fish I've seen be collected and then put into waste buckets to go to the dump. Although I understand the importance of their research (and they do it in a ecosystem sustainable way) I don't understand why they can't take more efforts to give the fish to those in need of food or to a dog food plant or anything else instead of just getting rid of it.
Hi Shirley,
This is a vey interesting topic and I find that as someone in the life science field, the ethics and impacts of the waste created in research is often on my mind. I think that it is really important that the effort to be more sustainable continues in the lab, and I'd love to learn more ways to implement less wasteful practices in research.
Most of the time, there are ethical constrains that limit how much researchers can actually do to create change. I worked in some academic labs and the amount of plastic that was used on a daily basis just to keep biological cells and organisms alive is just too much. When dealing with live specimens and biological hazards it's not always the case where recycling is possible. There's this growing move into corporate sustainability that doesn't appear to have influenced science and academic research yet.
Hi Shirley, I really appreciated your post as this is just one of many instances that serves as a reminder of where sustainability is a big problem! While I understand that your friend was being satirical, there are definitely people out there that believe that it is not their duty to deal with their waste and that environmental scientists should be the only ones focusing on it :( Hopefully this is where awareness to the problem at hand and calls to action can help.
Hi Shirley, thanks for sharing this story. As a person who works with marine organisms in a research, I do understand the reasons of discarding research specimen is more about contaminations and biohazard prevention. However, your conversation does spark an interesting perspective, is it necessary to dissect thousands of live fish for "research" to understand salmon? Perhaps many indigenous culture already have a deep understanding in salmon ecology since they have been co-existing and managing them for thousands of year. Involving them into the science these researchers wanted to know might have save those fish from being dissected in the lab, and they can fulfill them intended role in nourishing the ecosystem.
Hi Shirley thanks for sharing this conversation! It is sad and even surprised to see that a scientific research lab can generate such a huge amount of waste. I totally agree with your point that we should keep environmental sustainability in mind not just only in daily life but it goes beyond to everything we do.
Maybe there is more need for different kinds of scientists to work together, almost in an interdisciplinary partnership or buddy system. If we had one environmental scientist work with one salmon scientist, then perhaps the important research could be conducted with minimal amounts of waste as they work together. I think involving more people who study a wide array of different things means there are more ideas/approaches to solving problems in different ways.
You bring up such a hard and interesting dilemma here - at what point is research doing more harm than good? What makes something ethically worth researching? And are we researching these species to better serve them, or to better serve us?
Hi Shirley,
Wow! I can't believe how even scientists who are most definitely aware of our global climate crisis aren't considering to make their research more sustainable. Like you said that salmon is such a precious commodity, we shouldn't just be throwing them out just for science. I hope that we can realize this sooner than later until salmon becomes extinct.