The Fish Site
March 30, 2009

British Columbia Fisheries critic, NDP MLA Robin Austin tables Letter addressed to Federal Minister of Fisheries and Premier Campbell demanding Fisheries Act be applied to salmon "farms." 

The letter, written by biologist Alexandra Morton, was signed by 9,758 citizens in less than one month. The letter states: "Wild salmon are the backbone of the BC Coast. On February 9, 2009 BC Supreme Court ruled that salmon farms are a fishery and a federal responsibility. The science is in. The feedlot fishery is damaging wild salmon stocks worldwide (Ford and Myers 2008). Fraser sockeye and all southcoast BC salmon and steelhead are now at risk as a result of the Provincial policy of allowing the feedlot fishery to use Canada's most valuable wild salmon habitat. 

"We the undersigned demand that Fisheries and Oceans Canada apply the Fisheries Act to this industry and immediately. 

To read the full story see The Fish Site

Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform (CAAR)
March 23, 2009
Press Release

Vancouver, BC - Genetic analyses have confirmed the predominance of Fraser River populations in samples of juvenile sockeye salmon caught near salmon farms in northern Georgia Strait.

Fraser sockeye populations include the world famous Adams River and highly threatened Cultus Lake salmon. 

For full press release see CAAR webpage.

For video see Fraser Sockeye Lice Infestation (Calling from the Coast)

See the independent scientific report - Sea Louse Infestation in Wild Juvenile Salmon and Pacific Herring Associated with Fish Farms off the East-Central Coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia  

For a related stories see:

The Georgia Strait Alliance

The Courier Islander

Mark Hume
March 23, 2009
The Globe and Mail

VANCOUVER -- The form letter that Premier Gordon Campbell and federal Fisheries Minister Gail Shea keep ignoring is just getting longer.

In circulation for only a few weeks, it already has nearly 5,000 signatories, and more names are being added daily as it circulates on the Web.

When it first went to the politicians, 500 names were affixed. It was ignored, so it went back into circulation and soon was resubmitted with 2,000 names, then with 4,000. It's making the rounds again this week, and is still growing.

Read the full story in The Globe and Mail

Related story - May 14th, North Island Gazette

Compass Group Press Release
March 16, 2009

Mississauga, Ontario: Compass Group Canada is implementing their second big change on their path towards seafood sustainability – they are removing open net-pen farmed salmon from their menus. Compass Group Canada is leading the national foodservice sector with their commitment announced last spring to shift menus across Canada towards more environmentally responsible seafood. Their clients include workplaces, educational institutions, hospitals, entertainment facilities and remote camps.  

“When we announced our sustainable seafood policy last year we made a commitment to shift our procurement toward choices that were better for ocean health. Our first step was replacing Atlantic cod and the response from our chefs, customers, and clients was very positive,” stated Laurie Brager, Director of Sustainability “Today we are proud to announce a second major shift to demonstrate our continued progress on this important issue.” Compass Group Canada is working with both the Vancouver Aquarium’s Ocean Wise program and the national SeaChoice program to implement their sustainable seafood commitment.  

See full press release

Peter McMullan
February 2009
Chasing Silver Fly Fishing Magazine

As a four-year-old he remembers cutting his angling teeth on chub minnows in Ottawa’s Green’s Creek. Today Eric Hobson travels extensively in pursuit of tarpon and taimen, steelhead and chinook salmon. More importantly, in terms of the very survival of some of Canada’s most important fisheries, he has the desire, the determination and the business savvy to challenge the commercial interests and the politicians that continue to turn a blind eye to a developing environmental disaster, the open net-cage salmon farming industry, and associated proliferation of billions of lethal sea lice, that blight the coast of British Columbia, Canada’s most westerly province. 

Read the full article on SOS president Eric Hobson and his work to stop the impacts of open net-pen aquaculture on BC's wild salmon. 

See the Chasing Silver Fly Fishing Magazine

Shadi Ellen
March 9, 2009
Straight Talk

Larry Pynn
March 9, 2009
The Vancouver Sun

B.C.'s biggest producer of farmed salmon announced Monday it has launched an appeal of a landmark B.C. Supreme Court decision that found the federal government -- not the province -- has exclusive jurisdiction over the management of salmon farming.

Clare Backman, director of environmental relations for Marine Harvest Canada, argued that the court failed to recognize that farmed salmon are the property of the company and should not be characterized as a "fishery" to be managed by Ottawa.

Backman said in an interview that Marine Harvest already is required to meet both provincial and federal laws and is less concerned with which level of government assumes management responsibility for salmon farming. 

Read the full article in The Vancouver Sun

Read Marine Harvest's Press Release

See related articles:

Times Colonist

Sunny Dhillon
March 5, 2009
THE CANADIAN PRESS

VANCOUVER, B.C. - B.C. fishermen are demanding the federal government take responsibility for the salmon farming industry, and start applying the same rules to the controversial operations as they apply to the commercial fishing sector.

A petition signed by hundreds of fishermen has been sent to Fisheries Minister Gail Shea and Paul Sprout, the Pacific director general of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

The petition notes last month's B.C. Supreme Court ruling that salmon farms should be regulated by the federal department, not the province as they are now.

"Now that the regulatory agency is supposed to be the federal government, we're saying that the regulations that apply to the commercial sector should also apply to the farm fish sector," said Joy Thorkelson, with the United Fishermen and Allied Workers' Union.

Read the full story on Macleans.ca

Related stories:

Westcoaster.ca

Campbell River Mirror
March 3, 2009

Positive Aquaculture Awareness (PAA) celebrated the aquaculture industry’s star performers at its 10th Aquaculture Awards gala dinner at a sold-out venue in Campbell River on Saturday.

In addition to the awards ceremony, the group also took the opportunity to raise money in support of three local not-for-profits that help benefit B.C.’s wild salmon and the local economy. The Centre for Aquatic Health Sciences (CAHS), Campbell River Salmon Foundation and Campbell River’s Pinks For The Pier program will each receive a donation of $1,500. The money was raised by raffling off a trip for two to Mexico (won by Laurie Jenson).

See full article in the Campbell River Mirror

Erin Hitchcock
March 3, 2009
Williams Lake Tribune

Toby Gorman
Nanaimo New Bulletin
March 2nd , 2009

Ottawa is shelling out $163,000 to strengthen the B.C. aquaculture industry and coastal communities.

Vancouver Island University’s Centre for Shellfish Research, already a national leader in its field, together with the B.C. Growers Association, received $120,000 to conduct a program to develop a prototype for a new high-quality shellfish raft.

“This money will help us improve our technology for a new raft prototype,” said Don Tillapaugh, director of the Centre for Shellfish Research. “And in turn the coastal communities economies will benefit from that technology.”

For the full announcement of the funding opportunity, click here. 

For funding application information, click here. 

Read the full article in the Nanaimo News Bulletin

Bob Chamberlin
February 27, 2009
Canadian Corporate Social Responsibility News

Open letter to BC Pacific Salmon Forum; John Fraser, Chair

I provide my feedback to the Pacific Salmon Forum’s (PSF) report as chief of the Kwicksutaineuk/Ah-Kwa-Mish First Nation (KAFN) whose Territories encompass the Broughton Archipelago.

We applaud the diligence of the Forum in assessing the impacts of open net-cage salmon farms and in striving for solid solutions.

The KAFN is encouraged by the many aspects of the report that acknowledge the problems and address the necessity for change.  However, as a Nation experiencing firsthand the environmental and cultural impacts of the farms in the Broughton Archipelago, it is necessary that we share our continued concerns in light of the PSF report. 

Read the full letter on CSRwire.ca or Nation Talk 

UVic knowlEDGE
Vol 9 No 2
February 2009

When Ben Koop tells you he’s having a lousy day at work, he isn’t kidding.

The University of Victoria biologist is co-leader of a study that is uncovering the genetic secrets of that tiny nemesis of BC’s wild and farmed salmon—the Pacific sea louse.

The marine parasites—each a mere two centimetres long when fully grown—feed on the skin, mucous and flesh of host fish, weakening and, in some cases, killing them. Each year, sea lice cost the Canadian aquaculture industry millions of dollars in economic losses.

Perhaps most notoriously, sea lice are at the centre of an ongoing debate in BC over the risks posed to wild salmon by open net salmon farms

For the full story see UVic's KnowlEDGE

Canadian Wildlife Federation
February 24th, 2009

The Canadian Wildlife Federation applauds the recent ruling by the B.C Supreme Court that fish farms be regulated by the federal government.

Thanks to this ruling, fish inside the farm are now considered a fishery, not agriculture. Therefore the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) now has the legal responsibility to regulate salmon farms.

The provincial management of salmon farms has been responsible for the location of the farms, which are often placed on wild salmon migration routes. Interactions between escaped farmed fish and wild salmon have neither been completely characterized nor have the cumulative impacts of aquaculture been identified. However, it has negatively impacted the environment, leading to pollution, disease, and habitat loss.

Rachel Ehrenberg
February 16, 2009
Science News

Press Release
February 23, 2009
Canadian Corporate Social Responsibility News

The BC Wilderness Tourism Association (WTA) has prepared this response to the February 5, 2009, release of the long anticipated report and recommendations from the Pacific Salmon Forum. As an industry sector that depends on scarce natural resources, including a resilient wild

salmon resource, the PSF Report and recommendations are of extreme importance to us.

The WTA mandate is to ensure a sustainable future for BC’s wilderness tourism industry. We represent the hundreds of small businesses that offer nature-based tourism activities throughout British Columbia. Wilderness tourism (or nature based tourism as it is commonly called) is a key

contributor to BC’s GDP and a significant private sector employer in BC. In 2008, direct tourist expenditures on nature-based tourism products in British Columbia was approximately $1.5 billion dollars and provided for the equivalent of over 22,000 full time jobs. All BC communities feel the impact of wilderness tourism in their economies. A large percentage of these businesses are small, localized businesses that provide stability, diversification and job creation, whether it’s in the wilderness, in or near municipalities, or on First Nations settlement lands.

See full press release on CSRwire.ca

Robert Barron
February 14, 2009
Nanaimo Daily News

The province's agriculture minister said a ruling by the B.C. Supreme Court, stating that the province does not have the right to regulate controversial salmon farms along the coast is "timely." Ron Cantelon said, considering the release of the report by the B.C. Pacific Salmon Forum that recommended better management practices at the farms to mitigate environmental concerns, it's probably a good time to review whose jurisdiction the farms fall under.

Read the full article in The Nanaimo Daily News

Miro Cernetig
February 19, 2009
The Vancouver Sun

Okay, I love salmon. Not eating them, so much. I place our big fish somewhere between a steak and tofu.

What I really love about salmon is that they are our cultural icon -- a symbol of British Columbia's wildness, an indicator of our environmental health. Salmon are a reminder that here, in what used to be called Super, Natural! British Columbia, we've always taken pride in being a little greener than everyone else when it comes to building a modern economy.

Read the full article in The Vancouver Sun

Larry Pynn
February 19, 2009 n
Vancouver Sun

Jennifer Dart
February 19, 2009
Westerly News

Bruce Gellerman
February 13, 2009
Living on Earth

British Columbia has the fourth largest aquaculture industry in the world. But some First Nations people in the region say the farms are killing off the wild salmon that form the foundation of a two billion dollar tourism and commercial fishing industry – and they’re taking their complaints to court. Host Bruce Gellerman speaks with Chief Bob Chamberlin, who is representing over 4,000 native peoples in a class action lawsuit, and Alexandra Morton, a scientist who has been studying the salmon stocks in the region for years. For transcript and audio, link to Living on Earth

Robert Barron
February 12, 2009
Nanaimo Daily News

Peter Julian says he is "stunned" by the federal government's lack of preparation to address the issue of fish farms in B.C.

Julian, the NDP fisheries critic for B.C., said he asked Gail Shea, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, on Wednesday what the feds intend to do now that the B.C. Supreme Court has ruled that the controversial fish farms must be regulated by Ottawa and not the province.

Read full article in the Nanaimo Daily News

Larry Pynn
February 9, 2009
Vancouver Sun

The B.C. Supreme Court ruled Monday the federal government — not the province — has exclusive jurisdiction over the management of salmon farming, a landmark decision hailed as a victory for the future of wild stocks.

“The regulation of fish farming by the province is ultra vires, beyond its power,” said a triumphant Greg McDade, the lawyer who pursued the case on behalf of independent sea-lice researcher Alexandra Morton and others.

“It means for 20 years, the province has been unlawfully regulating it.”

See full story in The Vancouver Sun

See media release
View the court ruling

View 5 min of the press conference (made available of by "Save Our Rivers)

See related articles:

The Province

CTV.ca

Macleans.ca

Canadian Corporate Social Responsibility News

The Pique (Whistler's Newsmagazine)

North Island Gazette

Canwest News Service
February 11, 2009

An aquaculture company that operates a farm in Fortune, P. E. I., could market the world's first genetically modified salmon. Aqua Bounty Farms CEO Ron Stotish said yesterday he is hopeful the U. S. Food and Drug Administration will approve this year the company's genetically modified hybrid of an Atlantic salmon crossed with the Pacific chinook salmon. Mr. Stotish said the fish is made by adding a growth hormone from the chinook to the Atlantic salmon to allow it to grow much faster than the regular, wild salmon. "If a year-old unmodified salmon weighs 70 or 100 grams, then a year-old [modified] salmon would weigh a kilogram or slightly over," he said, adding that the fully grown genetically modified fish does not end up larger than the natural fish. If the salmon is approved by the FDA for distribution in North America, it will the first of its kind on the market.

See in the National Post

Nancy Macdonald
February 11, 2009
.ca

Read full article on Macleans.ca

Larry Pynn
February 5, 2009
The Vancouver Sun

Larry Pynn
February 5, 2009
The Vancouver Sun

Media release
February 4th, 2009  

British Columbia Wilderness Tourism Association applauds actions of the Broughton Archipelago First Nation (Kwicksutaineuk/Ah-Kwa-Mish - KAFN) for going to Court over impacts of open-net farm farms on wild salmon and shellfish. 

Read full media release 

Dirk Meissner
February 3, 2009
The Canadian Press

Tom Fletcher
January 30, 2009
BCLocalNews.com

Lexi Bainas
January 30, 2009
Cowichan Valley Citizen

Press Release Source: Ocean Conservancy
January 29th
Business Wire

Sandra Thomas
January 30, 2009
Vancouver-Courier

Larry Pynn
February 2, 2009
The Vancouver Sun

Craig Weatherby
January 12, 2009
"Vital Choices" Newsletter

Like many seafood retailers, we subscribe to a trade magazine called Intrafish, which covers the farmed and wild seafood industries.

We generally find Intrafish pretty fair when it comes to reporting on controversial issues, but we were still surprised to see them publish an article titled “How Long can B.C. [British Columbia] Avoid ISA?”.

Salmon farms from Norway, Scotland, and Chile toEastern Canada have all suffered outbreaks of a viral disease called Infectious Salmon Anemia (ISA).

For full article see Vital Choice Newsletter

Dan McLellan
January 9, 2009
Courier Islander

A new method of using shellfish, kelp and bottom feeders to reduce fish farm waste is among three projects to receive federal Fisheries funding.