Mark Hume
March 27, 2011
Globe and Mail

When a federal commission investigating the collapse of Fraser River sockeye stocks heard recently that a Fisheries and Oceans scientist who has done groundbreaking research was being silenced, it gave Jeffrey Hutchings a bad case of déjà vu.

“Your recent articles on DFO’s muzzling of Dr. Kristi Miller remind me of similar attempts by DFO to stifle the imparting of science from government scientists to other scientists and to the Canadian public,” he wrote in an e-mail.

Prof. Hutchings, a widely respected fisheries scientist, holds the Canada Research Chair in Marine Conservation & Biodiversity at Dalhousie University, in Halifax. In 1997, he, Carl Walters from the Fisheries Centre at the University of British Columbia and Richard Haedrich, Department of Biology at Memorial University of Newfoundland, set off a media firestorm with a paper that ripped DFO for suppressing controversial science.

Writing in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, they outlined two cases – the collapse of Atlantic cod stocks and the diversion of the Nechako River, in B.C. – in which they maintained research was stifled because it didn’t conform to political agendas.

They argued that, on the East Coast, DFO silenced scientists who warned Atlantic cod stocks had been devastated not by seal predation, but from overfishing. And, in the West, they stated that DFO rejected research that showed an Alcan plan to divert the Nechako River would damage Chinook stocks.

Read the full story in the Globe and Mail. 

Read related stories:

• Globe and Mail, March 20, 2011; "Researcher suggests ‘salmon leukemia’ is to blame for decline of Fraser sockeye"
• Globe and Mail, March 17, 2011; "At DFO, scientists turned to speechwriters in salmon crisis"
• Globe and Mail, March 10, 2011; "Study rules out usual suspects in decline of Fraser sockeye

Mark Kinver
March 24, 2011
BBC News 

Pacific salmon plays an important role in providing nutrients to part of the world's largest old-growth temperate rainforest, a study has shown.

The annual migration sees salmon return to western Canada to spawn, but many are caught by bears and wolves, which carry carcasses away from the streams.

This allows nutrient-rich plants to thrive in these areas.

Writing in Science, the team said a shift in salmon numbers would have "far-reaching impacts" on biodiversity.

"Along the Pacific coast, all salmon die after spawning so carcasses can line rivers, but many of them are killed before by bears and wolves," explained co-author John Reynolds, professor of ecology at Simon Fraser University (SFU), Canada.

"This adds up to a huge amount of nutrients being dumped into the stream or on to the banks," he added.

Read the full story on BBC News

Read related story in the Globe and Mail; March 24, 2011; "Health of salmon run affects ecosystem of forest"

Mark Hume
March 24, 2011
Globe and Mail 

A heated battle between an anti-fish farm group and the aquaculture industry is headed to the Supreme Court of British Columbia over attack ads that equate farmed salmon with cancer-causing tobacco.

Mainstream Canada, the second-largest aquaculture company on the West Coast, is seeking damages for “false and defamatory postings” and seeks to have the offending material removed from the websites, Facebook accounts and Twitter feeds of Don Staniford and his organization, the Global Alliance Against Industrial Aquaculture.

Mainstream Canada announced the lawsuit in a press release on Thursday, and Mr. Staniford responded by releasing a copy of a letter he sent to Mainstream’s parent company in Norway, Cermaq ASA, in which he says he welcomes the chance to debate the issue in court.

Read the full story in The Globe and Mail.

Read related stories in the:

• North Island Gazette; April 7, 2011; "Mainstream Canada fish farm begins legal proceedings in B.C. Supreme Court" 
• Fisheries Information Service; March 25, 2011; "Mainstream begins legal proceedings against anti-industrial aquaculture alliance"
• Seafood Source: March 25, 2011; "Staniford to Cermaq: ' Bring it on!'"
• Courier Islander; March 25, 2011; "Fish farm battle to take place in court of law"
• Times Colonist; March 24, 2011; "Salmon farm sues over activists' cancer claim"

Mark Hume
March 21, 2011
Globe and Mail

The government of British Columbia has been told it does not have to produce for the Cohen Commission paper records related to the health of farmed salmon.

In a ruling released Friday, Bruce Cohen, who is heading the federal inquiry into the decline of sockeye salmon populations, said it doesn’t appear the old, paper records will add much to the information that is already available in electronic files. And he was reluctant to engage in a document production exercise that would take about six weeks and might cause delays of science reports on fish health that are pending.

The ruling appears to end a showdown at the Cohen Commission between the provincial government and a coalition of conservation groups that had been seeking both the electronic files, and the original paper documents the digital records were based on.

The province had earlier been ordered to produce fish health records for 120 salmon farms for the period 2000-2010. But Mr. Cohen was asked to clarify the order, when the government made a submission stating that the electronic records do not identify specifically which farms, fish necropsy samples were taken from.

Dr. Gary Marty, a fish pathologist with the Animal Health Centre, B.C. Ministry of Agriculture, stated in an affidavit that the province has 817 paper records for 2000 to 2002, and 1,116 paper records for 2003.

He said a sample of paper records he examined “do contain more details about clinical history and diagnostic results, but none of the hard copies contain any information about farm of origin.”

Read the full story in the Globe and Mail

Read related story in the Globe and Mail; March 16; 2011; "Salmon farms investigation hampered by incomplete government data"

Louise Loftus
March 21, 2011
New York Times

PARIS — For Alasdair Fraser, owner of one of the few remaining small fisheries on the Isle of Lewis, off the west coast of Scotland, business has been good in the past couple of years. After several years of “bumping along,” as Mr. Fraser puts it, and just about making ends meet, there is money in fish farming again.

And for Mr. Fraser, whose Thule Fisheries supplies young salmon smolts to the larger farms out at sea, the start of this year brought further good news. A trade deal between Scotland and China, reached during the visit to Scotland in January by Li Keqiang, the deputy prime minister, will allow Scottish salmon exports into the Chinese market for the first time, potentially more than doubling the global demand for Scottish salmon. 

According to Scottish government figures, Scotland’s fish farming industry already supports 6,000 jobs in Scotland worth £500 million, or about $810 million, to the economy. Exports are worth close to £300 million.

Meanwhile, China, as well as being the world’s leading producer of farmed fish, generates huge demand for salmon and salmon products as a more luxurious addition to Chinese menus.

Speaking at the announcement of the agreement, the Scottish first minister, Alex Salmond, referring to an observation by Mr. Li, said that if just 1 percent of the people of China ate Scottish salmon “we’d have to double production in Scotland.”

But some conservationists have been quick to pour cold water on the deal. They warn that current levels of salmon farming are already harming wild stocks and that any increase could prove disastrous.

Andrew Flitcroft, editor of the British magazine Trout & Salmon, wrote in an op-ed article last month in the British Sunday newspaper The Observer that any contemplation of increased salmon production was “recklessly irresponsible,” unless existing problems with conditions were improved.

Read the full story in the New York Times. 

Kapil Khatter
March 21, 2011
This Magazine

The Claim: Last June, the governmental Canadian General Standards Board released proposed standards for organic salmon farming. The goal: to overcome trade barriers and help develop niche markets. But will that organic sticker really mean organic-quality farmed fish, or is it just covering up some nasty production practices?

The Investigation: Though the standards board is a federal organization, the new rules were largely produced by a business coalition called the Canadian Organic Aquatic Producers Association and have raised concerns among environmentalists. In a letter to the board published last August, a group of more than 40 leading organic, conservation, and food-safety organizations in Canada and the U.S. argued the draft standards would make certification possible with “minimal changes to current, conventional [farming] practices.

They have a point. When people think of organic, they usually think that means no pesticides and no antibiotics. Under the proposed standards, salmon farms are allowed to use pesticides routinely, instead of as a last resort (as is stipulated in Canada’s current standards for organic farming on land). Fish can also receive antibiotics and still be called organic.

Read the full story in This Magazine

Mark Hume
March 20, 2011
The Globe and Mail

Of all the theories heard so far by the Cohen Commission, the most intriguing involves new research by a molecular scientist who is pointing to the possibility of an epidemic of salmon leukemia.

Kristi Miller hasn’t been called to testify on her research yet, but her work is already causing a buzz at the inquiry, in part because it seems an effort has been made to keep it under wraps.

Dr. Miller has not been available for media interviews, even though she recently published a paper in the prestigious journal Science. Usually, Fisheries and Oceans Canada promotes interviews when one of their researchers gains an international profile for groundbreaking work. But when Dr. Miller’s paper came out earlier this year, all requests for interviews were denied.

She will be called before the Cohen Commission, probably toward the end of the summer, when the hearings begin digging into the possible role of disease in the decline of sockeye salmon in the Fraser River. 

Read the full story in The Globe and Mail.

Read background stories. 

Courier Islander
March 18, 2011

The importance of BC's salmon farming industry to the economy of north Vancouver Island has been confirmed in a report undertaken by the Regional District of Mount Waddington and Living Oceans Society.

The study, received March 15 by the regional district board, rates aquaculture as the largest contributor among marine resource sectors in the area. Worth $178.3 million in revenue, $19.2 million in wages and 400-person years of employment within the regional district directly, this report emphasizes the important role aquaculture plays in communities such as Port Hardy and Port McNeill.

"Our contribution to local communities - not only through direct employment, but indirect business support, donations, scholarships and more - is something we're very proud of," said Mary Ellen Walling, Executive Director of the BC Salmon Farmers Association. "Building an economic cluster that supports these communities is very important to us."

The report, prepared by GSGislason and Associates Ltd. from Vancouver is unique in that it looks specifically at the role of the marine environment in the economy of the regional district. After salmon farming, the next largest contributor is commercial fisheries, with $8.3 million in wages and 305 person-years of employment.

Read the full story in the Courier Islander 

Mark Hume
March 17, 2011
Globe and Mail

After Fraser River sockeye salmon stocks collapsed in 2009, scientists at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans were pressured to write parliamentary speeches for government MPs, a federal commission has been told.

“This is the only time that I have seen a request of this nature in my career,” Laura Richards, Pacific regional director of science for DFO, said Thursday in testifying at the Cohen commission, which is investigating the decline of sockeye populations in the Fraser.

“Do you think it’s a role of DFO scientists to develop speeches for parliamentarians?” asked Bruce Wallace, senior commission counsel.

“The role of science is really to provide factual information, and that’s what we do,” replied Dr. Richards.

But documents filed with the commission show that after only about one million sockeye returned in 2009 – when more than 10 million fish had been expected – scientists were under the gun to help government MPs explain the crisis.

Read the full story in the Globe and Mail

Read related story:

• Globe and Mail; March 27, 20111; "DFO's stifling of research a bad case of deja vu"

Mark Hume
March 10, 2011
Globe and Mail 

A federal judicial inquiry that is trying to find out why sockeye salmon in the Fraser River are in decline has been told that whatever is killing them, it is not one of the usual suspects.

While mining, logging, hydro projects and other industrial developments in the watershed are degrading habitat quality, none of them can be blamed for the precipitous drop in sockeye stocks, states a science report done for the Cohen Commission of Inquiry Into the Decline of Sockeye Salmon.

Marc Nelitz, lead author of a study that looked at the impact of a variety of human activities, said while the number of adult sockeye has dropped dramatically over two decades, the survival of juvenile salmon has remained stable.

“The collection of all that evidence leads us to conclude it’s unlikely the freshwater environment is playing a role,” Mr. Nelitz said Thursday, testifying to the Cohen commission.

Read the full story in The Globe and Mail 

Read related stories in the: 

• Globe and Mail; March 27, 20111; "DFO's stifling of research a bad case of deja vu"

Ted Williams
March 10, 2011
Atlantic Salmon Journal

Bay of Fundy salmon farms provide one valuable service for the aquaculture industry—a case study on how not to proceed.

The advent of salmon farming four decades ago elicited cheers from Atlantic salmon advocates. The industry started in Norway, then swiftly expanded to Canada, Maine, Ireland, Scotland, Chile, the Faeroe Islands, Australia and New Zealand. The product was a bit fatty; but it tasted okay. We were served it at Atlantic Salmon Federation dinners. As we had predicted, the proliferation of domestic fish reduced the take of wild fish. But what we had not predicted was that one of the ways it did this was by killing them off.

In cattle and hog feedlots, uneaten feed and feces are treated or at least contained; in salmon farms they just fall from the net pens, polluting water, destroying benthic ecosystems, spreading pathogens and parasites.

And the farmed salmon themselves attract parasites. Checking for lice is not unusual human behavior; but anglers are the only people on the planet who express joy on finding them. That’s because sea lice in moderation indicate bright fish fresh from the ocean. Galaxies of sea lice swirling in inshore waters indicate stressed fish jammed into enclosures.

Read the full article in the Atlantic Salmon Journal

Mark Worthing
March 9, 2011
The Hook

An expert in aquatic ecology told the Cohen Commission that a retrovirus is having a more devastating effect on salmon smolt as rising water temperatures put stress on them.

Dr. Scott Hinch, expert in aquatic ecology and forestry professor at the University of British Columbia took the stand as a witness accompanied by Eduardo Martins, UBC population ecologist at the Federal Judicial Inquiry in to the collapse of the 2009 Sockeye Salmon runs yesterday and today. 

Hinch said the optimal average temperature for salmon is around 13-15 degrees. Over the last 20 years the Fraser River has increased by about 2 degree, often causing salmon to seek thermal refuge in cold water at the bottoms of stream or lakes.

“Survival decreases as temp increases,” said Martins, whose research showed that an increase in water temperatures would likely a higher die off rate among smolts and older salmon.

Read the full story in The Hook / Tyee.

Read related stories in the:

• Globe and Mail: March 8, 2011; "Rising temperature in Fraser River affecting Salmon population"

Hollie Shaw
March 3, 2011
National Post

Campaigning for a less-than-popular cause has always been a challenge — many times a welcome one — for advertisers.

They can choose to ignore the negative rap completely (Cigarettes may kill you ... But look at these pictures of happy, slim models!) or divert attention from what primarily bothers people about the product or practice in question (Animals were slaughtered to make these garments ...But fur is biodegradable, and supports Canadian jobs!)

A new campaign from DDB Canada’s Vancouver office is attempting to highlight one of the more contentious topics in British Columbia, the farming of Atlantic Salmon in the western-most province, a practice long decried by environmentalists.

After years of silence on the issue, the B.C. Salmon Farmers Association (BCSFA) says the entire industry — the province’s largest agricultural export, with sales of $450-million annually — needs to dispel a longstanding counter-campaign that it says is frequently rife with myth and misinformation.

Read the full story in the National Post. 

Story is also in the:

• Vancouver Province
• Windsor Star
• Calgary Herald

Sarah Nassauer
March 2, 2011
Wall Street Journal

A couple of questions used to suffice at the seafood counter: How fresh is it? Should I bake or fry?

Now it's more complicated than ever, with new government recommendations encouraging more fish consumption, and a wide and expanding array of guidelines for what is healthiest and most environmentally friendly. For the growing number of consumers who want to enjoy the taste and health benefits of fish without feeling like they are speeding the decline of ocean life, straightforward advice may seem to be in short supply.

The U.S. government earlier this year recommended for the first time that the average American should eat eight ounces of fish a week to reap the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids and other nutrients. At the same time, seafood consumption is rising world-wide as growing populations and an expanding middle class in developing countries boost demand for protein. This comes as scientists warn that a growing number of fish populations—including some popular tuna and salmon species—have dropped to worrisome levels. Concerns about mercury and other fish contaminants blur the picture further.

Read the full story in the Wall Street Journal

Andrew A. Duffy
February 26, 2011
Times Colonist

A brother and sister bent on feeding farmed fish were nourished themselves this week as they took home top prize and $30,000 at the B.C. Innovation Council's regional New Ventures competition.

Ashley and Robert Roulston, founders of Victoriabased Reef Safe Fish, took top spot after the fivemonth competition pitted them against scores of start-up and early-stage technology companies from across B.C.

"This means so much to us," said Ashley Roulston from Kelowna where the awards dinner was held this week. "My brother couldn't even come to the [awards] because we were running so short of money."

The cash infusion means they will not be pressed to find new investment immediately.

The company has developed a prototype closedloop, waste recycling technology that recycles fish waste -excrement and food scraps -to produce food for penned fish.

Roulston said the waste is run through various filters, fed to a number of types of plankton which are then "pelletized" and fed back to the fish.

"It's a complete closedloop waste recycling food production system," said Ashley Roulston, noting the system provides fish with their ideal source of omega3 fatty acids.

"People don't realize omegas comes from plankton. People think it's from the fish, but the omegas are in the fish because they eat the plankton."

Read the full story in The Times Colonist

Mark Hume
February 24, 2011
Globe and Mail

When David Hancock saw the bald-eagle count on the Chehalis River drop from more than 7,000 to fewer than 400 over a few days in December, he knew a crisis was coming.

Earlier this week, news reports that starving eagles were “falling out of the sky” in the Comox Valley, on Vancouver Island, confirmed his fears.

Wildlife rescue centres on the Island have reported birds growing so weak from hunger that they fall out of trees, or fly so clumsily they hit things. One crashed into a roof.

Mr. Hancock said a collapse of chum salmon runs has left British Columbia’s bald-eagle population without enough food to make it through the winter, leaving them weak from hunger and forcing thousands of birds to scavenge at garbage dumps.

Reports of starving eagles have been coming in from all over the Lower Mainland but seem concentrated in the Comox Valley, he said.

“This is what I said would be happening,” said Mr. Hancock, a biologist, publisher and author of The Bald Eagle of Alaska, BC and Washington.

Mr. Hancock said about 25,000 eagles flock to salmon rivers in the Pacific Northwest in the fall, to feed on the carcasses of spawning salmon. One of the biggest gatherings is on the Chehalis River, about 100 kilometres east of Vancouver, where as many as 9,000 eagles gather in November and December, drawn by what is usually a large run of chum salmon. The big fish, which average about 6 kilograms, are among the last salmon to spawn and their carcasses are usually available on gravel bars well into the winter.

Read the full story in The Globe and Mail

Read related stories in:

• The Epoch Times; February 28, 2011; "Bald eagles starving after poor salmon run" 

Sarah Schmidt
February 23, 2011
Vancouver Sun

Bob Devlin has been working toward this moment for more than two decades.

The world-renowned scientist at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans started his research on genetically engineered coho salmon back in 1989 at a government laboratory in West Vancouver.

That's when the pioneering researcher set out to generate strains of GE fish to help government regulators handle what is now before them: the first application to commercialize GE fish to be mass produced at a fish farm destined for the dinner plate.

AquaBounty Technologies is already close to getting a decision from the Food and Drug Administration in the United States about its GE salmon, grown at the company's research facility in Prince Edward Island using technology developed at Memorial University. The company cleared an important hurdle in the U.S. last August, when the FDA's preliminary analysis concluded that the salmon — engineered to grow twice as fast as regular salmon — are safe to eat and not expected to have a significant impact on the environment.

The company is now consulting with Canadian regulators in preparation for a formal application to seek Canada's approval to transform the company's hatchery in P.E.I. into a commercial operation. The eggs would then be shipped to an inland fish farm in Panama to raise GE salmon for American consumers.

But Devlin's environmental risk assessment is front and centre of a raging international debate about the merits of AquaBounty's quest.

Read the full story in The Vancouver Sun. 

Read related stories in the:

• North Shore News; March 25, 2011; "the science of bigger salmon"
• The Montreal Gazette; February 23, 2011; "Genetically engineered fish could pose threat to wild stocks: Documents"
• "Edmonton Journal; February 23, 2011; "Genetically engineered salmon could spawn problems, scientists fear"

Read background stories

Mark Hume
February 22, 2011
Globe and Mail

A panel of veteran commercial fishermen, some from families that trace their fishing heritage back to 1918, has urged a federal judicial inquiry to change the way salmon catches are allocated on the West Coast.

“The system is broken,” Ryan McEachern, a fourth-generation fisherman, told the Commission of Inquiry into the Decline of Sockeye Salmon in the Fraser River.

Mr. McEachern, treasurer of the Area D Salmon Gillnetters Association, said the system for allocating the salmon catch was designed when fishermen could go anywhere they wanted off British Columbia’s coast.

But starting in the early 1990s, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans switched from a coast-wide to an area licensing system, restricting boats to designated areas, regardless of how strong the runs are in that area. The result, Mr. McEachern said, is that a fair distribution of the catch across the entire fleet is almost impossible because, from season to season, some boats are restricted to areas with few fish, while others are in areas where fish are plentiful.

Read the full story in the Globe and Mail

Ken Manning
February 18, 2011
North Island Gazette

PORT ALICE – Forty percent of salmon purchasers want responsibly-raised salmon and they are willing to pay a premium to get it, said Dr. Andrew Wright in his presentation to Port Alice Council Feb 9.

Couple that with a demand for salmon that is three times what the market currently supplies and the public's reluctance to see an increase in the number of open-net salmon farming operations and you have a perfect storm in favour of land-based closed-containment systems, said Wright.

Wright spent more than an hour taking councillors through the intricacies of raising salmon in his land-based closed-containment system. An example of Wright's system is in the initial stages of being built by the 'Namgis in Alert Bay. The 200 tonnes-per-annum project is aimed at optimizing the design for future large-scale commercial facilities and is expected to produce 5.5 kilogram Atlantic Salmon by the last quarter of 2012. 

Read the full story in the North Island Gazette. 

Fish Site
February 17, 2011

Despite mounting public concern over the impact of aquaculture pesticides on the marine environment, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) is in the process of developing regulations that will facilitate and enable the ongoing use of eco-toxic pesticides in the open water by the salmon aquaculture industry.

DFO’s proposed “Pathogen and Pest Treatment” regulation would undermine the Fisheries Act, which prohibits the dumping of toxic substance into fish bearing waters, effectively exempting salmon farmers from legislation designed to protect the marine environment and Canada’s fisheries. Indeed, DFO is tasked to oversee the very Act it threatens to weaken with these new regulations.

Today 20 groups, representing tens of thousands of Canadians, have sent a joint letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper urging him to protect the marine environment and coastal communities by halting progress in the development of these regulations.

“Sea lice infestations plaguing the aquaculture industry highlight the inherent unsustainability of open net pen salmon aquaculture as it is now practiced in Canada,” said Matthew Abbott, Coordinator for Fundy Baykeeper, in St Andrews, New Brunswick.

Read the full story on The Fish Site. 

Judith Lavoie
February 12, 2011
The Times Colonist

Sea lice are spreading from fish farm salmon to young Fraser River sockeye as they migrate through the Strait of Georgia, a new study has found.

The research by scientists from Raincoast Conservation Foundation, Watershed Watch Salmon Society, the University of Victoria and Simon Fraser University, was published in the peer-reviewed journal Public Library of Science ONE this week.

It is the first time a proven link has been found between fish farms and elevated rates of sea lice on Fraser River sockeye.

Most research has concentrated on the effect of lice on juvenile pinks and chums.

"It's groundbreaking. It's the first study to demonstrate the role of salmon farms in transmitting sea lice to Fraser River sockeye ... the crown jewel of salmon runs on the west coast," said lead author Michael Price, of Raincoast Conservation and UVic.

Not only did the young fish have higher lice levels after passing salmon farms, they had many more lice than Skeena and Nass River sockeye that migrate along the north coast where there are no farms, he said.

Numbers of fish returning to the Fraser River have fluctuated wildly, with a collapse of the 2009 run and record returns last year.

While the effects of sea lice on juvenile sockeye has yet to be researched, the outcome is unlikely to be good, Price said.

Read the full story in The Times Colonist

Read: Price MHH, Proboszcz SL, Routledge RD, Gottesfeld AS, Orr C, et al. (2011) Sea Louse Infection of Juvenile Sockeye Salmon in Relation to Marine Salmon Farms on Canada’s West Coast. PLoS ONE 6(2)

Read related stories:

• Huffington Post; March 3, 2011; "Study: Sea lice form salmon farms infecting BC sockeye"
• North Island Gazette: February 17, 2011; "Study: lice on sockeye"
• Nanaimo Daily News and Leader-Post; February 12, 2011; "Farmed salmon spread sea lice as Fraser sockeye migrate"
• The Vancouver Sun; February 11, 2011; "Fish farms linked to sea lice infestations among wild sockeye - Researchers find young salmon migrating past operations in Discovery Islands, Broughton Archipelago pick up heavier load of parasites"
• Courier Islander; February 11, 2011; "Study the first link between farms and sockeye"
• Fisheries Information Service; February 10, 2011; "New study links wild sea lice to salmon farms"
• CBC News; February 9, 2011; "Wild salmon sea lice linked to B.C. fish farms"
• Conservation Magazine; February 9, 2011; "Lousy with lice - Does salmon farming spread parasites to Pacific runs" 
• Environmental News Service; February 8, 2011; "Sea lice from salmon farms infect Fraser River sockeye"
• CKNW; February 8, 2011; "Link between salmon farms and fish lice" 

Fisheries Information Service
February 10, 2011

The issuance of aquaculture licenses on 18 December 2010 without meaningful First Nation consultation was a clear infringement on the rights and title of many B.C. First Nations, claims the First Nations Fisheries Council (FNFC).

Since the B.C. Supreme Court Morton decision on 9 February 2009, the FNFC has been working with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) in an attempt to increase the opportunities for B.C. First Nations to contribute to, and participate in, the development of the new Pacific Aquaculture Regulations DFO.

However, this has moved forward and new federal aquaculture licenses were issued without adequately consulting First Nations or meaningfully addressing their concerns

This has led the Kwicksutaineuk Ah-Kwa-Mish First Nation (KAFN) to file for a Judicial Review of the eight Finfish Aquaculture Licenses issued within their territories.

The KAFN, who hold rights and title in the Broughton Archipelago, have repeatedly articulated that these licenses were issued with virtually zero consultation and/or accommodation, and therefore constitute an unjustified infringement to the rights of the KAFN people, argues the FNFC.

Read the full story on the Fisheries Information Service.

Julia Prinselaar
February 10, 2011
Westerly News

Toquaht First Nation chief Anne Mack attended last week's Seafood Summit in Vancouver and made a presentation about a proposed aquaculture park within her territory.

"At this point we're in the early stages," said Mack, who was part of a panel discussing the business of land-based closed containment salmon farming.

"We're looking at something sort of in the way of economics to help bring people back to the nation, to our traditional territory."

Mack says this could come in the form of land-based aquaculture.

While the majority of conventional salmon farming operates further north along Vancouver Island in open net pens in the ocean, her presentation made a case for land-based salmon farming.

"We like the idea of leaving wild [salmon] stock alone for a while," said Mack.

Research documenting the sea lice epidemic and genetic contamination of wild salmon stocks has sparked a shift in industry dialogue toward contained fish tanks on land.

Read the full story in The Westerley

Alan Hale
February 8, 2011
The Northern View

Commercial and some charter fisherman are criticizing the charter and lodge fishing industry on the north coast for routinely skirting around catch limitations set by DFO, and for what they perceive is the inadequate and mostly voluntary enforcement measures used by DFO.

While the concerns are not new, the renewed public condemnation by critics comes while the commercial and recreational fisheries in British Columbia are locked in a dispute over a possible reallocating of the halibut quota in favour of the recreational sector.

Several individual fisherman - mostly from the commercial sector or retired from it - have come forward to point out that despite the recreational fishery’s claim that the quota is too small to support their fishery, charter boat businesses in Prince Rupert have been disregarding their quota for years by ignoring catch limitations; not just in halibut, but in all fisheries.

None of the ways this is done is illegal, recreational fishers can take advantage of loopholes in DFO regulations that are not easily closed.

Read the full story in The Northern View. 

Science|Business
February 2, 2011

A new aquaculture R&D programme developed by the Norwegian Research Council is to focus on the sustainability of Norway's vast fishing industry

The Norwegian Research Council has announced a revised programme of R&D in aquaculture, which puts the emphasis on ensuring that the industry is developed in a way that is sustainable.

Pressing problems that need to be solved to ensure sustainability and allow the sector to grow include, sea lice infestations, discharges of pollution and escapes of production fish into the wild.

While Norway is currently the world’s leading producer and exporter of salmon and rainbow trout and an important global supplier of expertise, technology and equipment for aquaculture, the country accounts for only 1.7 per cent of the total aquaculture production volume. Given this the vision of turning Norway into the world’s leading aquaculture nation, is ambitious.

The revised work programme - Aquaculture – An Industry in Growth, is the result of a broad-based process involving industry players and the government. The Research Council says the inclusive, broad-based process leading up to the revised work programme has helped to raise industry awareness and increase willingness to take responsibility for generating new knowledge.

“The time is ripe for stepping up research efforts and clarifying the division of responsibility between the public and the private sector,” says Research Board member Paul Birger Torgnes.

Read the full story on Science|Business. 

Judith Lavoie
February 4, 2011
Times Colonist

Aggressive advertisements by an anti-fish farming group, comparing salmon farming to cancer, have been dismissed as immature and inappropriate by the B.C. Salmon Farmers Association.

The newly formed Global Alliance Against Industrial Aquaculture unveiled the ads — which use graphic images similar to those used in warnings against smoking — at an international seafood conference in Vancouver this week.

"Salmon farming kills around the world and should carry a global health warning," said Don Staniford, GAIAA co-ordinator. "We'll be rolling out the ad campaign later this month in newspapers across B.C. with donations from the general public, concerned fishermen and First Nations."

The ads, which carry such slogans such as "salmon farming kills workers" and "salmon farming is just wrong."

They include the Norwegian flag and the words "Norwegian owned," which has brought objections from the Norwegian parent companies of some fish farming companies, Staniford said.

But Kurt Oddekalv, leader of the Norwegian environmental group Norjes Miljovernforbund (Green Warriors of Norway), said salmon farmers are ignoring scientific evidence of health and environmental risks caused by the industry.

"In Norway, the industry is on death row with infectious diseases, sea lice infestations, chemical resistance and escapes," he said.

Mary Ellen Walling, B.C. Salmon Farmers Association executive director, said the advertisements are upsetting.

Read the full story in the Times Colonist. Also in the Province/Vancouver Sun/Regina Leader-Post/Windsor Star/Global News/Calgary Herald and Nicotine Buzz.

Read related stores at:

• Fisheries Secretariat; February 10, 2011; "The (very) goods and (very) bads of aquaculture"
• Fisheries Information Service; February 2, 2011; "Global campaign launched against Big Aquaculture'

Justine Hunter
February 3, 2011
Globe and Mail

The federal government should be on the hook for the hidden cost of its decision to grant the Cohen commission on Fraser River sockeye another year to complete its work, says the head of the BC Treaty Commission.

At least seven first nations communities are in treaty limbo, their debts mounting while they wait for a verdict from the salmon inquiry before they can move ahead with settling their claims.

“The Cohen inquiry should not continue to be used as an excuse not to get on with business at the treaty table,” said Sophie Pierre, chief commissioner for the BC Treaty Commission.

The unintended consequence of extending the deadline for the Cohen commission means first nations that are in the final stages of treaty negotiations – those that include salmon-fishing rights – are on hold.

Many have taken out substantial loans to pay for the slow-moving and cumbersome treaty process. This year, B.C. first nations at the treaty table are expected to sink another $30-million in debt to pay for negotiations.

Read the full story in the Globe and Mail. 

Read related stories:

• Tri-City News; February 3, 2011; "Cohen salmon probe extension criticized" 

Read background stories.

Shannon Moneo
February 3, 2011
Globe and Mail

The developer of the first ocean-based salmon-rearing tank says his system will prove that healthy salmon can be produced for about the same cost, and with less environmental damage, as salmon grown in marine net cages.

“I came out of the net industry and appreciate all of the issues of rearing salmon in net cages,” said Richard Buchanan, CEO of Vancouver-based AgriMarine Holdings, citing disease, sea lice, fish escapes and waste deposits that contaminate shellfish.

In mid-January, the first of four massive fibreglass and foam tanks was installed near the Vancouver Island community of Campbell River.

The tank was stocked with 50,000 15-centimetre Chinook salmon, which, over the next 16 to 18 months, will be raised to four kilograms at a cost AgriMarine estimates at $4.56 per kilogram, based on 2010 data collected at its freshwater salmon farm in China.

Raising Atlantic salmon for market in B.C. marine net cages cost $4.50 per kilogram in 2010, according to seafood company Marine Harvest.

The B.C. Salmon Farmers Association, representing 80 net farms, is skeptical about AgriMarine's declaration that fish can be raised in tanks as economically as in net pens.

Read the full story in the Globe and Mail.

Read related stories:

• Courier-Islander; February 2nd, 2011; "First closed-containment fish have been put in project tank"

Read background stories.

Alaska Dispatch
February 2, 2011

According to an opinion piece published by Canada's Financial Post (via the Vancouver Sun), primarily one U.S. non-profit foundation is financially responsible for a marketing effort that has been threatening British Columbia's salmon farming industry by boosting the profile of Alaska's wild salmon and "demarketing" Canadian farmed product. As the author sees it, a big problem with the marketing efforts, which generally promote "sustainable" or "wild" fisheries, is that Alaska's commercial salmon fisheries aren't all truly "wild," some of them are propped up by hatchery-raised fry which are "ranched" in the ocean. A second problem the columnist alleges is that environmental impacts of Alaska's fisheries are greater than those of net-pen farming operations. Consequently, after acknowledging the benefits such marketing has toward the "noble" goal of supporting communities which have traditionally depended upon commercial fishing, the conclusion reads, "... in terms of public health, it is illogical for American foundations to demarket farmed salmon. Take a deep breath and read much more, here.

Source: Alaska Dispatch

Wency Leung
February 2, 2011
Globe and Mail

Sustainable isn’t a word most people associate with salmon farming. Given the industry’s widely documented problems with pollution, sea lice, disease and its threat to wild fish stocks, many environmentally conscious consumers have dropped farmed salmon from their grocery lists altogether.

A new farmed Atlantic salmon that’s marketed as less polluting and more environmentally friendly is poised to change the future of aquaculture. But how sustainable is it?

Canada’s largest grocery retailer, Loblaw Cos. Ltd., announced last week it will sell WiseSource salmon, supplied by New Brunswick’s True North Salmon Co., which is raised using “integrated multi-trophic aquaculture,” or IMTA. The environment mimics the natural ecosystem and includes other species, such as mussels and seaweed, that feed off the waste and can also be harvested and sold.

Thierry Chopin, a professor of marine biology at the University of New Brunswick who has been leading the research on IMTA, says Loblaw’s decision provides commercial validation for this experimental method.

“We are always told that [as] scientists, we like to be in the ivory towers,” he said. “Well, we’ve left the towers and we’re having an impact on the evolution of aquacultural practices.”

Among scientists, conservation groups and industry experts, consensus is growing that the world needs aquaculture to feed increasing demand for seafood. However, not everyone agrees on the best practices.

Jay Ritchlin, director of marine and freshwater conservation for the David Suzuki Foundation, said IMTA has major flaws.

“It’s sort of the image of sustainability without the reality,” he said.

Read the full story in the Globe and Mail. 

Fisheries Information Service
February 2, 2011

A contingent of BC salmon farmers is visiting the Lower Mainland to talk sustainable seafood with colleagues and experts from around the world.

The BC Salmon Farmers Association (BCSFA), along with its member companies, will be represented at the Seafood Choice Alliances' Seafood Summit, in Vancouver.

"Direct engagement with others who share our interest in conservation and sustainable seafood is important. There may be differences in approaches - but the bottom line is we're all looking to provide a good product in a sustainable way," said Mary Ellen Walling, Executive Director of the BC Salmon Farmers Association.

Salmon is a the most important element of many grocery seafood counters - and BC's salmon farmers produce the largest agricultural export in the province. They've been unable to meet demand for their product for five years.

Read the full story on Fisheries Information Service.

Mark Hume
February 1, 2011
Globe and Mail

There is no funding agreement in place to continue test fisheries on the West Coast, a key program that allows managers to calculate how many salmon are returning to the Fraser River each year, a federal judicial inquiry has learned.

Jim Cave, head of stock monitoring for the Pacific Salmon Commission, and Paul Ryall, a senior Department of Fisheries and Oceans official, both testified Monday that test fishing is crucial in providing stock estimates, so managers can determine how many fish can be caught.

But the two officials told the Commission of Inquiry into the Decline of Sockeye Salmon in the Fraser River that a five-year funding program for test fishing is coming to an end this year, and it’s not clear yet how test fishing will be paid for after it expires.

“I’m not aware there’s an agreed-upon solution,” said Mr. Ryall, in response to questions from Wendy Baker, associate counsel for the commission headed by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Bruce Cohen.

Read the full story in The Globe and Mail

David Jolly
January 31, 2011
New York Times

Aquaculture is overtaking traditional fishing in global production, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization reported Monday. But a scientist with the organization predicted that growth would slow as space for the food farms dwindled and concerns grew about their effects on the environment.

Fish farming is the fastest growing area of animal food production, having increased at a 6.6 percent annual rate from 1970 to 2008, the agency said in the report. Over that period, the global per-capita supply of farm-raised fish soared to 17.2 pounds from 1.5 pounds.

In volume, aquaculture now makes up 46 percent of the world’s supply of consumed fish, and the sector appears to have overtaken wild fisheries in commercial value, reaching $98.4 billion in 2008, compared with $93.9 billion for fish caught in the wild.

“In terms of capture fisheries, we’ve now more or less peaked” at a current harvest of 90 million tons for fish caught in the wild, Kevern L. Cochrane, director of the Food and Agriculture Organization’s resources use and conservation division, said in a telephone interview.

But fish farms will also run into limits, he warned. “We’re going to run into constraints in terms of space availability, water availability — particularly fresh water — and also environmental impacts and supply of feed,” Mr. Cochrane said.

“Growth is not sustainable indefinitely at that level,” he said, “and we are currently seeing a reduction in the annual rate of increase.”

Read the full story in the New York Times

Randy Shore
January 28, 2011
Vancouver Sun

Fish farming has grown into an important industry for B.C.'s coastal communities and 2011 will see continued strong productivity, according to Mary Ellen Walling, executive director of the British Columbia Salmon Farmers Association.

Farmed salmon represents more than half of the total fresh seafood sales in California, a market in which British Columbia is slowly establishing dominance, said Walling. B.C. exports more than $350 million worth of farmed salmon, mainly to the United States.

"Our volumes haven't increased, but our export value will be higher," said Walling. "We are establishing B.C. farmed salmon as a premium product and our main competitor Chile is exporting less fish to the United States. So not only are we getting more money for our fish, we are expanding our share of the market."

The industry has coalesced into four major companies and a collection of niche players.

About 98 per cent of B.C.'s farmed fin fish are Atlantic salmon, dominated by Marine Harvest, Mainstream and Grieg Foods.

A fourth firm, Creative Salmon, also farms chinook salmon for export to Japan.

Read the full story in The Vancouver Sun

January 27, 2011
BBC

The level of chemicals used by fish farmers to treat sea lice infestations has risen dramatically, a BBC Scotland investigation has learned.

Scottish government figures showed that over the past five years, the industry used a broader range of chemicals and more of them.

Campaigners claim the figures are evidence the natural parasite is becoming resistant to the treatments.

Read the full story on BBC. 

Read related stories:

• Press & Journal; February 9, 2011; "Salmon group in bid to cut sea lice impact"
• Press & Journal; January 31, 2010; "Laird calls on EC to protect salmon - complaint says government should be prosecuted for failing to prevent harm to wild species"
• Galloway Gazette; January 28, 2011; "Salmon farms 'using more chemicals'"
• Fisheries Information Service; January 28, 2011; "Scotland's salmon farms using booming amounts of chemicals"
• STV (Scottish Television); January 28, 2011; "Salmon farming industry 'using more chemicals'"

Derrick Penner
January 26, 2011
The Vancouver Sun

The Cohen Commission investigating the decline of Fraser River sockeye salmon stocks has been granted a 13-month extension and an additional $11 million to complete its job, commission staff announced Wednesday.

Commission spokeswoman Carla Shore said the number of participants involved, the volume of documents it has to review and complexity of the issues involved made hitting the judicial inquiry's original May 1 deadline impossible.

To date, the federal government has disclosed to the commission 293,000 documents, including 140,000 e-mails, and disclosure isn't expected to be complete until next month.

Shore said the inquiry's 21 participants have contributed another 3,600 documents, and the commission has scheduled "a very comprehensive evidentiary schedule."

"It was just not possible to complete it in that time frame."

The commission received an order in council from Prime Minister Stephen Harper's office Tuesday approving the extension.

Now, Shore added, the commission expects its hearings to last into the early fall with the report to be issued June 30.

Read the full story in The Vancouver Sun

Read related stories: 

• Fisheries Information Service; January 28, 2011; Cohen Commission gets extra time and USE 11 min to investigate salmon decline"

Mark Iype
January 26, 2011
Vancouver Sun

Canadian research that shows the genetic makeup of fish varies geographically may have profound effects on both conservation efforts to preserve threatened species and the $2.1-billion aquaculture industry, a University of Concordia biologist is suggesting.

"We often view fish species as homogeneous," said Dylan Fraser, the principle author of the study published in the journal Heredity. "But a fish is a fish is a fish isn't actually true."

Researchers from Concordia, Simon Fraser University, Universite Laval, the University of British Columbia and Aarhus University in Denmark compared 93 wild and aquaculture fish populations by examining the adaptability of trout, salmon, char, whitefish and graylings across North America and Europe.

The biologists found that fish living in one part of the country, or even one part of the same waterway, won't necessarily thrive if they are transplanted to another part, even if they are the same species.

Fraser explained that if you took a trout from northern Quebec, one from Ontario and one from B.C. and transplanted them into a river near Montreal, you would expect the fish taken from the closest location to be the most successful.

Read full story in The Vancouver Sun. 

Fish Site
January 21, 2011

CANADA - Salmon farming standards being proposed by an industry trade association don’t address the most critical environmental and social threats resulting from current open net pen salmon farming – particularly on Canada’s West Coast, environmental groups said earlier this week. The warning, issued by the David Suzuki Foundation and Living Oceans Society, came on the final day for public input into the Global Aquaculture Alliance’s (GAA) draft standards for salmon farming. The proposed standards are being criticized by both groups as being too weak to support any claim of environmental or social responsibility, or sustainable salmon farming.

“The GAA has proposed a set of standards that primarily require that the certified operation has complied with the law and is trying to do a good job,” said Jay Ritchlin, director of the marine and freshwater conservation program at the David Suzuki Foundation.

“While this may offer some value by discouraging the worst farming practices, it shouldn’t be confused with an indication of significantly improved social or environmental performance by these aquaculture operations.”

Read the full story on The Fish Site.

Judith Lavoie
January 21, 2011
Times Colonist

What could be more British Columbian than wild salmon?

Not much, according to a recent poll by the Mustel Group for the Pacific Salmon Foundation and Fraser Basin Council, two of the organizations pushing for wild Pacific salmon to be declared B.C.'s provincial fish.

The telephone survey of 502 people found 95 per cent named Pacific salmon as B.C.'s most iconic fish and 85 per cent supported the official symbol bid.

"The survey provides an overwhelming message that people support Pacific salmon as a symbol of B.C.," said Brian Riddell, Pacific Salmon Foundation CEO. "These results send a message from all British Columbians."

Read the full story in the Times Colonist.

Read related stories:

• North Island Gazette; January 27, 2011; "Poll - B.C. picks salmon" 
• The Vancouver Sun; January 21, 2011; "Most want salmon to become an official symbol of B.C."
• Vancouver Observer; January 20th; "Make pacific salmon B.C.'s official fish, say New Democrats"

Read background news stories. 

Dan Maclennan
January 19, 2011
Times Colonist

In the world of closed-containment aquaculture, it appears size matters.

Never was that more true in the Campbell River area than in the past few weeks as a massive floating solid-wall tank was built on the waterfront by the Agrimarine Industries/Middle Bay Sustainable Aquaculture Institute partnership.

The first of four planned tanks was floated into Middle Bay near Quadra Island this week, drawing praise from environmentalists and Fin Donnelly, the federal New Democrat Fisheries and Oceans critic.

"The successful launch of AgriMarine's closed-containment tank in Campbell River is a major step forward in creating a sustainable and responsible aquaculture industry in British Columbia," Donnelly said in a release Tuesday. "We have the potential to be leaders in closed-containment aquaculture technology. The prospective jobs and economic opportunities are huge."

The project received federal funding through Sustainable Development Technology Canada, a non-profit foundation created by the federal government in 2001 to help build sustainable development technology in Canada.

In May, Donnelly introduced the Wild Salmon Protection Act, Bill C-518, which would strengthen the Fisheries Act by moving harmful, open-net fish farms to safe, closed containment systems.

"This installation proves the technology to move to closed containment now exists and is viable. Canadians want to see safe aquaculture which the market is now demanding," said Donnelly. "I have received overwhelming support for my bill across the country. It is time for the minister to amend the Fisheries Act and begin the transition to safe closed containment aquaculture in British Columbia."

Read the full story in the Times Colonist

Read related stories:

• Campbell River Mirror; March 14, 2012; "AgriMarine reports damage to Campbll River demonstration tank in severe storm"
• AgriMarine Media Release; February 14, 2012; AgriMarine Signs Letter of Intent With Marine Harvest [Norway]
• TheFishSite; October 6, 2012; "AgriMarine Expands New Salmon Sites Into China"
• Courier Islander; August 12, 2011; "MBSAI receives more federal funding"
• CTV News Coverage: July 6, 2011; "Unique fish farm aims to dash environmental concerns"
• Courier Islander.; June 3, 2011; "Agrimarine has tentative Safeway deal"
• Courier-Islander.; May 13, 2011; "C.R.-based closed-containment project impresses CAAR members"
• Business in Vancouver; March 15, 2011; "Agrimarine signs MOU for eastern Canada fish farm venture"
• Courier Islander; February 2, 2011; "First closed-containment fish have been put in project tank"
• Courier Islander; February 2, 2011; "History in the making?'
• Courier Islander; January 21, 2011; "'Contained' economics get better and better"
• Courier Islander; January 21, 2011; "Middle Bay project means an end to open net cage farms - Donnelly"
• Courier Islander; January 19, 2011; "Closed containment one step closer"
• Vancouver Sun; January 19, 2011; "Campbell Rivers' floating fish tank draws praise"
• Fisheries Information Service; January 18, 2011; First closed containment aquaculture tank launches in BC"
• CBC News; January 17, 2011; "Closed-pen salmon farm launches in B.C."
• Straight.com; January 17, 2011; "Alexandra Morton applauds B.C.'s first closed fish-farming tank"
• National Post; January 17, 2011; "Fishermen outraged over Chinese fish farm using B.C. salmon eggs" 
• Earth Times; January 17, 2011; "AgriMarine and MBSAI Complete Launch of First Marine Closed Containment Tank in BC"
• Courier Islander; January 13, 2011; "First on in the world"
• Courier Islander; January 13, 2011; "Big is bigger"

Margaret Munro
January 13, 2011
Vancouver Sun

Volcanic eruptions, giant squid and sea lice have all been invoked to explain the wild swings in one of Canada's most valuable fisheries.

Now scientists have raised the spectre of a mysterious virus killing huge numbers of Pacific salmon before they reach their spawning grounds.

"The mortality-related signature reflects a viral infection," a team of federal and university researchers reported Thursday in a study into the collapse of British Columbia's famed Fraser River sockeye runs.

The compromised salmon that appeared to have a viral infection at sea — a phenomenon co-author Scott Hinch at the University of British Columbia describes as "dead fish swimming" — were 13.5 times more likely to die before spawning than healthy fish.

The study, published Thursday in the journal Science, does not identify a microbial culprit, but suggests the virus may be associated with leukemia and lymphoma.

"There is no doubt there is some form of pathogen involved," Hinch said.

But he says it's not yet known just what it is, when and where the fish are being infected or how much other factors, such as the remarkable rise in river water temperatures seen in the past decade, are contributing to mortality.

Some observers speculate the possible virus may be linked to fish farms, but others say it could be a natural, but until now unrecognized, threat to Pacific salmon. 

Read the full story in the Vancouver Sun. Also in: Times Colonist; Nanaimo Daily News; Alberni Valley Times; Calgary Herald; Edmonton Journal; adapted in Vancouver Sun; January 14, 2011; as "Virus may have killed Fraser River salmon, study says - Possibly associated with leukemia, lymphoma".

Read related stories:

•  The Province; April 20; 2011; "Leukemia-type virus may be killing Fraser River salmon" 
• Scientific American; May 5, 2011; "Upstream Battle: What Is Killing Off the Fraser River's Sockeye Salmon? [Slide Show] - A recent study suggests a mystery pathogen acting in concert with human-induced stressors may be the culprits"
• The Province; April 20, 2011; "Leukemia-type virus may be killing Fraser River Salmon - 'Dead fish swimming' up river after infected in open Pacific"
• McClatchy Newspapers; April 14, 2011; "Pacific salmon may be dying from leukemia-type virus" (Miami Herald; Seattle Post Intelligencer)
• Epoch Times; January 20, 2011; "BC sockye salmon threatened by mystery virus"
• The Tyee; January 15, 2011; "Scientists suspect virus may be cause of salmon deaths"
• Globe and Mail; January 14, 2011; "Mysterious infection is killing B.C. salmon"
• Time; January 14, 2011; "What is killing the Pacific salmon"
• Anchorage Daily News, January 12, 2011;"Study tracks salmon coping with warming river"
• CBC; January 13, 2011;"B.C. salmon deaths may be linked to virus"
• The Canadian Press; January 13, 2011; "Genetic study shows new way to track salmon coping with global warming in British Columbia". Also in MetroNews; The Olympian.

Judith Lavoie>br/ >January 13, 2011
Times Colonist

Putting half a million farm fish in the direct path of migrating sockeye salmon is a reckless move that could threaten the survival of some wild runs, environmental groups say.

Marine Harvest Canada is reactivating a farm at Conville Bay, in the Discovery Islands, in the Strait of Georgia, which has been fallow for more than two years.

The farm is in an area dubbed Wild Salmon Narrows, as the tight channels around Quadra Island are travelled by many species of out-migrating juvenile salmon and adult salmon returning to spawn.

"By adding another half million farmed fish to the sensitive migration route, Marine Harvest is sending a signal to British Columbians that they are not concerned about the impact their fish farms are having on wild salmon," said Michelle Young, of the Georgia Strait Alliance and the Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform.

The major concern is that the farm will put the offspring of the collapsed 2009 Fraser River sockeye run at risk, she said.

But Clare Backman, Marine Harvest sustainability director, said the farm will be managed carefully to ensure there is no effect on wild salmon.>

Read the full story in the Times Colonist

Read related stories:

• Times Colonist; January 14, 2011; "Salmon-farm reactivation reignites environmental debate"
• Courier Islander; January 14, 2011; Groups protest opening of old fish farm"
• The Fish Site; January 11, 2011; "MH Canada Criticised Over Farmed Salmon"
• FishNewsEU; January 10, 2011; "Bad decision to put more salmon in path of Fraser River sockeye, say grouping"

Judith Lavoie
January 13, 2011
Times Colonist

The federal and provincial governments have filed appeals against a B.C. Supreme Court ruling in an attempt to scuttle a class-action lawsuit over sea lice on salmon farms filed by a First Nation.

The Kwicksutaineuk/Ah-Kwa-Mish (KAFN) First Nation, which has traditional territory in the Broughton Archipelago, filed a lawsuit claiming fish farms had spread sea lice to wild salmon and claiming financial compensation for depleted fish stocks. The province tried to block the lawsuit, saying First Nations cannot usually take part in class actions. But in December, Judge Harry Slade ruled in favour of the KAFN's application for certification of the lawsuit.

The decision of senior governments to appeal that ruling is deeply frustrating and disappointing, KAFN Chief Bob Chamberlin said.

"We turned to the courts to ask for a fair determination as to the extent that open net-pen salmon aquaculture has impacted wild salmon stocks in the Broughton Archipelago and whether the province's authorization and regulation of salmon aquaculture has caused the impact," he said. "With certification of the class action we hoped that a long history of government delay, denial and distraction to avoid these questions would come to an end."

The appeal means more legal bills and delays when, with the rapid decline of salmon populations in the Broughton, speed is crucial, Chamberlin said. "We will fully respond to the appeal to protect our rights."

In December, responsibility for regulating aquaculture in B.C. passed from the provincial to the federal government.

Source: Times Colonist

Related stories:

• North Island Gazette and Intertribal Times; January 27, 2011; "Government seeks to overturn ruling"
• Courier Islander: January 14, 2011; "Government appeals"
• The First Perspective; January 12, 2011; "Fishing rights: The government recognizes and then denies rights in court: First Nations Chief"
• A Channel News Coverage; January 11, 2011; "Fish Farm Dispute"
• CTV News; January 11, 2011; "Governments appeal First Nation sea lice lawsuit"
• The Tyee; January 11, 2011; "Senior governments appeal sea lice class action lawsuit by B.C. First Nation"
• Westcoaster.ca; January 11, 2011; "Senior governments appeal sea lice lawsuit"
• CBC News; January 11, 2011; "Court appeal disappoints B.C. First Nation"

Matthew Burrows
January 11, 2011
The Straight

Vancouver Island-based biologist Alexandra Morton has confirmed to the Straight that she will not be running for the provincial or federal NDP any time soon.

“I decided that if I was going to do this, people from here on in would not know if I was speaking the truth from my heart, or I was supporting the party line, or I was working with people in caucus,” Morton said by phone today (January 11). “I really felt that I need to be true to the waters here and what is in my heart.”

Morton said she admires B.C.-based federal NDP MPs like Fin Donnelly, Nathan Cullen, Jean Crowder, Denise Savoie, and wants to work with them in protecting B.C.’s coastline.

However, she said she is not ready to jump into the political ring now, knowing so little about the political system, and added that the B.C. NDP itself appears to be behind.

“They don’t even have their leadership package ready to go,” she said. “So all these people who are throwing their hat in the ring, they are just saying that. They [the NDP] are very unprepared. I would like to support individuals across parties. So, for example, Elizabeth May running federally for the Green Party. I think that’s fantastic, and I like what she has to say. There are members of the NDP federally and provincially that inspire me and, who I think will help this small community and help us come into ecological compliance.”

Morton has said that any candidacy in the future will likely be as an independent.

Read the full story in The Straight.

Read related stories in the:

• Times Colonist; January 16, 2011; "Morton highlights system's flaws"
• North Island Gazette; January 12, 2011; "Morton declines offer to run for NDP"
• Straight.com; January 12, 2011; "Co-op radio demonstrates its value with Gail Davidson and Alexandra Morton as regular guests"
• All Voices; January 12, 2011; "BC Salmon activist declines political offer"
• Courier Islander; January 11, 2011; "Morton declines NDP offer to run"
• The Straight; January 11, 2011; "Salmon activist Alexandra Morton ponders B.C. NDP leadership run"
• Times Colonist; January 7, 2011; "Fish-farm activist eyes running for federal NDP"
• Vancouver Sun; January 7, 2011; "Fish-farm activist Alexandra Morton eyes running for federal NDP"
• The Tyee; January 6, 2011; "Morton says she may run for NDP in North Island"

January 11, 2011
Telegraph Journal

ST. ANDREWS - Nets torn during heavy winds around Christmas allowed 138,000 small farmed salmon to escape from two floating sea cages off Grand Manan.

These escapees threaten wild Atlantic salmon with parasites and disease and by mixing genes with the native fish, Atlantic Salmon Federation (ASF) president Bill Taylor said in an interview.

The wind prevented Admiral Fish Farms Ltd. from recapturing any of the escaped fish, company president Glen Brown said in a written statement.

However these fish, each less than 200 grams (seven ounces), would not likely survive in the wild, he said in the statement.

Taylor did not seem so sure that all of these 25-centimetre salmon, between the smolt state and adult stage, would die before causing trouble for the wild fish.

Read the full story in the Telegraph Journal

Read related stories:

• Chronicle Herald; January 30, 2011; "Keep salmon farms out of the ocean"
• Fisheries Information Service; January 11, 2011; "Atlantic Salmon Federation urges changes to prevent farmed fish from escaping"
• Times & Transcript; January 10, 2011; "Salmon Federation calls for changes"
• The Fish Site; January 10, 2011; "More farmed salmon escape"

January 10, 2011
Medical News Today

The majority of restaurants serve farmed salmon because it is cheaper, but a study published in the Journal of Nutrition shows that it is not the healthiest choice. Farmed salmon is raised in cramped pens where pathogens are rampant, toxicity of the water is common and the fish are fed red dye pellets to color its flesh to make it resemble wild salmon.

Researchers analyzed the risk-benefit ratio based on levels of contaminants like dioxins, PCBs and chlorinated pesticides versus omega-3 fatty acid levels. While farmed salmon is higher in omega-3s, it is also significantly higher in these toxins (about 10 times) which can produce birth defects, lower IQ, and cause cancer. They determined the following based on origin of the salmon: "consumers should not eat farmed fish from Scotland, Norway and eastern Canada more than three times a year; farmed fish from Maine, western Canada and Washington state no more than three to six times a year; and farmed fish from Chile no more than about six times a year. Wild chum salmon can be consumed safely as often as once a week, pink salmon, Sockeye and Coho about twice a month and Chinook just under once a month."

Read the full story in Medical News Today

Study referred to: Foran JA et al. Quantitative Analysis of the Benefits and Risks of Consuming Farmed and Wild Salmon. J. Nutr 2005 135:2639-2643 

Alastair Jamieson
January 8, 2011
The Telegram

Britain's fisheries minister, Richard Benyon, has voiced concern over the sustainability of farmed salmon.

He spoke out to warn of the environmental impact of the industry and suggested consumers should switch to less fashionable wild alternatives such as gurnard or megrim.

His comments chime with a television campaign next week, led by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, highlighting wasteful fishing practices.

But the remarks have infuriated Scotland's salmon farming industry, which is worth £500m a year and responsible for 6,000 jobs.

Read the full story in The Telegram

Read related stories:

• Fisheries Information Service; January 11, 2011; "Westminster's fisheries minister 'irresponsible' says Scottish salmon farming industry"
• The Scotsman; January 10, 2011; "Westminster's fisheries minister 'irresponsible' says Scottish salmon farming industry"

Bill Trotter
January 7, 2011
Bangor Daily News

Parasites, pesticides, sick salmon and dead lobsters.

These four things have become an issue in Passamaquoddy Bay, and no one seems to be happy about it.

Not the salmon aquaculture operators, who are using pesticides to combat a damaging outbreak of sea lice at their fish pens in Passamaquoddy Bay and adjacent Cobscook Bay. Not environmentalists, who are concerned about the effect the pesticides might be having on surrounding marine life. And not lobster fishermen, who fear the use of pesticides has contributed to widespread lobster deaths in the past.

Officials in Canada are looking into the use of pesticides in and near Passamaquoddy Bay as part of separate investigations into the deaths of lobsters off Grand Manan Island in late 2009 and off Deer Island in early 2010. Both islands are located directly across the international border within easy eyesight of Maine. 

Lobsters and sea lice, both crustaceans, are highly vulnerable to pesticides that salmon farm operators have been using and then disposing of in coastal waters, according to officials. 

Read the full story in the Bangor Daily News.

Read related stories:

• NaturalNews; February 9, 2011; "New chemical pesticide now being used on fish farms"
• The Working Waterfront; December 29, 2010; "Are salmon pen pesticides killing lobsters? Environment: Fishermen suspect pesticides are to blame, but aquaculture officials say they're working within regulations"
• Telegraph Journal; September 25, 2010; "Bay of Fundy mystery: What killed the lobsters?"

Read background stories 

Judith Lavoie
January 4, 2011
Times Colonist

Vancouver Island is gaining 43 new public service jobs as aquaculture management is transferred from the province to the federal government. 

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans took over aquaculture oversight Dec. 18, following a 2009 B.C. Supreme Court decision that aquaculture is a fishery, meaning the federal government is responsible for regulation.

Most new employees will be at work within the next three weeks and all areas will be staffed by early March, said Andrew Thomson, DFO Pacific Region director for aquaculture management.

"We already have a baseline of staff in place to get the licences out," he said.

The breakdown of Vancouver Island jobs is 14 new employees in Nanaimo — including fishery officers and aquaculture resource management staff — eight in Courtenay — with responsibility for fish health monitoring and shellfish and freshwater assessments — 15 in Campbell River — where there will be fishery officers, licensing and finfish field assessment staff — and six in Port Hardy — including fishery officers, aquaculture resource management staff and employees responsible for finfish field monitoring.

Read the full story in the Times Colonist

Read related stories in the:

• Courier Islander; January 14, 2011; "Mainstream welcomes new regulations" 
• Times Colonist; January 8, 2011; "More fish farm oversight"
• Courier Islander.; January 7, 2011; "15 jobs for C.R."
• North Island Gazette; January 6, 2011; "DFO staff for Port Hardy"
• North Island Gazette; January 4, 2011; New DFO staff for Port Hardy"

BIV Business Today
December 23, 2010

 A B.C. Supreme Court judge has certified a class action lawsuit that would see First Nations go after both the province and the federal government for fish farms that allegedly harmed wild salmon stocks in the Broughton archipelago.

According to court documents dated December 1, Chief Robert Chamberlin of the Kwicksutaineuk/Ah-Kwa-Mish First Nation is representing a class of plaintiffs including numerous bands that assert fishing rights in the Broughton archipelago near the north end of Vancouver Island.

B.C.’s Ministry of Agriculture and Lands and the Attorney General of Canada have been named defendants in the case.

Chamberlin alleges the province’s issuance of fish farm licenses in the archipelago has resulted in sea lice infestations in wild salmon stocks, according to court documents.

It is further alleged those infestations have infringed on aboriginal fishing rights to the area.

Both Victoria and Ottawa opposed the certification of the class action suit, saying First Nations are generally barred from class proceedings.  

Read the full story in the BIV Business Today

Read related stories

Mike Merritt
January 2, 2011
The Scotsman

A CONSERVATION body headed by the Prince of Wales has launched an astonishing attack on the Scottish Government over the threat of extinction to wild salmon. The Atlantic Salmon Trust has blasted "laissez-faire policies" towards fish farming and netting which together they say are "killing" the natural species.

The Perth-based trust, whose patron is Prince Charles, said it would be pressing the government to force the industry to address its "most urgent concerns," the impacts of sea lice from farm cages and potential genetic damage to wild salmon from thousands of escaped farmed fish. It also attacked the government for allowing mixed stocks netting, which it wants banned.

Read the full story in The Scotsman