An interesting essay. I have personal knowledge of mussel growing, or to be more precise shellfish growing, from here in Scotland - we have a lot of fish and shellfish farms. With these farms there are a couple of particular problems that require regulation. Chemical dosing is one - chemicals can be dumped in the farms to treat parasites for example. Chemicals not abosrbed by the farm can go on to kill everything else in the seabed around the farms - treatments for sealice in salmon farms is a good example. Another example that is particularly applicable to shellfish is water borne pollution with e-coli from animal/human waste sources, and or toxic algae. In both of these cases, if a shellfish farm is situated in an area which high concentrations of these pollutants, then it can be a major issue, as the shellfish filter and retain theses contaminants, which then get into the human food chain, and can be completely lethal. In the UK, shellfish also have to be tested regularly for those exact reasons, and surveys are also undertaken in the shellfish growing areas for contaminants to stop infected shellfish being eaten. In these cases the regulation is there for a good reason - to protect public health. And I agree very strongly with that, even if the shellfish producers dont. So regulation is also a good thing - and I guess its about having a balance of having the right regulation in place.
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