Stefania Seccia
March 30, 2010
Westerly News

Officials from Mainstream Canada joined the Ahousaht First Nation in their traditional territory last Saturday to celebrate a new five-year protocol agreement that was signed Jan. 8.

Mainstream has been working in Ahousaht for 10 years and the last protocol was up for renewal. For the past two years the two groups have been assessing and working out the new, amended protocol.

"It was two very long years up and down," Fernando Villarroel, Mainstream Canada's managing director, said. "But we managed to get a protocol that's beneficial to Ahousaht."

Read the full story in The Westerly

Read related story:

• The Westcoaster; March 20, 2010; "Salmon-farming deal cuts unemployment in Ahousat: Chief Councillor"

Mark Hume
March 30, 2010
The Globe and Mail

The warm temperature of the Fraser River during the summer appears to be playing a key role in the decline of an endangered run of sockeye salmon that spawns in Cultus Lake, according to new research by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

A seven-member team led by Michael Bradford, a DFO ecologist, has found that salmon that spend longer periods in the Fraser during migration have a higher chance of dying from kidney and gill infections caused by parasites.

The findings don’t explain why millions of sockeye salmon failed to return to the Fraser River last year, an issue that is now the focus of a judicial inquiry. But it could prove significant because DFO is struggling to save the Cultus sockeye, a distinct sub-population that has been listed as endangered since 2002.

Read the full story in The Globe and Mail

Mark Hume
March 29, 2010
The Globe and Mail

The Salmon & Trout Association of the United Kingdom has His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales as its patron, and Ralph Percy, the Duke of Northumberland, as its president.

Founded 107 years ago, the organization works quietly to promote the proper management of aquatic resources, often focusing its efforts on influencing the highest levels of government.

As its name suggests, the association, which has 100,000 members, has a special interest in trout and salmon.

So it was only a matter of time before it took a stand on one of the most troubling environmental issues of the day: fish farming.

After a careful study of peer-reviewed science, the S&TA last week released its position paper on the impact of aquaculture on wild Scottish salmon stocks. And it is a stunning condemnation of an industry that is also under fire in British Columbia. 

Read the full story in The Globe and Mail

Tom Browkaw
March 6, 2010
NBC Nightly News video coverage

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Stephanie Dearling
March 26, 2010
Digital Journal

Vancouver, B.C. - Last year the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) predicted 2009 would be a stellar year for Sockeye salmon, saying it expected 10 million sockeye to return. Barely one million returned, prompting calls for an inquiry into the collapse of the important fishery. After the DFO refused to take action over the collapse, the Harper government announced the Cohen Commission to investigate the collapse. A first report is expected sometime in August. Headed by Bruce Cohen, the inquiry is hearing from environmental groups, Aboriginals, fishermen and members of the public.  

Salmon farmers have also applied for a chance to present to the inquiry. Head of the BC Salmon Farmers' Association (BCSFA), Mary Ellen Walling told press "Perhaps more than any other industry, the salmon farmers understand the importance of a healthy, productive ocean. Wild salmon stocks are of critical importance to both BC’s environment and way of life. It’s important that this commission look at all the issues that are affecting the wild populations.”

Read the full story on Digital Journal

Read background stories

Matthew Little
March 25, 2010
The Epoch Times

PARLIAMENT HILL, Ottawa—Sea lice made their presence felt during what was supposed to be a briefing about a Supreme Court decision on aquaculture to the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans on Monday.

That decision, handed down by the B.C. Supreme Court in February 2009, turned aquaculture regulations in British Columbia into paper mache by ruling that the provincial government did not have legal authority to regulate ocean finfish aquaculture.

Finfish aquaculture has been a hot issue in B.C. ever since reports started coming out that the practice of raising fish such as salmon in netted farms along the coast was possibly killing off wild stocks in the region.

Farmed animals are more apt to spread disease and parasites due to the close living quarters and research continues into the impact farmed fish have on wild stocks. Some researchers and critics—including Alexandra Morton whose constitutional challenge brought about the ruling—allege that sea lice proliferate in fish farms and then spread to wild fish as they swim past, killing off stocks.

With the federal government set to take over regulating aquaculture in B.C., the issue of sea lice has come under closer scrutiny by parliamentarians.

Read the full story in The Epoch Times

George Baker
March 24, 2010
Food Manufacturing

PRINCE RUPERT, B.C. (Canadian Press) — Federal Fisheries Minister Gail Shea went to Boston to extol the virtues of Canadian seafood, but critics of salmon farms say they don't know how she could call the practice safe.

A news release issued by the Fisheries Department before Shea's trip to the annual International Boston Seafood Show said would promote Canada as "a leader in the production of high-quality, safe and nutritious fish and seafood."

"The stability, predictability, and innovation of Canada's fish and seafood sector are key elements that are helping our businesses remain profitable and competitive, while providing thousands of Canadians with jobs," Shea said in the release.

Des Nobles, a former fisherman and spokesman for the T. Buck Suzuki Foundation, which advocates the environment and the protection of fish habitat, said the word "healthy" is misleading when it comes to salmon farm. 

Read the full story in Food Manufacturing

Randy Shore
March 24, 2010
Vancouver Sun

New designs for fish farms could keep them in the ocean and help restore damaged marine environments at the same time, says a biologist working on a five-year nationwide aquaculture project.

Marine biologists in New Brunswick and in B.C. are employing mussels, oysters, sea cucumbers, urchins and seaweed to dramatically increase the amount of food created by salmon farms, and they believe they can extract excess carbon and nitrogen pollution from the sea in the process.

Taking the aquaculture industry onto land could be a missed opportunity to do the Earth some good and help mitigate the impacts of global warming, according to Thierry Chopin, a marine biologist at the University of New Brunswick. Nitrogen from agricultural sources contributes to oxygen depletion in the world's oceans, resulting in huge dead zones in which nothing can grow. Fixing and storing carbon is believed to be key to fighting global warming. 

Read the full story in The Vancouver Sun

Dan Maclennan
March 24; 2010
Courier-Islander

 The tentative and controversial rezoning of Grieg Seafoods' Gunner Point fish farm site has been defeated, nine months after it received preliminary approval from the Strathcona Regional District (SRD).

Following the advice of staff, SRD directors defeated Grieg's application to rezone the Gunner Point site - near the mouth of Sunderland Channel north of Sayward - for a farm of 14 net cages - each 30m X 30m - capable of raising 700,000 Atlantic salmon at a time. The SRD board had given first three readings to the application but told Grieg it must supply a letter of undertaking promising to take a number of measures to minimize the farm's impact on wild salmon, including a zero sea lice policy and a move to closed containment "as soon as it is commercially available."

In a report to the board, SRD CAO Brian Reardon recommended that the rezoning bylaw be defeated.

Read the full story in the Courier Islander

Read related stories

Judith Lavoie
March 21, 2010
The Province

One of the most ferocious opponents of salmon farms in areas used by migrating wild fish is hoping to mobilize support by walking from Sointula to Victoria.

Biologist Alexandra Morton, who has fought for years against open-net salmon pens in the Broughton Archipelago, is planning to start the walk on Earth Day, April 22, and finish on Mother's Day, May 9. Along the route, Morton plans to speak to interested groups and collect signatures on a petition asking the federal government to use the Fisheries Act to protect wild fish.

"We cannot match the corporate fish-farm PR machine, nor their lobbying power. So I am simply inviting people to make themselves visible by joining us on foot, electronically and by mail," she said.

Morton, who was told yesterday she will receive an honorary degree from Simon Fraser University for her work linking sea-lice infestation in wild salmon to fish farming, says she has evidence sea lice at fish farms are becoming drug-resistant.

Read the full story in The Province

Read related stories in:

• The Oceanside Star; March 22, 2010; "Morton journey to highlight salmon plight"
• The Times Colonist; "March 19, 2010; Fish-farm foe to walk the talk"
• The Courier Islander; March 19, 2010; "An honor not lightly given'
• The Courier Islander; March 15, 2010; Sointula to Victoria walk planned to 'get out' fish farms. 

Derwin Gowan
March 20, 2010
Telegraph Journal

ST. GEORGE - Fisheries and aquaculture groups hope a recent meeting leads to new co-operation among people who draw their livings from the Bay of Fundy.

 The Fisheries and Aquaculture Working Group had not met for some months. The group got together earlier this month as a result of the controversy over cypermethrin in the bay last fall, says Harvey Miller, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans' Southwest New Brunswick area director.

The agenda didn't include cypermethrin, an agricultural insecticide used to kill potato bugs but not licensed for use in a marine environment in Canada.

Environment Canada scientists identified cypermethrin on the shells of dead and dying lobster found in fishermen's traps off Grand Manan in November and Deer Island in December.

Read the full story in the Telegraph Journal

Read related story

Dan Maclennan
March 19, 2010
Courier Islander

A Campbell River based plankton study now in its fourth year is getting down to the bottom of the food chain and helping to give tiny coho a better start in life.

The Discovery Passage Plankton Monitoring Program was initiated in 2007 in an effort to determine the timing of spring plankton blooms in local waters - to maximize the availability of food when coho smolts are released from the Quinsam River Hatchery.

Just back from a major fish conference in Nanaimo, Dave Ewart, Campbell/Quinsam watershed enhancement manager, said more and more attention is focusing on the first weeks of fish life.

"Everybody's talking about the same thing, the same idea," he said. "It's food abundance, early in the life cycle, the first month, to get those fish growing. They have to hit a certain growth rate or they will not survive. That's where things are heading right now.

"It's all that environmental condition that leads up to that phytoplankton bloom in the spring that starts everything. If it's good at the right time that salmon can use it, they do really well. They have to hit the ocean and begin feeding and growing really fast. That gets them enough energy to swim away.

"In the last four years it's amazing how much science has changed in the Strait of Georgia. You've got IOS (Institute of Ocean Sciences) and PBS (Pacific Biological Station) and UBC and Simon Fraser and UVic, everybody's got this on their plate and they're really starting to look at the Strait of Georgia to see what is impacting it as far as productivity."

Read the full story in The Courier Islander

Robyn Smith
March 17, 2010
The Globe and Mail

A major B.C. salmon farm hoping to expand its operations will be subject to an environmental assessment by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), the department has told an environmental group who threatened legal action over the case.

The decision was made despite the fact the lawsuit charging federal authorities for permitting the expansion without conducting an assessment was never filed.

Last month, the environmental legal group Ecojustice threatened to sue DFO, claiming the department had not conducted a proper environmental assessment of Marine Harvest Canada's Doyle Island facility before granting it license to expand. Such assessment is mandatory under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, according to Ecojustice staff lawyer Judah Harrison.

In a letter sent to Ecojustice dated March 12, a representative of DFO wrote that the department “will, at this time, be undertaking an environmental assessment pursuant to [the act].”

According to Marine Harvest representative Ian Roberts, the company had submitted plans for expansion to federal regulators after collaborating with the Kwakiutl First Nation, in whose territory the facility is located.

“This is not a question of environmental sustainability, but rather an apparent procedural oversight by regulators which Marine Harvest expects will get straightened out,” wrote Roberts via e-mail.

Mr. Roberts also confirmed that the planned 37 per cent production increase of salmon remains the aim of the expansion.

Ecojustice recently won a case for greater transparency of fish farms. In a ruling March 1, the Office of the Information & Privacy Commissioner of B.C. ordered that the government release data collected on sea lice infestations at B.C. salmon farms within 30 days, regardless of concerns that the data may be used to harm fisheries or be taken out of context.

Source The Globe and Mail

Related stories:

• Times Colonist; March 19, 2010; "Ottawa to review bid to expand salmon farm - Overrides decision to allow increase in output without scientific review"
• Courier Islander; March 19, 2010; "DFO withdraws approval of fish farm expansion"

Read background story.

Dan MacLennan
March 12, 2010
Courier Islander

The aquaculture industry and its provincial regulators say there's no evidence sea lice are becoming resistant to Slice, the pesticide used to control them, but the industry and the makers of Slice are behind a Campbell River study that will look for more evidence.

"It's pretty exciting," said Sonja Saksida, executive director of the Campbell River-based BC Centre for Aquatic Health Sciences (BCCAHS). "To actually be here before you're seeing the problem instead of always reacting to problems. I think we are getting to be internationally known by researchers on sea lice as being a place to do work on sea lice."

Sea lice have grown resistant to Slice in other fish farming areas including Europe, Chile and the east coast of Canada. That's forced a move to the use of other toxic chemical treatments. Last month, biologist Alexandra Morton warned sea lice at Greig Seafood farms in Nootka Sound appeared to have grown resistant to Slice treatments. She said the proof was that sea lice had reappeared too soon after farmed fish were fed Slice. The industry, the provincial Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, and Saksida responded that there was no evidence of Slice resistance. Saksida elaborated last week.

 Read full story in the Courier Islander

Read background stories

Read related stories:

• Campbell River Mirror; February 25, 2010; "Local lab to test for sea lice drug-resistance"

Stephen Hume
March 6, 2010
Vancouver Sun

Another disastrous season for B.C.'s iconic wild salmon appears to be unfolding even as yet another inquiry gets underway, this time into the collapse of last year's Fraser River sockeye runs.

Meanwhile, some scientists in the department of fisheries and oceans are warning that the outlook for 2010 is already worse than it was in 2009, when only about 10 per cent of expected Fraser River sockeye returns materialized.

Conservation concerns during the 2009 collapse of sockeye runs returning to the Fraser forced federal fisheries authorities to close commercial sockeye fisheries and first nations' food fisheries, which are important both to subsistence and cultural practices in many communities. The inquiry, struck last November and led by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Bruce Cohen, isn't expected to make an interim report before August, with a final report not expected until 2011.

The 2010 forecasts could have serious implications for aboriginal, commercial and recreational fisheries, the fish-processing sector and nature-based tourism. These industries represent a combined economic value in excess of $2 billion a year for the B.C. economy.

Earlier this week, letters from the department of fisheries and oceans were circulated to chiefs, councillors and aboriginal fisheries managers notifying them of the preliminary stock estimates and possible conservation measures. Ottawa has also confirmed it is deferring treaty negotiations involving salmon until after the inquiry into salmon declines makes its findings. 

Read the full story in the Vancouver Sun. 

CBC News
March 8, 2010

Investigators say a B.C. fish farm operator wasn't negligent when thousands of Atlantic salmon escaped last October, but one critic is questioning the government's standards.

B.C.'s Ministry of Agriculture and Lands says Marine Harvest reacted as well as it could when an estimated 47,000 Atlantic salmon escaped from the Port Elizabeth fish farm in the Broughton Archipelago.

Thousands of fish congregated outside the farm for hours afterward, but most were long gone by the time a recapture vessel arrived at the site 17 hours later.

Fewer than 1,200 fish were eventually recaptured, but Trevor Rhoades, the ministry's director of aquaculture operations, says Marine Harvest was not negligent in its response to the escape.

"They met the requirement for notifying us. They also met the requirements for initiating recovery activities," said Rhoades.

Read the full story on CBC News

Read related news stories.

Read background news stories.

Ken Jones
March 6, 2010
The Press and Journal (Scottish Press) 

A demand was made yesterday for fish farms to be moved away from wild salmon rivers or to be put in self-contained land-based units after up to 100,000 salmon smolts escaped into a Highland loch.

A leading fishery board official warned: “Indigenous fish could be driven into extinction before someone has the sense to put a stop to this madness. With yet another disastrous escape like this, we are rapidly getting closer to that day.”

Juvenile Atlantic smolts, each weighing 70gms, escaped through a hole in a net at a Marine Harvest fish farm in freshwater Loch Lochy, in the Great Glen near Fort William, at the end of February.

The latest incident has been condemned by the Association of Salmon Fishery Boards and the Rivers and Fisheries Trusts, which say it comes on the back of a year that had seen the highest number of escapes in the past five years.

Read the full story in "The Press and Journal" (Scotland) 

CTVBC
March 4, 2010

View video. 

Compared to farmed salmon, wild salmon is more nutritious and carries fewer toxins that can accumulate in humans, a CTV News investigation has found.

Samples of wild Pacific salmon tested on behalf of CTV News at laboratories in B.C. had eight times more Vitamin D and three times more Vitamin A than farmed Atlantic salmon. The samples of wild salmon were also leaner.

But that doesn't mean you should avoid farmed salmon, dietitians say. The benefits of this nutrient-rich food are so great that it should be a staple in all diets, regardless of the source, they say.

If you can still afford the gold standard of wild salmon, that's the best. If not, then farmed salmon is still really good for you," said Lori Petryk, a Vancouver-based dietician.

All servings of salmon are a good source of Omega-3 fatty acids and vitamins A and D, however wild salmon packs more nutritional benefit per ounce. 

Lab tests showed that samples of wild Pacific salmon had more than 500 International Units of Vitamin D, while farmed salmon had far less – just 60 I.U. For children and adults under the age of 50, Health Canada recommends 200 I.U. of Vitamin D each day.

The tested samples of wild salmon also had 154 I.U. of Vitamin A compared to 40 I.U. found in the samples of farmed salmon. Likewise, the fat content of wild salmon was 2.5 per cent while farmed salmon had three times the fat, an overall 13 per cent fat content.

Because of the higher fat content, farmed salmon can store more Omega 3 fatty acids than wild salmon. But this also means farmed salmon can accumulate higher levels of toxins such as PCBs, a banned toxin found in materials like asbestos.

See full article. 

Quintin Winks
March 4, 2010
The Alberni Valley Times

Farming Atlantic salmon has become big business in Chile in recent years, but disease and a catastrophic earthquake in the South American country have shifted demand to Canadian fish farmers.

That's good news for Feeding Systems Canada, a Port Alberni based fish farm supplier. Owner Roy Hines said his business, which is fueled in large part by demand for farmed fish in the United States, had a poor year in 2009 thanks to a major downturn in the global economy. But this year things are looking decidedly better. After halving the number of staff to about five in the past two years, Hines is considering hiring again.

In recent years the production of Chilean farmed fish has been devastated first by disease and then all but wiped out by the Feb. 26 earthquake and resulting tsunami.

"It's keeping the prices up in Canada and the companies are spending a bit more of their money here," said Hines. "That's where all the profit's coming from right now."

Colleen Dane, spokesperson for the B.C. Salmon Farmer's Association, said that demand continues to outstrip supply for the province's fish farmers, but efforts to increase supply from B.C. waters for now are mired in bureaucratic red tape.

Fish farming has been controversial in recent years after being blamed for contributing to the decline of wild fish stocks and for increasing pollution on the sea bed. It's that controversy, as well as questions that have arisen around industry practices, that could be leading to the moratorium on expansion licenses.

Read the full story in the Alberni Valley Times

Read background stories

Andrew Jenner
February 24, 2010
The Christian Science Monitor

Inside what looks like a plastic-roofed greenhouse sitting in an old cow pasture are six round, 1,500-gallon tanks (imagine kiddie pools that are eight feet deep), each holding a few hundred rainbow trout. A tangled network of PVC pipes – some as thick as tree trunks, others as slender as pool cues – traces crooked patterns in the cramped space, which is alive with the sound of whirring motors and lots of water, dripping, bubbling, and gushing steadily through the whole convoluted system.

It looks like an ambitious science-fair project. But these are recirculating aquaculture systems at the nonprofit Conservation Fund's Freshwater Institute, which has researched water use and conservation since 1987. And they represent an exciting new development in food sustainability.

Recirculating aquaculture systems, or RAS, are closed-loop production systems that continuously filter and recycle water, enabling large-scale fish farming that requires a small amount of water and releases little or no pollution.

About 99.75 percent of the water in each unit is continuously cleaned and returned to the fish tanks. Manure filtered from the water during the recycling process is used as fertilizer on nearby farm fields. The nutrient-rich water can also be used to feed vegetables and herbs in large-scale aquaponics systems, which in turn filter the water for reuse.

Read the full article in The Christian Science Monitor

Mark Hume
March 2, 2010
The Globe and Mail 

Ten environmental organizations have written to Fisheries Minister Gail Shea urging the federal government “to implement emergency measures” to protect wild salmon from the negative impacts of salmon farms.

The letter says new regulations the government are drafting to protect wild salmon will not come into effect until next fall, while the biggest risk to stocks is in the spring, when juvenile fish migrate out of rivers and swim past salmon farms.

There have long been concerns that sea lice spread from farmed salmon to young, wild fish as they migrate past the pens.

The groups say five farms that lie along a constricted portion of Georgia Strait should be required to harvest all their salmon, to remove the threat of sea lice infestation.

“This emergency risk management measure will reduce the pressure of sea-lice transfer in at least one passage through the northern Georgia Strait on this year's juvenile Fraser River salmon making their way to the open ocean,” states the letter.

Read the full story and access the referenced letter at The Globe and Mail. 

Read related stories:

• Courier Islander; March 10, 2010; "Groups call for emergency corridor for wild salmon smolts, closure of three fish farms"

Mark Hume
March 1, 2010
The Globe and Mail

After a four-year battle an environmental organization has won access to data collected by the British Columbia government on sea lice infestations in salmon farms.

In a ruling released today the Office of the Information & Privacy Commissioner of B.C. orders the release of information gathered during fish farm health audits.

The government had refused to release the data to the T. Buck Suzuki Environmental Foundation, saying the information was provided in confidence and disclosure could harm the farms.

But responding to an application made by Ecojustice, the Information & Privacy Commissioner ordered the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands to release the sea lice data.

Mainstream, one of the fish farming companies that objected to the release of the information, argued that if environmental groups “are in possession of information that would suggest or confirm the presence of pathogens and/or sea lice in any quantity, and particularly in significant quantities, it is clear that they would use this information to damage Mainstream's business.”

Mainstream also argued critics could take the information out of context.

But the Information & Privacy Commissioner wasn't convinced by those arguments.

“Were this a basis for withholding records, one could easily envision very little information being disclosed by public bodies which are, in many cases, concerned how information might be used and viewed by members of the public. Possible misuse or distortion of material released under FIPPA [the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act] is not a basis for claiming an exception,” the ruling states.

The government has 30 days to release the data.

Source: The Globe and Mail

See related stories in:

• The Courier Islander; March 3, 2010; "Sea lice files no longer secret" 
• The Vancouver Sun; March 2, 2010; "Ministry must release sea lice records, commissioner rules". 
• The Times Colonist; March 2, 2010; "B.C. ordered to release data on farmed fish - Privacy czar tells province t make health files public"

Paul Rudan
February 25, 2010
Campbell River Mirror

Testing to determine if sea lice are becoming resistant to a chemical product used by fish farmers is expected to begin this spring in Campbell River.

“We hope to begin in April. Some people may say that’s already too late, but you have to start some place,” said Dr. Sonja Saksida of the B.C. Centre for Aquatic Health Sciences.

Alexandra Morton, a biologist, activist and opponent of open netpen salmon farms, recently raised concerns that sea lice may be becoming resistant to SLICE – a vet-prescribed chemical remedy that fish farmers use to kill naturally-occuring sea lice on Atlantic salmon.

Morton said concerns were passed on to her that sea lice were proliferating on Grieg Seafood farms located on the West Coast in the Esperanza Inlet.

“These concerns were passed along by friends and family...no one wants to go on the record because they are fearful of losing their jobs,” she said Wednesday.

According to Morton, provincial data shows that salmon on Grieg’s West Coast farms were treated with SLICE last fall, but then sea lice numbers quickly rebounded. This may indicate, she said, that the sea lice are becoming drug-resistant.

She also speculated that these drug-resistant lice may have already been introduced into Discovery Passage. Salmon harvested on the West Coast are trucked to Campbell River and then over to the Walcan processing plant on Quadra Island.

A video taken by divers shows a dark-coloured and particulate-filled effluent coming from the Walcan outflow into Discovery Passage. Morton claimed the effluent contained sea lice, along with chunks of salmon organs, fins and scales (the video can been seen online at alexandramorton.typepad.com).

“If I’m wrong I imagine I’ll be sued, but if I’m right...,” said Morton. “There’s strong evidence of drug-resistance.” Morton added that she is not “out to get” Walcan, but is disheartened the B.C. government is doing nothing to study or identify potential problems of drug-resistance.

However, a co-owner of Walcan disputed Morton’s allegations and said the company is in full compliance of its Ministry of Environment regulation, and even passed a government environmental audit last week.

Read the full story in the Campbell River Mirror

Read background stories

Brenda Bouw
February 25, 2010
The Globe and Mail 

A virus that devastated the Chilean salmon industry is driving up global prices, bringing an unintended boon to British Columbia's embattled farmed-salmon business.

Salmon spot prices have nearly doubled in the past year, following a sharp drop in global supply because of the outbreak of infectious salmon anemia in Chile, the world's second-biggest source.

But the benefits for British Columbia, the fourth-largest producer globally, will go only so far because of a recent moratorium on the expansion of fish farms in the province.

That could mean even higher salmon prices in the months ahead, as global salmon supply is expected to fall this year for the first time in almost a decade.

Spot salmon prices averaged $4.33 (U.S.) a pound in January in the United States, compared with $2.77 at the same time last year, according to New Jersey-based Urner Barry Publications Inc., which tracks market prices of fish and other foods. Prices hit a 52-week high of $4.55 on Feb. 9.

The salmon spot price is a benchmark based on a two-to-three-pound fresh, farmed Chilean Atlantic salmon fillet sold in the United States.

Read the full story in The Globe and Mail

Read related stories:

• The Courier Islander; February 26, 2010; "Chilean farmed salmon epidemic a prime reason to go 'closed' - NDP"
• BusinessWeek.com; February 24, 2010; "World Salmon Supply to Drop Most Since 1990 on Virus" 
• The Globe and Mail; February 17, 2010; "Canada eyes bigger salmon market share" 

Les Leyne
February 24, 2010
The Times Colonist

Justice Bruce Cohen is all lawyered up and ready to embark on his quest for millions of missing Fraser River sockeye salmon.

The story so far has the makings of an intriguing mystery. The experts estimated 10 million salmon would be heading for the river system last year, but only about a million showed up.

That prompted the fishery's closure for the third straight year.

For all the finger pointing and controversy over the collapse, nobody really knows exactly why it happened. Since most of the arguments centre around the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the federal government's response last November was to strike an inquiry commission to find out what happened to the salmon.

Cohen was named commissioner and given 18 months to solve the mystery. (He has to file an interim report by Aug. 1.) He has since retained four commission counsels, a policy counsel and four junior counsels. They'll be announcing a work plan shortly. (The commission was instructed not to hold hearings during the Olympic and Paralympic Games to avoid inconveniencing witnesses.)

So far the storyline is a familiar one for most Canadians. A problem emerges. Perplexed government orders inquiry. Wise men gather to ponder the issue. Citizens await their deliberations.

But what's striking is that this is the fifth time in 18 years some kind of urgent study has been commissioned by the government in response to a salmon emergency.

Read the full story in The Times Colonist

Read background new stories

Bruce Winfield
February 23, 2010
North Island Gazette

A decision on whether to charge Marine Harvest Canada, after a June 16 complaint by researcher Alexandra Morton, is months away, court learned Feb. 2.

“I put over from the last court date, for a decision on whether the federal Crown is going to take over the case,” said Judge Brian Saunderson when the case was called Feb. 2.

Federal Crown Todd Gerhart replied the “decision has not been made,” which prompted Judge Saunderson to ask why not. “A decision was ordered for today,” said the judge.

Gerhart again apologized for the delay.

“We’re working diligently to make this decision ... it will be made as soon as possible,” said Gerhart. “Crown must consider the sufficiency of the evidence and whether there is a likelihood of a conviction. There is an ongoing Crown followup” and “we hope to have a decision soon on whether it will proceed.”

The judge was not pleased with that news.

“The federal government has had since June 16 of last year to come up with a decision,” he said.

Gerhart replied the case is a “complicated matter” and there has been a change in jurisdiction since the alleged event.

Read the full story in the North Island Gazette.

Read background news stories. 

Kevin Sauvé
February 23, 2010
The Globe and Mail

An environmental group is threatening to sue the federal government for approving the expansion of a B.C.-based fish farm without properly assessing the environmental impact.

Ecojustice, a non-profit organization of environmental lawyers, says that the 37-per-cent expansion to the Doyle Island facility, which will make it one of the largest Atlantic salmon farms in the province, is illegal.

"The Department of Fisheries and Oceans approved the expansion without an assessment, neglecting their mandatory duties under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act," said Jonah Harrison, a staff lawyer with Ecojustice, which represents the marine-conservation group Living Oceans Society.

In an interview yesterday, Mr. Harrison said the DFO has until today to reverse its decision or Ecojustice will sue. The DFO did not provide a spokesperson to respond to the allegations.

In an e-mail obtained by The Globe and Mail that was sent to Mr. Harrison, the DFO said that it will not perform another assessment.

An original assessment, conducted by the Ministry of Transportation, was based on 2,550 tonnes of annual fish production. The expansion will increase production by 1,500 tonnes a year.

Read the full story in The Globe and Mail

Read related story: The Times Colonist; February 25, 2010; "Salmon-farm expansion draws lawsuit threat - Group says Doyle Island plans lack environmental assessment" 

Dan MacLennan
February 18, 2010
The Courier Islander

The province has exonerated Marine Harvest for its actions in a fish farm escape last October, but the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands (MAL) refuses to release its investigation report, leaving serious discrepancies about re-capture efforts unexplained.

That has the Georgia Strait Alliance calling for the investigation to be reopened, and calling for a more active role from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. "There's an incredible lack of transparency," GSA spokesperson Ruby Berry told the Courier-Islander Wednesday. "There isn't an effective reporting system.

There isn't an effective gathering of information by the province. "There's a real lack of public transparency about what goes on at the farms, with escapes and disease and parasite loading and Slice use. All of the above have an effect on the waters around the farms and there's very little requirement of the farms to let the public know. There's very little requirement of the farm companies to let the government know what's going on, especially in a timely manner, when something can be done about it."

Read the full story in The Courier Islander

Read a related story in The Courier Islander; February 26, 2010; "Marine Harvest did the right thing - MAL".

Read background news stories.

CBC News
February 19, 2010

A shaman in Norway has suggested aboriginal people in B.C. might have cursed the Nordic country's Olympic athletes because of their opposition to Norwegian-owned fish farming operations in B.C., but West Coast native leaders deny any mystic influence.

Norway is traditionally a powerhouse in the Winter Olympics, having placed first overall in Salt Lake City in 2002 with 13 gold medals.

But when Norway's early results in the Vancouver Games were not as good as expected, the Norwegian broadcaster NRK sought out a Sami shaman — or indigenous spiritualist — who speculated his counterparts in B.C. might be the cause.

Eirik Boie Myrhaug is quoted as saying that Indian magic might be behind Norway's Olympic setbacks. He suggests some B.C. chiefs might have cast an evil spell on the Norwegian athletes.

As NRK notes, several B.C. chiefs did stage a 29-hour hunger strike this week to protest the 29 Norwegian-owned fish farms in the Musgamagw Tsawataineuk Tribal Council's territories, located in the Broughton Archipelago north of Vancouver.

Marine Harvest and Cermaq, which own the fish farms, both have Norwegian parent companies.

Read the full story on CBC News

Read related story:

• Reuters; February 20, 2010; "Who'd blame Native Indians for flops? Norwegians would"

Read related stories

Anjli Raval
February 17, 2010
The Globe and Mail

Salmon prices are jumping after the collapse of the Chilean industry through fish disease caused a sharp decline in global supply.

Wholesale prices for Norwegian-produced Atlantic salmon have risen 20.6 per cent since the start of the year, says Statistics Norway. That has extended a year-long rally in prices, which have risen 32.5 per cent. Industry analysts expect the surge to feed through to what people pay for salmon steaks and fillets.

Chile’s output, the world’s second largest, has been been hammered by the virus that causes infectious salmon anaemia, which emerged in 2007.

The disease, which does not affects humans if afflicted fish are consumed, kills off salmon by attacking their red blood cells.

Aslak Berge at First Securities in Norway said: “Chile, which was the second biggest producer of salmon, has seen its output plunge more than 75 per cent in two years.

“During peak production in 2008, Chile sold 403,000 tonnes but we forecast a sales estimate of 90,000 tonnes this year.”

Norway, the biggest producer, has had to take up the slack. In 2008 it accounted for about half global volumes – 1.5 million tonnes – of Atlantic salmon.

This is expected to increase to approach 70 per cent in 2010.

Canada and the U.K., which collectively account for about 20 per cent of the market, are also expected to see their shares expand.

Sjur Malm, analyst at SEB Enskilda in Norway, said: “We have never seen a year-on-year decline in global supply before, and this is happening in a market where the willingness to pay is increasing. 

Read the full story in The Globe and Mail

Story also in the Financial Times UK; February 18, 2010; " Salmon prices leap as disease outbreak devastates Chile's supply"

CBC News
February 17, 2010

A former Norwegian cabinet minister says B.C. can learn from his country's experience that open-net salmon farming can probably never successfully co-exist with wild salmon populations.

A judge, former attorney general and one-time head of the Norway's Great Wild Salmon Commission, Georg Rieber-Mohn made his opinions public in an editorial circulated on the internet Tuesday.

"I fear Canada will teach Norway a lesson ... on the Olympic ice rink but I hope Canada can learn the lessons of Norway with respect to wild salmon and open-net cage salmon farms," he wrote.

The commentary was highly critical of what he believed is Norway's inadequate regulation of salmon farming.

"Our error is to give the … salmon farming industry too much freedom in developing," Rieber-Mohn told CBC News.

Many causes of decline

In 1999, Rieber-Mohn presented a plan to prohibit salmon farming in some of the most important fjord systems. But he said it was watered down after intense lobbying by the industry.

Norway is now dealing with the consequences, he said.

"We have a remarkable, huge decline [in wild salmon stocks]."

Read the full story on CBC News

Read related stories

CBC News
February 18, 2010

New Brunswick's aquaculture industry is facing questions after an illegal pesticide was found on weak and dying lobsters on the Fundy coast last November.

Environment Canada officials are still investigating how the pesticide, Cypermethrin, made its way onto the lobsters in the Grand Manan and Seal Cove areas.

Cypermethrin is illegal to use in Canadian waters and is toxic to lobsters. But it has been used to kill sea lice in European fish farms.

And that's creating concern about its use in the Bay of Fundy considering some of the dead lobsters were found not far from aquaculture sites last fall.

David Thompson, an environmentalist, said many people in the area have suspicions about how it got in the water.

"Public feeling is that it probably originated at salmon farm sites, with people attempting to control a very serious problem they had with sea lice," Thompson said.

That allegation was strongly rebuffed by the group representing New Brunswick's aquaculture industry. 

Read the full story on CBC News

Read related stories:

• Telegraph Journal; February 19, 2010; "Salmon farmers not to blame, says association official" 
• Telegraph Journal; February 17, 2010; "MP will seek parliamentary probe into pesticide use" 

Mark Hume
February 16, 2010
The Globe and Mail

In an attempt to draw attention to a long simmering dispute, environmentalists and the chiefs of several First Nations in British Columbia have held a 29-hour fast that ended Tuesday just as Canada was about to play Norway in men's hockey.

The fast was held at the offices of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, where about a dozen people spent Monday night, watching movies and giving interviews to the media.

I would love to have some popcorn,” said Don Bain, Executive Director of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs.

He said the symbolic protest was held for 29 hours to represent the 29, mostly Norwegian-owned salmon farms in the traditional territory of coastal Musgamagw-Tsawataineuk Tribal Council.

Norwegian-owned salmon farms operating in our traditional territorial waters are killing wild salmon and strangling the lifeblood of our whole culture,” said Chief Bob Chamberlin, of the Musgamagw-Tsawataineuk, a tribe located around Alert Bay and Port McNeill, on northern Vancouver Island.

Read the full story in The Globe and Mail

Read related stories:

• St. Louis Post; February 17, 2010; "Environmentalists at Olympics target Norwegian-owned salmon fisheries"
• The Times Colonist; February 13, 2010; "Norwegian-owned fish farms target of chiefs' hunger strike"

Grant Warkentin
February 16, 2010
Campbell River Mirror

It’s risky for Grieg Seafood to have all its farmed salmon in Esperanza Inlet on the same schedule.

If an environmental disaster hits the inlet, and all fish are at the same stage in their growth, the risk of losing a lot of fish – and money – is high.

Having fish ready for market all at the same time can be a financial risk, too, if there’s a drop in demand. But it’s a lower risk than maintaining the status quo.

Currently, the farms hold fish in different stages of growth, which minimizes the risk of natural events harming all the fish at once. But there are other problems to deal with, said Mia Parker, manager of regulatory affairs for Grieg Seafood BC.

Grieg’s Esperanza Inlet farms on Vancouver Island’s West Coast are sometimes challenging to work with, she explained. For example, every year, farmers have to deal with low oxygen levels in the ocean caused by weather and natural conditions. Low oxygen levels slow fish growth and can be hard on larger fish.

It’s also getting more difficult to juggle feeding and sea lice treatment schedules to minimize any potential impacts on wild salmon, she said.

Now, the company has decided it’s better to have all farms in the area on the same schedule to avoid those issues

Read full story in the Campbell River Mirror

Read related stories: Courier Islander; February 12, 2010, "Sea lice issues cause concern"

Judith Lavoie
February 13, 2010
The Time Colonist

First Nations chiefs are planning a 29-hour hunger strike leading up to the Olympic hockey game between Canada and Norway Tuesday, to protest Norwegian-owned fish farms.

Members of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs are fasting to support the Musgamagw Tsawataineuk Tribal Council's opposition to fish-farm tenures in the Broughton Archipelago.

"The 29-hour fast reflects the 29 fish-farm tenures in our territories," said Chief Bob Chamberlin, chairman of the Tribal Council.

Marine Harvest and Cermaq, which own the tenures in Musgamagw Tsawataineuk territory, both have Norwegian parent companies.

In addition to union president Grand Chief Stewart Phillip and vice-president Chief Willie Charlie, at least a dozen other hereditary and elected chiefs are expected to join the fast, which starts 5 a.m. tomorrow at the union office in Vancouver, Chamberlin said.

Fasts will also be held in communities around the Broughton Archipelago, said Chamberlin, who has already been approached by members of the Norwegian media.

"It is sad we have to turn to the international community to have our territory looked after, but we have turned to the provincial and federal governments to no avail," he said.

Tribal council and Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs members have invited King Harald V of Norway to meet with them while he is at the Olympic Games.

Earlier this month, a spokesman for the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Ottawa said King Harald will be in Vancouver to watch athletes perform and would not meet with any special-interest groups.

Read the full story in The Times Colonist

Read related story: The Globe and Mail; February 17, 2010;"Fast to protest Norwegian-owned salmon farms ends : Environmentalists, First Nations chiefs aim to bring global attention to B.C. issue"

Dan Maclennan
February 12, 2010
Courier Islander

Are drug-resistant sea lice from Nootka Sound fish farms being introduced to Discovery Passage, posing an enormous threat to wild salmon and farmed fish throughout the Inside Passage?

That's a concern being raised by Alexandra Morton but rejected this week by the province and Grieg Seafoods.

Late last month Grieg announced it was making "in-season production changes to its operations in Esperanza Inlet on the West Coast of Vancouver Island, in order to implement a Harmonized Regional Management Plan for the area."

Grieg has five farm sites in Esperanza Inlet. Under-sized fish in the pens are being harvested and shipped for processing. The plan means all farms will be re-stocked in the fall with the same age class of fish.

"By doing so Grieg Seafood expects to achieve even better production, fish health, and environmental management," Grieg managing director Peter Gibson said in a Jan. 28 news release.

Just a few days before that, however, Morton says she started hearing from people that Grieg was in fact killing off all its fish in the area because they were infested with sea lice grown resistant to Slice, the chemical used throughout the coast to kill sea lice on farmed fish.

Morton says she found sea lice in very high numbers around Grieg's Esperanza farm on Jan. 31. She said there's no way the sea lice numbers should be so high in the area if the farm treated its fish with Slice in the fall, as provincial aquaculture officials tell her.

"I know they've got a lot of lice," Morton told the Courier-Islander this week. "Now the province has told me that (Grieg) treated in the fall. So in a couple of louse generations they have a serious lice problem. That is highly suggestive of drug resistance in the sea lice."

"Drug resistance is a big problem that's emerging around the world right now. It's actually in a crisis state in Norway. The lice have become resistant on the east coast (of Canada).

"I was not only concerned with the problem of the lice in Nootka Sound, but the greater concern is that they're moving those fish in trucks across Vancouver Island and processing them in a fish plant on Quadra Island. This raises the possibility that these lice eggs are going down the pipe into Discovery Passage and being distributed throughout the Discovery Islands. If they are resistant to the drug Slice that means we're going to lose the main tool to protect wild salmon from these salmon farms."

Salmon farms treat their fish with Slice in the spring in an effort to keep sea lice numbers down when out-migrating wild salmon pass through the area.

"My concern is that there is a problem in Nootka and it's being taken to the Discovery Islands and nobody is addressing this issue," Morton said. "So the only way that the people of Canada are going to find out that this is a problem is when the fish farms in the Discovery Islands go to de-louse their fish with this drug, it doesn't work, and we lose a generation of wild salmon."

But Trevor Rhodes, Aquaculture Operations Branch director for the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, based in Courtenay, says there's no evidence of any Slice-resistant sea lice. He said Grieg treated with Slice in the fall. Rhodes said the ministry sent fisheries inspectors and their senior fish health veterinarian to the Esperanza site on Jan. 28.

Read the full story in The Courier Islander

Read related stories:

•  The Campbell River Mirror; February 16, 2010; "Grieg Seafood chooses lower-risk approach" 

Read background. 

Paul Rudan
February 9, 2010
Campbell River Mirror

The salmon farming industry appears to be governed by the the B.C. Supreme Court these days.

In late January, Justice Christopher Hinkson imposed another moratorium on the expansion of any existing salmon farms and ruled there will be no new applications for new sites – at least until the federal government assumes responsibility for the industry.

“It’s not the first time we’ve seen moratoriums,” said Clare Backman, the director of environmental relations for Marine Harvest Canada, which is based in Campbell River.

During the previous provincial reign by the NDP, a multi-year moratorium was imposed on salmon farm growth. That was lifted when the Liberals took over, but in February 2009, the B.C. Supreme Court ruled that marine finfish aquaculture is a fishery and a matter of federal jurisdiction.

The court directed the transfer of administration and regulatory control from the province to the federal government and recently extended the transfer deadline to Dec. 18, 2010.

The recent moratorium ruling is viewed as another victory for salmon farm opponents, led by long-time activist Alexandra Morton who spearheaded the court challenges.

“There is an enormous amount of work ahead to translate any of this into better survival of our wild salmon, but the courts seem consistently interested in bringing reason, the Constitution and the law to bear on the...fish farm industry,” she said in a news release.

The judgment is also a pointed reminder to Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) to get moving on the changeover. Last December, when DFO representatives visited the city to discuss the transfer in responsibility, they stated they would not impose any moratorium on salmon farming.

But that abruptly changed with last week’s court decision.

According to Backman, the decision is not expected to affect Marine Harvest’s operations or production this year. As well, he said the decision will not affect any of Marine Harvest’s 550 employees on the North Island.

“There are (industry) concerns regarding international investment, but that’s not the case for our company,” he said. “How does this affect us? Really, not at all. We will produce between 38,000 and 40,000 tonnes (of salmon) again this year. We have no new farms planned, but we are interested in developing new farms.”

Read the full story in The Campbell River Mirror

Read related stories

Mark Hume
February 8, 2010
The Globe and Mail

Climate-impact specialists have long warned that British Columbia is facing reduced snowpacks in southern mountains because of global warming.

A glance at Cypress Mountain, where the Vancouver Organizing Committee is now forced to truck in snow to keep Olympic venues viable, will tell you what the future looks like.

But the loss of some skiing terrain is going to be the least of B.C.'s future problems, warn 29 non-profit organizations that are pushing the government to modernize its antiquated water laws.

With less snow in the mountains, and warmer springs, climate projections show we can expect to see earlier runoff and longer periods of reduced summer stream flows in B.C.

That situation has already become evident on Vancouver Island's Cowichan River, where water levels have become so low that salmon have had to be trucked upstream to the spawning beds. And on the Fraser River, water temperatures in July and August now routinely approach lethal levels for spawning sockeye.

It is evident that with reduced snowpacks and lower summer flows, the management of water is becoming increasingly crucial to the survival of salmon.

That was one of the main concerns that drove the coalition of non-profit organizations to meet this winter to hammer out a common position on the B.C. Water Act, which is currently under legislative review.

"B.C.'s current water-management system ranks amongst the worst in North America," said Randy Christensen, a lawyer with Ecojustice, one of the groups that is calling for change.

"It's hardly news that salmon need water, or that water is becoming scarcer due to human demand and climate change," said Craig Orr, an ecologist with Watershed Watch, who wants to see B.C.'s water laws reflect the needs of salmon.

Dr. Orr said the collapse of Fraser River sockeye stocks (now the subject of a federal judicial inquiry) is a reminder of how precarious things are.

"Without strong rules on water use and the health of water systems, even more salmon will be in trouble in the near future," he said.

Read the full story in The Globe and Mail

Clare Backman and Jennifer Lash
February 4, 2010
Special to The Times Colonist

One has to be forward thinking, open-minded and innovative to develop truly sustainable ways of managing natural resources and people's interaction with nature.

This is true for most everything we do in the world and it's also true when it comes to salmon farming.

In the midst of the debate over salmon farming on British Columbia's coast, the Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform, which includes the Living Oceans Society, David Suzuki Foundation, Watershed Watch, T. Buck Suzuki Foundation, Georgia Strait Alliance and Marine Harvest Canada, a division of the largest salmon farming company in the world, have been working together to find a path forward.

Together the alliance and Marine Harvest decided to focus efforts in two important areas:

First, to test the environmental and economic sustainability of closed containment technology.

Second, to use improved farm and area-based management to reduce the likelihood that farmed salmon would infect out-migrating juvenile salmon with sea lice in the Broughton Archipelago.

To this end, Marine Harvest plans to design and secure funding for a commercial-scale closed-containment pilot project early in 2010.

This project will be carried out in association with the alliance.

A detailed work plan for the project is under development, including timelines for design, technical due diligence and finalizing an economic model to evaluate the sustainability performance of closed containment technology.

The work plan is scheduled for completion the end of March with a public announcement to follow shortly thereafter.

Read the full story in The Times Colonist 

Read related stories 

Mark Hume
February 2nd, 2010
The Globe and Mail

Native leaders, environmental groups, scientists and politicians concerned about the impact of fish farms in British Columbia have written to His Royal Highness King Harald V of Norway asking for a meeting when he visits Vancouver during the Olympics.

But a spokesman for the Royal Norwegian Embassy, in Ottawa, says King Harald V is attending the Games to watch athletes perform - and he won't be taking time out to meet with any special interest groups.

The Crown Prince and Crown Princess will be at the first part of the Olympics and then the King and Queen, their Majesties, will be there for the second part," Jo Slatbak, Deputy Head of Mission for the Royal Norwegian Embassy said in confirming the royal attendance. When asked if the king would consider meeting with the groups that want to talk to him about the heavy involvement of Norwegian companies in B.C.'s controversial fish farming industry, Mr. Slatbak said it just wouldn't happen.

"No. When their Majesties are here they will be here as guests of the Norwegian Olympic committee and they will be watching the athletes and that's going to be the extent of their Majesties and their Royal family's visit in Vancouver," said Mr. Slatbak.

More than 170 people signed the letter to King Harald V, which was sent under the letterhead of the Pure Salmon Campaign, an umbrella organization leading the fight to have salmon farms moved out of waters used by wild salmon in B.C.

Read the full story in The Globe and Mail

Read related stories:

• Whistler Pique Newsmagazine; February 3, 2010; "Wild salmon advocates to leverage Olympics"

• The Globe and Mail, February 1, 2010; "The world watches Vancouver's homeless" 

Canwest News Service
January 29, 2010
Times Colonist and The Vancouver Sun

B.C. has slapped a moratorium on issuing new finfish aquaculture licences and won't accept new applications for shellfish aquaculture, the province announced yesterday.

The move follows a court decision Tuesday in which the B.C. Supreme Court granted an extension to the transfer deadline for finfish aquaculture to federal regulation until Dec. 18, 2010. As part of this extension, the court ordered a suspension on approvals of all new marine finfish licenses in B.C.

"In addition, the province is also announcing it will no longer be accepting new applications for shellfish aquaculture licenses and will only process those applications received prior to Jan. 26, 2010," the provincial government announced in a press release.

"Furthermore, the province has announced its intention to negotiate the transfer of shellfish aquaculture regulation to the federal government."

Sources: The Vancouver Sun and The Times Colonist

Read related stories 

Jonathan Birchall
January 26, 2010
The Financial Times

Target, the US mass discounter, has become the first leading US food retailer to stop selling farmed salmon in its stores, citing the negative impact of salmon farming on the environment.

The retailer said on Tuesday that its own brand fresh, frozen and smoked salmon will now be wild-caught from Alaskan fisheries, “to ensure that its salmon offerings are sourced in a sustainable way that helps to preserve abundance, species health and doesn’t harm local habitats”.

The move reflects concern among environmentalists over the impact of intensive salmon farming, which has expanded dramatically over the past 30 years to provide about three quarters of all fresh and frozen salmon consumed in the US.

The availability of low cost farmed salmon has also undermined wild salmon fishing, with the value of last year’s catch in Alaska of $230m being worth less than half of the value of annual catches in the late 1980s. 

Read the full article in The Financial Times

Read related articles: 

• The Ottawa Citizen; February 6, 2010; "Loblaw focueses on 'sustainable' fish sources: Grocery chain leaves empty space at fish counter to raise awareness among consumers"
• The Anchorage Daily News; January 27, 2010; "Target stores to sell Alaska salmon, drop farmed salmon"
• The Los Angeles Times; January 27, 2010; "Target stops selling farm-raised salmon nationwide"

Brad Bird
January 30, 2010
Oceanside Star

Close to 600 people packed the main hall in the Civic Centre Saturday to hear and see the leader of the fight to save wild salmon, Alexandra Morton. And she didn't disappoint.

Inspired perhaps by the standing ovation she got in the Qualicum Beach facility before she even began, Morton delivered a strongly worded indictment of the effects fish farms are having on wild salmon stocks in B.C. and the world over.

But she had good news for most of those present, saying the farms - which spread fish-killing lice and disease - contain the seeds of their own destruction. "The fish farms themselves are killing themselves off," she said. "They're shutting themselves down."

It would be nice if fish farms and wild salmon could co-exist, she said, for the sake of the people working the farms, but the science shows it can't be done. The wild salmon, which she called the lifeblood of the west coast, won't survive unless open-net farms cease to operate.

Closed-containment farming on land can work, in her view.

Read full story in The Oceanside Star

George T. Baker
January 29, 2010
Prince Rupert Daily News

A BC Supreme Court Judge has ruled that there can be no expansion of fish farms in the province.
 
At least not until the federal government assesses and assumes control of the aquaculture industry.

Justice Christopher Hinkson forbade any expansion in a ruling Wednesday. The decision would allow Fisheries and Oceans Canada to overtake the regulation of the industry, which is currently run through the provincial Ministry of Agriculture and Lands.

Hinkson also recognized the First Nation interest in this matter by granting the Musgamagw-Tsawataineuk Tribal Council intervenor status, which is considered essential because this case is based in their territory.

“That’s good news,” said United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union North Coast representative Joy Thorkelsen.

“It’s good because the DFO has been going around holding consultations on the South Coast about what is good about oceans legislation and what is poor about oceans legislation, and should we have fish farms or not.”

Fish farms have been one of the unifying issues that has brought conservation groups and commercial fishermen together, as they teamed up to fight against the advent of finfish aquaculture on the North Coast.

Read related stories.

Keith Findlay
January 28, 2010
The Press and Journal (Scotland)

A GROUP fighting to preserve stocks of wild salmon and trout in the nation’s rivers yesterday called on the Scottish Government and salmon farmers to harmonise standards of environmental protection between this country and Norway.

The Salmon and Trout Association (STA) said the move was badly needed because the west Highlands and islands had become a “dumping ground” for bad practice in parasite control.

But the Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation (SSPO), which represents fish farmers, insisted Scotland and Norway had to be looked at individually as conditions were different.

The STA urged Scotland to follow the lead of Norway, which had recently introduced stringent new limits for sea-lice numbers on salmon farms, and apply the same rigorous criteria to salmon production sites.

Norway’s ministry of fisheries has decreed that numbers of sea-lice in the country’s marine salmon farms this spring must not exceed 0.1 per fish – one louse per 10 salmon. If sea-lice numbers are not within permitted limits, an order for the destruction of all salmon in the pen may be issued. The Scottish salmon farm sector’s target for sea-lice this spring is 0.5 per fish.

Read the full story in The Press and Journal

CBC News
January 27, 2010

Fish farming on the West Coast won't be allowed to expand until at least December, following a B.C. Supreme Court decision to give the federal government more time to take over the job of regulating the industry from the province.

The decision by Justice Christopher Hinkson allows the transfer of power from B.C. to Ottawa to be postponed from February until mid-December. During that period, B.C. won't be allowed to grant any more licences or allow existing fish farms to expand.

Alexandra Morton, a long-time opponent of open-net fish farming, welcomed the decision.

"It's temporary for sure, but I'm hoping we can bring some reason to this situation because we know you can't pour a limitless number of salmon into this ocean whether they're ranched, farmed, enhanced, wild — any of them. So we need to stop and think about this," she said.

The B.C. Supreme Court ruled in February 2009 that the federal government, not the province, should regulate fish farms.

Read the full story on CBC News

Read the Supreme Court of British Columbia decision

Read related stories:

Nanaimo Daily News; February 2nd, 2010; "Fish farm critics applaud court rulings, press for more regulation" 

Prince Rupert Daily News; January 29, 2010; "Moratorium upheld of fish farms" 

Metronews.ca; January 28, 2010; "B.C. judge grants Ottawa extension to come up with fish farm laws" 

Shayne Morrow
January 26, 2009
Aberni Valley Times

The largest Nuu-chah-nulth nation has signed a new protocol agreement with the aquaculture company operating in its traditional territory.

Last week, Ahousaht First Nation announced it had signed the agreement with Mainstream Canada, which operates 24 fish farm locations on the Island, including in Clayoquot Sound. But the Ahousaht have had a long involvement with aquaculture, according to company spokeswoman Laurie Jensen.

"We've had a protocol with Ahousaht since 2002. That started with the previous company, Pacific National," Jensen said. "Two years ago, we started looking at the protocol to see if we could make it better."

The protocol covers a range of issues and opportunities for the nation, which has over 2,000 members. Jensen said many of those members have found training and employment in the aquaculture industry.

"We employ anywhere from 250 to 300 people - the majority in Ahousaht traditional territory," Jensen said. "We also have a processing plant in Tofino that employs between 35 to 50 people, year round. There's a bus that runs daily from Port Alberni."

Ahousaht spokesman Maquinna said his nation benefits from aquaculture, but also keeps a close eye on the environmental effects.

"Our people work in Mainstream Canada fish farm sites but they also watch what goes on," Maquinna said. "Having eyes and ears on the farm sites is useful to a community that has concerns about environmental conditions in their lands and waters."

Mainstream does have a hatchery at Great Central Lake, as well as smolt-entry sites in San Mateo Bay and Barkley Sound, but Jensen concedes that there is considerable opposition to the fish-farming industry in Port Alberni.

Earlier this month, the Washington State-based Wild Fish Conservancy reported that they had found high levels of sea lice on juvenile salmon in Clayoquot Sound.

"Something in Clayoquot Sound is very broken," lead researcher Audrey Thompson told the Times west coast affiliate, The Westerly. The group studied the Sound for one season to determine whether fish farms contributed to declines in local wild salmon runs.

Read the full story in the Alberni Valley Times

Read related story on the Westcoaster.ca; January 20, 2010; "Salmon farming company, Ahousaht ink Clayoquot protocol" 

Read stories related to the referenced Wild Fish Conservancy study. 

January 27, 2010
Courier Islander

The BC Wilderness Tourism Association (WTA) is calling on DFO to implement key interim measures for aquaculture management in order to help save BC's wild salmon.

In a letter sent to Minister Gail Shea today, the WTA has asked DFO to implement key interim measures now so they can be in effect for spring 2010. These measures include implementing natural background lice level thresholds for wild salmon populations, independent research and monitoring for lice levels on wild salmon and establishing a wild salmon migratory corridor, free of salmon farms.

Wilderness Tourism pours $1.5 billion dollars into the BC economy annually. However, the BC tourism industry relies on healthy wild salmon populations to sustain their businesses, whether they are fishing lodges, fine dining establishments or wildlife viewing operations.

Source: Courier Islander

FishNewsEu.com
Janaury 27, 2010

The Salmon & Trout Association (S&TA) has called on Scottish Government and the salmon farming industry to harmonise standards of environmental protection between Norway and Scotland.

The ‘wild fish’ campaigning organisation says that the West Highlands and Islands of Scotland is characterised as a ‘dumping ground’ for bad practice in parasite control.

Following the introduction by the authorities in Norway of stringent new limits for parasite numbers on their salmon farms, the Salmon and Trout Association (S&TA), Britain’s leading gamefish conservation charity, is calling on the Scottish Government to apply the same rigorous criteria to salmon farming operations in the West Highlands and Islands.

Reacting to a severe increase in sea lice infestations on farms during the autumn of 2009, the Norwegian Ministry of Fisheries has decreed that this spring numbers of the sea lice in the country’s marine salmon farms must not exceed 0.1 lice per fish (one louse per ten salmon per pen). Part of the rationale for this move is a determination to minimise any “population-reducing effect” on juvenile wild salmonids as they migrate past the coastal salmon farms to the open sea. If the numbers of sea lice are not within the permitted limits, then an order for the mass slaughter of all the farmed salmon in the pen may be issued. The Scottish salmon farming industry’s target for sea lice in the spring is 0.5 lice per fish.

Read the full story on FishNewsEu.com

Fred Davies
January 25, 2010
Parksville Qualicum Beach News

After eight years of studying fish farms and sea lice, Alexandra Morton has some ideas on the recent disappearance of millions of sockeye salmon from B.C waters.

Coming on the heels of a victory in B.C.’s Supreme Court that ruled fish farms are the jurisdiction of the federal government and not the province, Morton continues her critique of the fish-farming industry, bringing her legal battles on behalf of wild salmon to the Qualicum Beach Civic Centre on Saturday, January 30.

Morton said she’s seen plenty to convince her salmon pen farms can introduce viral and bacterial disease and are near-perfect breeding grounds for sea lice linked to stock declines of wild pink salmon. Peer-reviewed studies indicate up to 80 per cent mortality for populations in the Broughton Archipelago, an area with the highest concentration of salmon farms in B.C.

Read the full story in the Parksville Qualicum Beach News

Jennifer Dart
January 21, 2010
The Westerly

A group of Washington researchers have found sea lice on juvenile wild salmon samples in Clayoquot Sound and the levels they found were higher in close proximity to salmon farms.

The Wild Fish Conservancy -- a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving, protecting and restoring wild fish and the ecosystems they depend on through science, education and advocacy -- sent a team of three researchers to Clayoquot early last year to begin to identify potential causes for the "collapse" of wild salmon stocks in the area.

"Something in Clayoquot Sound is very broken," lead research Audrey Thompson told a crowd gathered at the Clayoquot Field Station Jan. 14.

As a place where not a lot of research has been done, she said the WFC saw this area as "a good place to fill a data gap."

The team came to answer the question of whether there are sea lice infestations on wild salmon in Clayoquot Sound, and also whether there is a correlation between the presence of infestations and the location of aquaculture farms.

The answer to both questions was yes, Thompson told the crowd during the presentation.

But Thompson stressed their data represents only one year in a complex life cycle in a complex environment. "This is just one piece of the puzzle," Thompson said. "We have to find pieces and put them together before we can make progress."

Clayoquot Sound is an ideal place to study the issue of declining stocks, she said, because of the pristine habitat of its river systems.

"Freshwater habitat is often blamed for salmon declines, but in Clayoquot Sound, freshwater habitat is abundant yet salmon runs are small, and shrinking," Thompson told the Westerly. "Salmon farms are the first non-pristine thing Clayoquot fish encounter, so studying their potential impacts first seemed like a logical place to start."

Read the full story in The Westerley

Read related article in The Westcoaster; January 15, 2010; More sea lice found near high-density salmon farms"

Mark Hume
January 20,2010
The Globe and Mail

British Columbia's sockeye fishery – including the troubled Fraser River run which is currently the focus of a judicial inquiry – is about to get international certification as a sustainable fishery.

In a decision posted Wednesday the British-based Marine Stewardship Council states that after extensive review it has determined “that the British Columbia sockeye salmon fishery should be certified in accordance with the MSC standard.”

The decision, however, is classified as a “determination”, and final certification won't be granted until after a 15-day period, during which objections can be registered with the MSC's office in London.

The MSC states that any objections should be sent by email (to: objections@msc.org).

And judging by early responses, the MSC will likely be getting some objections.

In an advisory issued shortly after the MSC determination was posted on the web, four B.C. organizations announced they “are objecting strongly to the announcement today of eco-certification of BC's sockeye fisheries.”

Read the full story in The Globe and Mail

Read related stories:

The Vancouver Sun; March 2, 2010, "Non-sustainable fish pulled from Loblaw's shelves"

Prince Rupert Daily News; March 3, 2010; "Fishing for a sustainable solution in B.C."

Fish Information Service; February 11, 2010; "Marine Stewardship Council Loses Its Luster" 

 The Tyee; January 21, 2010; "Sockeye Eco-Certification Kicks up Storm" 

Read background stories on the collapse of the Fraser River sockeye

Clare Leschin-Hoar
January 14, 2010 
Scientific American

Farm-raised salmon has long been the poster child of unsustainable aquaculturepractices. Issues of escape, pollution and inefficiency have plunged it deeply into the "avoid" territory of environmental groups—until now.

In a report released January 14, the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watchprogram is taking the unprecedented step of approving a particular method for farming Pacific coho salmon that is currently employed exclusively by the Rochester, Wash.–based AquaSeed Corp. The sustainability nod from the consumer education group means that these salmon also will be assigned a green "Best Choice" rating on Seafood Watch's Web site. The approval follows several months of intensive site visits by Seafood Watch scientists and reviews of the company's production facility, feed ratios, fish contaminant and pollution discharge levels, and more.

The salmon, to be sold under the SweetSpring label, have also been shown to contain high levels of omega-3 fatty acids, placing the salmon on Seafood Watch's newly created Super Green List, which denotes that the fish is good for human health without causing harm to the ocean. To appear on the Super Green List, the salmon must provide the daily minimum of omega-3s (at least 250 milligrams per day) based on 28 grams of fish, and have PCB (polychlorinated biphenyl) levels under 11 parts per billion (ppb). AquaSeed came in at 335 milligrams per day of omega-3s and had a PCB level of 10.4 ppb.

"This is the first farmed salmon we've ever talked about as a good source [for food, since the program's inception in 1999]," said Geoffrey Shester, senior science manager for Seafood Watch. "This is extremely exciting. It's not an experimental science project. It is mature to the point where there is real potential to scale it up."

Read the full story in Scientific American

Derek Evans
December 28, 2009
The Irish Times

NORWAY’S Directorate for Nature Management and the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (Nina) have issued a warning that salmon farming in Norway must be reduced during 2010.

The warning is directed to the new Minister for Fisheries, Lisbeth Berg-Hansen, a former head of the Norwegian salmon farming association and the owner of a salmon farm.

According to Norwegian press reports, Nina estimates that the current level of fish farming in Norway is six to seven times the sustainable limit. There are now 350 million farmed salmon in pens along the Norwegian coast, implying a sea lice burden of 300 to 350 million.

Sea lice are a major threat to migrating juvenile salmon – and therefore to the survival of wild stocks generally.

The Norwegian Salmon Association has said the situation is “a disaster”. It has also drawn attention to the increased resistance of sea lice to the main chemical treatment being used. They have called for a halt to further growth for the industry.

Read the full story in The Irish Times

Related Stories:

• CBC News; February 17, 2010; "Expert sounds alarm on salmon farming"
• Nanaimo Daily News; February 1, 2010; "Sea lice now a serious issue"
• CBC Maritime's Podcast; January 26, 2010

See a listing of Norwegian media related to this story on the Pure Salmon website