Mark Hume
June 28, 2011
Globe and Mail

In a spacious room in Federal Court in downtown Vancouver, the commission Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed to inquire into the decline of sockeye salmon proceeds with judicial decorum.

Often, 20 or more lawyers are present, but the proceedings unfold with remarkably little legal conflict. Although there are occasional objections, for the most part the lawyers don't argue, even though they are representing groups that are at odds over fisheries management. This is in keeping with the collegial approach that British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Bruce Cohen urged at the start of the hearings.

But behind the scenes things have not been nearly so congenial.

For months, lawyers have been sparring over an issue that has caused heated debate, led to personal aspersions being cast, and raised doubts in some minds about where the commission is heading.

The argument, settled in a ruling by Judge Cohen last week, followed an application by lawyers representing Alexandra Morton, a participant in the inquiry, a salmon researcher and anti-fish farm activist, who sought to be released from an undertaking of confidentiality.

Before getting access to the tens of thousands of documents gathered by commission investigators, participants are required to sign a letter agreeing not to disclose "any document or information."

But in studying the vast file of documents, Ms. Morton came across what she alleges is information showing provincial inspectors found signs of a disease, infectious salmon anemia, or ISA, had been detected in British Columbia.

ISA can rip through salmon populations. It was found in salmon farms in Chile in 2007 - and within two years had gutted the industry, shutting down so many operations that 13,000 people had to be laid off. The industry is still recovering.

Read the full story in the Globe and Mail.

Read related stories:

• The Tyee; June 30, 2011; "Is a Virus Ravaging BC's Sockeye? As pressure mounts to shine more light on the question, the politics get hotter"

Bill Cleverley
June 28, 2011
Times Colonist

After three years of discussions, three central Island First Nations in the shellfish business have entered into a "capacitybuilding agreement" with Marine Harvest Canada.

This is the 10th such agreement between Marine Harvest, B.C.'s largest fish farming company, and coastal First Nations.

The agreement establishes protocols for best practices, said Ian Roberts, Marine Harvest communications manager.

"You want to make sure that the business that is going on in their territory is of benefit to the membership, to the bands, and provides operational security to the company," Roberts said.

The agreement requires environmentally sustainable practices while providing economic and investment opportunities for the First Nations.

Read the full story in the Times Colonist.

Read related story:

• Campbell River Mirror; June 28, 2011; "Three First Nations sign deal with Marine Harvest"

Christie Blatchford
June 26, 2011
National Post

If the famously missing sockeye salmon of the Fraser River weren't already so often M.I.A., the temptation would be to imagine they had sat in on the proceedings of the Cohen Commission of Inquiry, and then simply done the decent thing and hanged themselves en masse.

The Commission is but the latest iteration -the first fullblown federal inquiry, though there have been half a dozen earlier investigations -studying what is politely called the decline of the salmon in the Fraser.

The fish mysteriously returned last year in record numbers, but the commercial fishery was completely shuttered for six of the previous 10 years, including three consecutive years starting in 2007.

The first closure was in 1999, smack in the middle of a period during which about 15 million fish vanished between the monitoring station at Mission, B.C. and their spawning grounds, which range from between 200 and 1,000 miles away.

Read the full story in the National Post. 

Read related stories. 

June 24, 2011
Telegraph Journal

The Atlantic Salmon Federation and the Conservation Fund are joining forces in a research project that will try to rear salmon in a freshwater closed-containment system.

"It's huge, it's groundbreaking," Bill Taylor, the federation's president, said. "Hopefully it will help us move towards much more environmentally friendly and wild-salmon friendly aquaculture."

Over the next year, the federation plans to grow 10 tonnes of salmon in a circular, stainless-steel tank that is slightly larger than an Olympic swimming pool.

The Conservation Fund, an American non-profit organization, has successfully conducted similar trials with St. John River salmon in smaller qualities, but Taylor said this project is the first trial of this magnitude. Taylor said the project's budget is $120,000.

Jonathan Carr, the federation's director of research and environment, said the goal is to provide an environmentally friendly solution to the growing global demand for salmon.

Read the full story in the Telegraph Journal.

Read related story:

• Fisheries Information Service; June 27, 2011; "Atlantic salmon to be raised in closed-containment system"

Read the Project Backgrounder. 

Darrell Bellaart
June 23, 2011
Nanaimo Daily News

Sea lice can indeed transfer waterborne infections from one fish to another, studies at the Pacific Biological Station in Nanaimo and other research centres suggest.

Scientists attending an international conference on fish health at Vancouver Island Conference Centre last week heard early findings of those studies, which are still at the preliminary stage.

Commercial salmon farmers and environmentalists have long been at odds over whether sea lice associated with fish farms harm wild salmon. Depending what the research uncovers, it could impact rules affecting the aquaculture industry.

Currently Atlantic salmon are reared in the thousands, in open-net pens. Opponents have long been calling for closed containers to prevent sea lice escaping into the ocean, which some believe is responsible for a drop in wild salmon stocks near aquaculture operations.

Advances in pathogen management was the topic discussed by about 150 representatives from government and private interests from as far away as Europe, at the American Fisheries Association's annual meeting in Nanaimo last week.

Read the full story in the Nanaimo Daily News.

June 21, 2011
Fisheries Information Service

he Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA), the leading standard-setting organisation for farmed seafood, has expanded the Best Aquaculture Practice (BAP) certification programme with the completion of BAP standards for salmon farms.

"This is another big step forward for BAP," GAA Executive Director Wally Stevens said. "With the salmon standards coming on line, the programme now covers another very important species via international guidelines that protect the environment, worker rights and animal welfare, while also addressing food safety and traceability."

The BAP standards for salmon farms apply to the cage and net pen production of salmon and rainbow trout. They join BAP's standards for shrimp, tilapia, pangasius and channel catfish.

The BAP programme also includes standards for feed mill, hatchery and processing plants. Over 1.5 billion lb (700,000 tonnes) of seafood are processed under the BAP programme annually.

BAP is now open to salmon farmers and processors, and is working with certification bodies to develop auditor guidelines for the new standards. An August BAP auditor course in Ireland will emphasize the salmon standards.

Read the full story on Fisheries Information Service. 

Yasim Aboelsaud
June 16, 2011
Westerly News

Tofino council officially opposed Mainstream Canada's Plover Point application on Tuesday, the same day the aquaculture company held an open house about its proposed fish farm site in Clayoqout Sound.

"Any new fish farm should be taking a step in the right direction, which is moving towards closed containment, not another industrial style open fish farm," said Tofino municipal councillor Stephen Ashton at the regular council meeting June 14.

Coun. Ashton and Coun. Gord Johns were both present at the Mainstream Canada open house later that evening at the Weigh West Marine Resort Harbour Lounge.

The open house was in a mini-trade show format allowing attendees to learn about various aspects of the second largest producer of farmed salmon in B.C.

"We just thought that this would be a better way to interact one-on-one with people," said Grant Warkentin, Mainstream Canada's communications officer. 

Read the full story in the Westerly News.

Read background stories. 

News in English
June 16, 2011

A report by the state food authority reveals that lice levels have increased “dramatically” over the last year, especially among salmon, trout and young trout in key fishing areas around Norway.

The situation is particularly problematic along the west Norwegian coast, where a number of large fish farms are found. In parts of Hardangerfjord, salmon and trout were found to have on average 50 lice, when only just over 10 are needed to greatly increase the risk of death.

Salmon lice, which cannot survive in fresh water, are common among fish farmed salmon and cost the industry an estimated NOK 500 million (nearly USD 90 million) each year. The lice are believed to spread easily in order to threaten wild populations. Use of chemicals to fight the problem is controversial because they can lead to a build up of hereditary resistance among the salmon population. The salmon lice issue flared up previously in 2009, and has even concerned King Harald, himself an avid angler who is keen to protect wild salmon.

Read the full story in News in English.

Keven Drews
June 15, 2011
Canadian Press

VANCOUVER — Fraser River sockeye could be getting sick or even dying because of a daily cocktail of household chemicals entering the watershed, a judicial inquiry has heard. Aquatic toxicology expert Peter Ross testified Tuesday that many of the 23,000 everyday chemicals listed on the federal government's domestic-substances list may not immediately kill fish but could predispose them to future health problems.

"They might reduce their growth, confuse them, affect their ability to smell, to find their home stream, reduce their immune system, make them vulnerable to disease, outbreaks of disease, or affect their energetics, in other words, their ability to feed and grow," Ross said.

He said the true impact of contaminants may become apparent only when salmon get viruses, encounter food-supply shortages, experience climate change or if their habitat is destroyed.

As a result, researchers should be studying how contaminants are affecting salmon in the "real world," Ross said.

But he noted that's currently not happening.

In fact, he said, the federal government cut a $5.4-million research program, known as the Toxic Chemicals Research Program, in 2005.

Read related stories in the:

• Times Colonist; June 19, 2011; "Budget costs carry high cost"
• Abbotsford News; June 15, 2011; "Toxins down Metro drains threaten salmon: Scientists" 
• Huffington Post; June 14, 2011; "Fraser River Salmon Inquiry: Fish decline due to chemicals in wastewater"
• Globe and Mail; June 8, 2011; "DFO restructuring caused confusion, hampered fish habitat protection"
• Globe and Mail; May 12, 2011;"Fraser River sockeye face chemical soup of 200 contaminants"
• Globe and Mail; June 7, 2011; "Contaminant research feel through the cracks, Cohen Commission hears"

CNN
June 14, 2011

Consumers of seafood may have an idea if their fish is wild-caught or farmed, but how many know aquaculture's impact on the environment?

A new report entitled "Blue Frontiers" complied by the World Fish Center and Conservation International sets out to address that question and help steer the aquaculture industry towards greater sustainability.

Aquaculture can reduce the pressure on wild fisheries, although small fish used as fishmeal for carnivorous, farm-bred species like salmon are caught in the wild, as are young fish (fingerling) for tuna and reef fish before being grown in captivity.

Already more than 50% of the world's seafood comes from aquaculture, including 73% of all salmon and over half of the global supply of crabs and lobsters.

Aquaculture production (estimated to be worth over $100 billion each year) is expected to grow from 65.8 million tons in 2008 to over 100 million tons by 2030.

"Current trends indicate that the majority of the increase in global production will come from South and Southeast Asia, with a continued drive by major producer counties such as China and Vietnam towards export to European and North American markets," said Mike Phillips, a co-author of the report.

Read the full story on CNN.

Read the report "Blue Frontiers: Managing the Envrionmental Cost of Aquaculture” 

Read related stories:

• The Guardian; June 14, 2011; "Fish farming is answer to increasing global meat demands, says report - Conservation International says aquaculture has lower environmental impact than cattle, pig and poultry farming" 
• BBC News; June 14, 2011; "Aquaculture looks to green dawn"
• Google News; June 13, 2011; "Fish farms 'soaring', led by China"

Jullet Ellperin
June 10, 2011
The Washington Post

The Obama administration released new guidelines that would make it easier to farm fish in federal waters, a move that could transform the nation’s coasts and the food Americans will consume in years to come.

The proposal, which sparked immediate criticism from some environmental groups, aims to increase the amount of farm-raised seafood in the United States by authorizing regional fisheries management councils to approve aquaculture operations off the coasts and in the Gulf of Mexico.

Currently there are no fish farms in federal waters, only in the three-mile band of state waters. Some operators have applied to build fish farms in federal waters in the past, but none have won approval yet.

Read the full story in the Washington Post.

Read relates stories;

• The Times-Picayune; June 9, 2011; New federal aquaculture policy paves way for Gulf of Mexico fish farms"

June 10, 2011
Courier Islander

The first group of salmon has been successfully grown in a new state-of-the-art, land-based aquaculture facility near Sayward.

The facility was built with state-of-the-art recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) technology, which can re- use about 99 per cent of the freshwater in the system through complex cleaning and re-oxygenation technology. Currently, this system allows salmon farmers to grow smolts (young salmon ready for saltwater) for about one year in a carefully controlled and disease-free environment.

The salmon, which were grown to 80 grams in size, were the first to be raised in the new facility, which represents a significant investment in the Sayward area. The 60 tonne facility is owned by Marine Harvest Canada (MHC) and is the first of a two phase investment that will cost the company $6.3 million.

The salmon smolts have now been successfully transferred to Marine Harvest's marine sites for further growth to market size.

"These smolts grew very well and are very healthy," said Craig Schelter, Manager at MHC's Sayward North freshwater facility. "This new technology worked well for us and we're very happy with the product we've sent to sea."

Marine Harvest technicians continue to learn about this new technology, but early results suggest the recycling of freshwater is working well.

Read the full story in the Courier Islander.

Read related stories:

• Campbell River Mirror;  June 7, 2011; "Marine Harvest happy with land-based facility results" 

Randy Shore
June 8, 2011
Vancouver Sun

British Columbians are 50-per-cent more likely than other Canadians to consider sustainability when choosing seafood, according to a Leger Marketing poll released this week.

Only 12 per cent of Canadians consider the sustainability of a fishery when selecting seafood at the market or in a restaurant, compared with 18 per cent of British Columbians. Sustainable seafood is harvested from stable fish stocks using techniques that do not damage the marine environment or cause excessive bycatch.

When buying fish, Canadians reported price [55 per cent] and taste [59 per cent] as the key factors. Only 17 per cent of Canadians reported knowing about the Marine Stewardship Council certification program, compared with 25 per cent of British Columbians, according to the poll financed by Canadian frozen food processor Janes Family Foods.

The stewardship council is the world's largest sustainability certification and eco-labelling organization. The international body came under fire last year when it certified B.C.'s sockeye fishery, despite 25 years of declining returns.

Read the full story in the Vancouver Sun. 

Alaska Dispatch
June 7, 2011

Evolution induced by commercial fishing may explain why the bodies of Alaska's sockeye salmon have shrunk by 5 percent since the 1940s. A study by the University of Washington in Seattle sorted through data from canneries, focusing on the size and age at maturation of the sockeye (Oncorhynchus nerka) from five fisheries in Bristol Bay, Alaska, since 1943. The fish have become, on average, 14 millimeters shorter and were 16 percent more likely to spend two instead of three years in the ocean before returning to fresh water to spawn. Because body size is a heritable trait, the study finds the likely cause is evolution because fishermen generally target larger fish. If current trends continue, the lucrative Bristol Bay sockeye industry could become less profitable in time.

Read more at New Scientist

Source: Alaska Dispatch

David Godsall
June 6, 201
BC Business

“Hitler loves fish farms.” “Salmon farming kills.” “Freedom for farmed fish!” This is just a sample of comments that could be found floating around the Twittersphere recently.


Not so long ago, common wisdom among communications strategists would have been that responding to such online barbs could only lead to self-immolation in a flame war. But today it’s a new world; with the majority of Canadians plugged into social media, online detractors are no longer merely a fringe that can be left unchallenged.


The B.C. Salmon Farmers Association (BCSFA) is one organization that decided to confront its detractors head on, and when it launched a series of inflammatory TV ads as part of a PR blitz last January, it kicked an online hornet’s nest.


Instead of ducking the social media frenzy, the BCSFA engaged the activists directly. Using the Twitter handle @salmonfacts, the association responded to critics with corrections and links to sources, or more often, to its own website (bcsalmonfacts.ca), where there’s usually a lively discussion.


Read the full story in BC Business. 

Read background stories.

Mark Hume
June 2, 2011
Globe and Mail

A recovery team that was set up to restore an endangered run of sockeye salmon was not consulted by the government before a decision was made in Ottawa not to list the fish under the Species At Risk Act.

And the team, which was supposed to save the Cultus Lake sockeye population from extinction, was disbanded in 2004 shortly after team members questioned the economic rationale for the then Liberal government’s decision, the Cohen Commission of inquiry has been told.

Neil Schubert and Michael Bradford, both Department of Fisheries and Oceans officials assigned to help restore Cultus sockeye, confirmed that the department reached a decision to recommend against SARA listing before the recovery team was consulted.

And Mr. Schubert said the team was disbanded, in 2004, shortly after it raised questions about the economic analysis the government based its recommendation on.

The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) called for an emergency SARA listing after the Cultus sockeye population plunged from more than 20,000 to less than 1,000 annual spawners, largely because of fishing pressure.

But the Cohen Commission heard earlier this week that the government rejected the COSEWIC proposal because closing fisheries to protect Cultus fish would have cost $126-million in lost revenue.

Brenda Gaertner, a lawyer for 12 native bands that have standing at the Cohen Commission under the First Nations Coalition banner, suggested during cross examination that the recovery team was disbanded because it questioned the government’s decision.

“There were certain members of the team that voiced that view, that because we had the audacity to challenge the socio-economic review, that we got disbanded,” Mr. Schubert replied.

Read the full story in the Globe and Mail. 

Mark Hume
May 31, 2011
Globe and Mail

Socio-economic impact of shutting fisheries to protect Cultus stock was considered too great, inquiry told

A unique population of sockeye salmon identified in 2004 as facing "a high probability of extinction" wasn't given protection under the Species At Risk Act because the federal government was worried about the cost of shutting down fisheries.

Today, Cultus Lake sockeye are still on the edge of extinction, despite an effort by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to restore the salmon run outside the SARA process.

Documents filed with the Cohen Commission of inquiry this week show DFO officials knew in 2004 that the Cultus population, which has declined 92 per cent over the past 15 years, could go extinct if commercial, native and recreational fisheries weren't curtailed.

The sockeye spawn in Cultus Lake, near Chilliwack, about 100 kilometres east of Vancouver. When adult fish return to spawn, they co-migrate in the ocean and Lower Fraser River with larger runs of sockeye that are headed to other watersheds. Cultus fish, which look identical to other sockeye, are often killed in nets set for other runs of salmon.

A government assessment in 2004 concluded the Cultus population, which has unique genetic and biological characteristics, collapsed largely due to overfishing.

Read the full story in the Globe and Mail. 

May 30, 2011
Fisheries Information Service

Over 50 organisations, businesses and fishers from across Canada and the US have submitted a joint letter to the Canadian General Standards Board (CGSB) opposing proposed draft Organic Standards for Finfish Aquaculture. The Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform (CAAR), together with the other signatories, is calling on the CGSB to overhaul the weak draft and develop organic aquaculture standards that are in line with basic organic principles.

The proposed Canadian Organic Aquaculture Standards would cover the certification of seaweed and shellfish as well as finfish, but the most troublesome sections of the standards relate to the production of fish raised in open net pens. As written, the finfish standards would grant open net pen farmed salmon organic certification despite the large body of scientific evidence linking this farming practice to wild salmon declines and other impacts on the marine environment. They would also allow fish farmers to grow their crop using pesticides and non-organic, possibly unsustainable feed sources.

Read the full story on the Fisheries Information Service.

Read relates stories:

• Pacific Free Press; May 27, 2011; "Canada mulls "organic" label for disease-prone pen salmon"

Julia Prinselaar
May 26, 2011
Westerly News

An alliance for aquaculture reform is calling on the province to place a moratorium on net-cage license tenures for aquaculture following an application by Mainstream Canada for a new salmon farm site in Clayoquot Sound.

"We need our government to step in on behalf of British Columbians to stop the expansion of unsustainable salmon net-cages and push the industry to move into 21st century closed containment," said Catherine Stewart of the Living Oceans Society and the Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform.

The proposed site is located in Ahousaht territory in Fortune Channel on the east side of Meares Island and would have the capacity for 600,000 smolts in 14 sea cages.

If approved it will create five or six jobs on site, approximately half a dozen more for installation, and join 14 salmon farms in Clayoquot Sound owned by Cermaq, Mainstream Canada's parent company.

It is the first proposal under a new arrangement where the provincial and federal governments share the role of vetting new fish farm applications. This new arrangement came into effect December 2010.

The alliance, whose members include the David Suzuki Foundation, claims net-cage fish farms pose a series of risks to the surrounding environment, notably to wild salmon when they migrate past the farm sites each year.

In 2009 the Wild Fish Conservancy began research to determine if sea lice are a problem for out-migrating chinook and chum salmon in Clayoquot Sound where aquaculture facilities are a prominent feature of the landscape.

"The first human influence Clayoquot salmon fry encounter is aquaculture facilities along their migration corridors. Scientific literature has documented that these facilities are correlated with an unnatural abundance of salmon lice," said Audrey Thompson, a biologist with the conservancy.

Read related stories: 

• Westerly News; June 16, 2011; "Tofino Council opposed fish farm application on day of Mainstream open house
• Fisheries Information Service; May30, 2011; "Green group asks BC to reject farm site proposal"
• Courier-Islander; May 25, 2011; "Proposed new fish farm site said Christy Clark's first test" 

Adrian MacNai
May 26, 2011
New Westminister News Leader 

Open-net fish farming is harming B.C.’s wild salmon stocks, says Fin Donnelly, and with the NDP now the official opposition he believes he can stop it.

The NDP MP for New Westminster-Coquitlam introduced a private member’s bill last May (The Wild Salmon Protection Act, C-518), but the election wiped it from the parliamentary agenda.

Donnelly, NDP critic for Fisheries and Oceans, wants to amend the federal Fisheries Act to transition fish farms to closed containment.

Closed containment, as opposed to farms where fish swim in a net in the ocean, provides a solid barrier between fish and the ocean environment, which scientists believe would prevent sea lice infections in wild salmon.

But while the Harper government has not moved to bring about legislation forcing salmon companies into closed containment farming, the industry has taken to using pesticides to control sea lice. Donnelly says that’s an initial positive step, but cautions it’s a temporary solution as the parasites become immune to chemicals.

Read the full story in the New Westminister News Leader 

Mark Hume
May 18, 2011
Globe and Mail 

When federal investigators in British Columbia found 345,000 sockeye stored in 110 industrial freezers, they thought they were onto a major black market operation for salmon caught in aboriginal food fisheries.

But Project Ice Storm, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans intelligence operation that found the salmon in 2005, ran out of funding and wasn’t able to track the fish from the cold storage plants to their final destination, the Cohen Commission heard on Tuesday.

It has long been suspected in B.C. that the aboriginal fishery is a cover for operations, with possible organized crime links, that trade in salmon the way others trade in drugs. Native leaders have rejected such allegations, saying their communities need all the fish they catch because salmon are a cultural staple in everything from births to funeral feasts.

DFO documents filed with the commission, which is investigating the collapse of sockeye salmon populations in the Fraser River, show enforcement officials felt the fish, caught under “food, social and ceremonial” licences, were destined to go into the commercial market.

“The FSC First Nations fishery on the Lower Fraser River is largely out of control and should be considered in all contexts, a commercial fishery,” states a DFO intelligence assessment of Project Ice Storm.

“The Department of Fisheries and Oceans are unable to effectively control the illegal sales of FSC salmon,” it states. “A major change is needed in fisheries laws to effectively deal with the commercial processing and storage of FSC fish.”

Another document, recording a meeting of DFO enforcement officers in April, 2010, states that “97 per cent of FSC harvest in LFR [Lower Fraser River] is thought to be sold.”

Scott Coultish, regional chief of DFO’s Intelligence and Investigation Services, said in testimony the estimate was based on the personal comments of field officers, not from any research. But he felt it was accurate.

Read the full story in the Globe and Mail.

Read related stories:

• Globe and Mail; July 5, 2011; "Cohen inquiry panel debates aboriginal fishing practices"
• Globe and Mail; June 14, 2011; "B.C. Conservative Leader could be in court while on the hustings"
• Maple Ridge News; May 26, 2011; "Katzie follows rules, fish only for food"
• Hope Standard; May 25, 2011; "Illegal trade in salmon rampant, says DFO"
• The Canadian Press; May 23, 2011; "Organized crime part of fish caught for aboriginals but sold illegally:inquiry"
• Globe and Mail; May 22, 2011; "No one followed the B.C. black-market salmon"
• Globe and Mail; May 19, 2011; "Excluded transcript frustrates lawyers at Cohen inquiry"
• BC Local News; May 18, 2011; "Illegal trade in native-caught salmon rampant: DFO"

Robert Barron
May 16, 2011
Nanaimo Daily News

Nanaimo-based Kintama Research Services published a paper this week expected to change long-held perceptions of mortality rates among young salmon.

The detailed paper, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States, concludes that most young salmon survive the early stages of their ocean-bound migrations from river estuaries where they are born, but experience high mortality rates at sea more than a month after entering the ocean.

It had been widely believed in the scientific community that the high mortality afflicting salmon happened mostly in river estuaries as the fish made the transition from fresh to salt water.

The paper is the end result of years of research by Kintama, which has become a world leader in the design, deployment and operation of large-scale and cost-effective underwater acoustic telemetry arrays.

Read the full story in the Nanaimo Daily News.

Read the referenced paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

Read related news story. 

The Fish Site
May 16, 2011

NORWAY - Tests on three age groups of farmed Atlantic salmon point to the same conclusion: that there is a huge variation in how well various salmon families tackle salmon lice.

A breeding company is now putting Nofima’s research results into practice and offering eggs that are more resistant to lice.

Nofima has also found a high genetic correlation between the numbers of sessile and motile adult lice on the salmon. When fewer lice attach to the fish, there are also fewer sexually mature lice. Consequently, testing of various families’ resistance to lice can now be limited to the number of sessile lice per fish, in controlled challenge experiments.

Read the full story on the Fish Site. 

Dan Maclennan
May 13, 2011
Courier-Islander

AgriMarine's unique closed-containment chinook farm just north of Campbell River is an important step in the right direction, said members of the Coastal Alliance on Aquaculture Reform (CAAR) after a tour of the facility this week.

"We've been collectively calling for closed-containment for well over a decade," said David Lane, executive director of the T. Buck Suzuki Environmental Foundation, a member of CAAR. "We're really pleased to see this in operation because originally, people said it couldn't be done. Now we're seeing operations that are working here in BC. There's a couple of other small ones in BC. One in Washington State.

"Those ones are on land, not in the ocean, but it shows that there's different ways to do it, and (there's) business people who want to do it and make money. We think that shows where the way of the future is."

CAAR members gathered in Campbell River for a regular meeting this week. They spent part of Tuesday afternoon touring AgriMarine Holdings' Middle Bay site, home to a 3,000-cubic-metre ocean-based solid-wall tank holding 50,000 chinook.

"They were about 38 grams when we loaded them at the end of January, now they're 130 grams," explained AgriMarine vice-president Rob Walker. "We're very pleased with the growth rate."

Original plans called for the chinook to be harvested after 18 months at an average size of four kilograms (nine pounds) each. Based on the present growth rate, Walker said the first fish might be harvested after 14 months.

Read the full story in the Courier-Islander.  

Read background news stories.

Dan Maclennan
May 13, 2011
Courier-islander

The BC Liberals are in for a big fall, says BC Conservative Party leader-in-waiting John Cummins, and that's where the BC Conservatives will take the provincial stage.

Stopping in Campbell River earlier this week, the former commercial fisherman and former Delta MP also said it's important to protect the North Island's aquaculture jobs.

"The Liberal brand in British Columbia is on its last legs," Cummins told the Courier-Islander Tuesday. "I think they're in for a huge fall. I think the public's lost confidence in them. I think as the summer goes on that discontent is only going to increase.

"Just think of the mess that they've put the province in right now with their handling of the HST. We're into a referendum on the HST. What is the government going to do if the public rejects the HST? How are they going to pay back a billion dollars to the federal government that they'd already taken. How are they going to deal with the creation of a tax collection agency in the province again. I'd like to know what their plan is because there's a whole lot of economic uncertainty facing this province as a result of this referendum.

"I think people are going to be absolutely outraged with the Liberals when they realize the full extent of the upset that they've caused here."

Cummins, who spent 18 years representing Delta-Richmond East, jumped from federal to provincial politics when he declared his candidacy for the leadership of the B.C. Conservative Party on March 29. He is the only one running for the job, and is leader-designate until a formal party vote May 28. As a former commercial fisherman, Cummins has been an outspoken critic of fish farmers in the past, often going against the flow of his federal Conservative colleagues. As the leader of a party on the political fringes in BC, however, Cummins is pushing economic development and jobs while blaming Ottawa for its handling of wild fish and aquaculture.

Read the full story in the Courier-Islander

Mark Hume
May 12, 2011
Globe and Mail

Sockeye salmon are exposed to a soup of chemicals in the Fraser River, and some of the ingredients are accumulating to potentially lethal levels in eggs, while others may be disrupting the sexual function of fish, according to a scientific review conducted for the Cohen Commission.

The study states that because of key data gaps, it is not possible to reach a definitive conclusion about exactly how the 200 contaminants identified in the river have affected the growth, survival rates or reproduction of salmon.

While it is unlikely that contaminants are “the sole cause” of sockeye population declines, the report says there is “a strong possibility that exposure to contaminants of concern, endocrine disrupting chemicals, and/or contaminants of emerging concern has contributed to the decline of sockeye salmon.”

The report, by McDonald Environmental Sciences Ltd., a Nanaimo-based research firm, identified numerous chemicals in surface waters and in bottom sediments that posed potential risks to sockeye, including nitrate, chloride, sulphate, arsenic, mercury and selenium.

It said some of the chemicals exceeded toxicity levels for fish and it noted that “water quality conditions have degraded over the past two decades.”

The report also says research done in 2001 and 2004 found some chemicals were concentrating in the eggs of sockeye at toxicity levels “associated with 30 per cent mortality of fish eggs.”

There were no studies to determine if eggs were in fact being damaged by chemicals, but the report says fish that had a long way to swim before they spawned, and thus had more time to accumulate chemicals, were at the greatest risk of having high concentrations in their eggs.

“These. . .results suggest that PCBs, PCDDs, and PCDFs could be adversely affecting sockeye salmon reproduction,” states the report.

Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are a group of dioxins typically formed through combustion, such as in commercial or municipal waste incineration and from burning fuels.

Read the full story in the Globe and Mail. 

Read related stories.

Robert Metas
May 10, 2011
Globe and Mail

Prominent B.C. biologist Alexandra Morton was not even running in the federal election but she feels completely defeated by the election of Stephen Harper’s majority government. In a speech to the Association of Professional Biologists, she frankly admitted she was ready to call it quits on her aggressive campaign against open-net fish farms.

"I just don't know what else I can do," Ms. Morton told Nanaimo’s Daily News. "My efforts to try and save the wild salmon seem to be impossible. I'm broke and I have to survive.”

The biologist told the newspaper she sometimes feels sorry that she went to the Broughton Archipelago in the early 1980s. "The research myself and others have done doesn't seem to be acceptable and our calls for the separation of wild and farmed salmon doesn't happen," she said.

Read the full story in the Globe and Mail. 

Read related stories:

• Vancouver Sun: May 7, 2011; "Open-net fish farm opponent feels efforts have 'failed'- Champion for wild salmon finds process 'depressing'"
• Nanaimo Daily News; May 7, 2011; "Robert Barron: Alexandra Morton is an inspiring lady"
• Nanaimo Daily News. May 6, 2011; "B.C. biologist Morton may soon give up her campaign"
• The Tyee; May 6, 2011; "Morton: 'We won't 

Mark Hume
May 10, 2011
Globe and Mail 

A landmark migration study on the West Coast that tracked thousands of young salmon as they swam down rivers and then went out to sea has upended one of the longest-held tenets of fisheries science.

Until David Welch and his colleagues surgically implanted more than 3,500 young salmon with electronic tags, it had been believed the high mortality afflicting salmon happened mostly in river estuaries as fish made the transition from fresh to salt water.

But Dr. Welch, president of Nanaimo-based Kintama Research Services Ltd., said an array of listening posts strung for more than 1,500 kilometres along the coast allowed researchers to follow the fish as they migrated out of B.C. rivers and headed north, swimming an average of 20 kilometres a day.

“The scientific body for a century has said the marine survival problems are happening very early in the life history. Now we are measuring that and saying, ‘Sorry, it doesn’t look like that.’ Most of the mortality is happening more than a month after entering the ocean,” said Dr. Welch, who published new research on the subject this week after gathering data for several years.

The study made use of a marine telemetry array called POST, for Pacific Ocean Shelf Tracking, which picks up signals from electronic tags surgically placed inside the body cavities of young salmon, most of which are about 150 millimetres in length when released.

Once in the ocean, the main body of fish headed up Georgia Strait, on the east coast of Vancouver Island, while a smaller number went out Juan de Fuca Strait and up the west coast of the island.

The fish – sockeye, steelhead, coho and chinook – mostly survived the early stages of their migration and were tracked for four to six weeks until they were lost after passing the last POST array.

“Most of the mortality happened beyond the north end of Vancouver Island. Now, whether they dropped dead from sea lice one day past where we [last] measured them or some other disease problem, or whether it was some place two years out in the ocean, we can’t resolve that – it’s just that we know most of the mortality happened beyond the Strait of Georgia, in the Queen Charlotte Sound area,” Dr. Welch said.

Read the full story in the Globe and Mail.

Read related news story:

• Nanaimo Daily News; May 16, 2011; "Local firm publishes vital findings on salmon"

Read the referenced paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

May 10, 2011
North Island Midweek 

Mainstream Canada is the first salmon farming company in Canada to be certified under a new third-party standard which ensures that sustainable management of aquaculture includes First Nations values and interests.

An independent audit in March determined that Mainstream Canada’s practices at their Clayoquot Sound sites within the traditional territory of the Ahousaht First Nation meet the requirements of the Aboriginal Principles for Sustainable Aquaculture (APSA) standard, established by the Aboriginal Aquaculture Association (AAA).

“APSA is a First Nations-driven initiative that will ensure that aquaculture is carried out in a manner that respects First Nations culture, values and ensures protection of First Nations aquatic resources,” said Richard Harry, President of the AAA. “It is a positive approach to all issues: social, environmental and economic.

“This is the first step forward to a nationally recognized aboriginal inclusive certification program.”

Recognizing that sustainable aquaculture development had the potential to play a major role in the diversification and strengthening of the local and regional economies of First Nations the AAA was established in 2003.

The Association provides guidance and advice with respect to susta aquaculture development to First Nations and works with government and industry on issues related to the management and regulation of aquaculture that impact First Nations.

The APSA standard requires First Nations and the applicant to work together and develop a local sustainability plan to ensure the aquaculture operations in their area are conducted in accordance with the principles in this standard and reflect the specific values and interest of the local First Nation.

Read the full story in the North Island Midweek

Read related story on the Fisheries Information Service; May 12, 2011; "Mainstream Canada to ensure First Nations' interests are met"

Mark Hume
May 5, 2011
Globe and Mail

The lack of hard data on the ocean environment has become on important issue to a federal commission investigating the collapse of sockeye salmon stocks in the Fraser River.

Repeatedly, scientists testifying at the Cohen Commission have said they don’t really know what happens to salmon once they have left fresh water and headed out into the “black box” of the Pacific Ocean. They have complained about a shortage of data, or no data at all, and have said there are limited funds available for research.

One of the papers filed with the commission identifies a “hotspot” in Queen Charlotte Sound, for example, where more than 10,000 sharks gather on a main salmon migration route – but nobody knows why the sharks are there, how long they are there, or what they are feeding on.

The knowledge gap caused Tim Leadem, a lawyer representing a coalition of conservation groups, to wonder out loud Thursday if the Cohen Commission will ever get a definitive answer on what caused the Fraser River sockeye population to collapse. The commission was appointed in 2009 after only one million salmon returned to spawn instead of the 10 million expected.

Read the full story in the Globe and Mail

Read related stories:

• Globe and Mail; May 9, 2011; "Shark week: "Marine biologists hit ‘hot spot’ off B.C. coast"
• Globe and Mail; May 5, 2011; "The mystery of the disappearing salmon"

Anne Casselman
May 5, 2011
Scientific American

Gridlocked bridges over the Fraser River are just a part of life for commuting Vancouverites. But the industrialized motif of North America's longest dam-free river belies a rare natural treasure: a sockeye salmon run with a historical average of eight million fish worth over $1 billion. Since the early 1990s the numbers of Fraser sockeye have steadily dwindled, reaching a particularly troublesome nadir in 2009 when more than 11 million sockeye were forecast to return and only 1.4 million showed up. Since the mid-1990s, something began killing large numbers of returning sockeye on the Fraser—anywhere from 40 to 95 percent of fish in some years—before they could spawn.

Now a study bolsters the hypothesis that a mysterious pathogen working in concert with other anthropogenic stressors may be the culprit.

Led by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, a team of scientists tracked returning Fraser River sockeye to see whether the genetic activity of those that successfully spawned differed from the activity of those that perished prematurely en route.

Sure enough, salmon with a certain pattern of gene expression in their gill tissue were 13.5 times more likely to die than those that didn't carry the "you've not got long to live" signature, as co-author and University of British Columbia (U.B.C.) fish physiologist Tony Farrell puts it. Most intriguingly the mortality-related genomic signature in the fish resembled that triggered by a viral infection. "This was a needle-in-haystack investigation, so we were more than pleased that we identified a signature, and then to narrow it down to what might be a viral signature was surprising," says Farrell.

Months after the study came out mid-January in Science the research continues to make waves on Canada's west coast as journalists and environmentalists speculate as to whether the genomic signature identified in the study might be evidence of an epidemic of salmon leukemia, known to plague salmon fish farms along British Columbia's coast. Lead study author Kristi Miller-Saunders, a molecular geneticist at Fisheries and Oceans Canada in Nanaimo, has not been given the green light to speak freely with the press, however she did respond to questions from Scientific American via e-mail.

Read the full story in Scientific American

Read related stories. 

Julia Prinselaar
May 5, 2011
Westerly News

A crusader at the forefront of a campaign in support of wild salmon is taking her message to Tofino May 10.

"It would be wonderful to have government support to have a land-based [aquaculture] industry," said Alexandra Morton, a longtime advocate against open pen salmon farms, a practice she says is contributing to the demise of wild salmon stocks throughout British Columbia.

On May 1 Morton and about 250 supporters -- including the entire executive Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs -- rallied at the legislature after a 22 kilometre May Day March for Wild Salmon from Sidney to Victoria.

The march was part of a May Day for Wild Salmon tour spanning coastal Vancouver Island and parts of the mainland, calling for an end to open pen salmon farming, notably along the Fraser River migration route for sockeye salmon.

"I have nothing against aquaculture. I know it's not the only problem salmon have, but it's one we can totally fix," said Morton.

Opponents of fish farming contend fish living in pens make for a breeding ground for viruses, bacteria and parasites, which can be passed to wild populations. They also say escaped fish introduce alien, possibly damaging genes into wild populations.

Morton says moving fish farms to land is the only way healthy wild salmon stocks and aquaculture can co-exist.

"You have to separate them. That's the only answer and that will work beautifully," she said, adding that the need for the industry's skilled workers would continue.

Read the full story in the Westerly News

Mark Hume
May 5, 2011
The Globe and Mail

The disappearance of millions of sockeye salmon from the Fraser River has been compared to Murder on the Orient Express by two scientists helping a federal inquiry solve an environmental mystery.

Andrew Trites and Villy Christensen, both professors at the University of British Columbia Fisheries Centre, made the comparison to the Agatha Christie whodunit as they testified Wednesday at the Cohen Commission of Inquiry into the Decline of Sockeye Salmon in the Fraser River.

Led by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Bruce Cohen, the commission has been given more than two years and a $25-million budget to figure out why sockeye salmon stocks have been in decline for the past two decades, and why only about one million fish returned to spawn in 2009, when 10 million were expected.

As part of the inquiry, Judge Cohen has assigned teams of scientists to look at 12 different issues, examining everything from climate change to sport fishing to determine the impact on salmon.

In a report on predation, Dr. Trites and Dr. Christensen tried to find which, among the myriad predators that feast on salmon, could have been responsible for killing so many sockeye as to decimate the population.

They came up with a long list of suspects and then narrowed it down to the six most fearsome killers: salmon sharks (220 kilograms and so aggressive they sometimes bump fishing boats), blue sharks (triangular teeth with finely serrated edges), daggertooths (the name says it all), sablefish (black cod with gaping mouths), lamprey (jawless fish that suck blood) and the common murre (a bird that dives 60 metres deep and can swim faster than a fish).

Read the full story in the Globe and Mail

Read related stories:

• Fisheries Information Service; May 18, 20111; "Sockeye decline could be due to sharks and other predators
• Globe and Mail; May 9, 2011; "Shark week: "Marine biologists hit ‘hot spot’ off B.C. coast"
• Globe and Mail; May 5, 2011: "No data means no answers, sockeye inquiry told"

Keri Sculland
May 5, 2011
Vancouver Sun

PORT ALBERNI - For the second year in a row, fishermen are expecting a large sockeye run of 600,000.

This number could increase as it did last year, explained fisherman Bob Cole. He took part in the West Coast Harvest area 23 meeting on Tuesday, which provided the forecast for the season.

"On a big run, they come early," Cole said. "We're estimating a reasonable chinook season and a reasonable season all around"

Fisheries and Oceans Canada hasn't sent out a release yet to officially open the season, but Cole expects it will open at the end of next week, which is average.

"One of the models goes as much as 2.2 million, which is an absolute ridiculous number," Cole said. "I expect the rest to go over a million fish this year as the season assessment goes on."

It usually takes until the first week of July for experts to tell exactly how many fish will be in the run this year.

Read the full story in the Vancouver Sun

Read related stories. 

Mark Hume
May 4, 2011
Globe and Mail

A federal public inquiry into the decline of sockeye salmon in the Fraser River has been accused of suppressing information that an infectious virus has been detected in British Columbia waters.

The concern is raised in letters to the Cohen Commission of Inquiry by Gregory McDade, a lawyer representing salmon researcher and anti-fish farm activist Alexandra Morton.

Officially the commission is not engaged with the issue, but the letters, obtained by The Globe and Mail, show that Ms. Morton's knowledge of the disease and a debate over the public's right to know about it has developed into a contentious issue behind the scenes.

The commission suspended its hearings for the day on Tuesday for what spokesperson Carla Shore described as a routine all-counsel meeting to discuss legal housekeeping matters.

But sources say the issue up for discussion is the one raised by Mr. McDade's letters, in which he argues Ms. Morton should be released from the commission's undertaking of confidentiality.

The undertaking prevents participants in the hearings from making public any information they have obtained through disclosure. And with 390,000 documents and more than 188,000 e-mails disclosed so far, that means there is a mountain of material to keep secret.

Mr. McDade wrote that in combing through that vast volume of material, Ms. Morton came across "indications" a disease known as infectious salmon anemia virus, or ISA, may have been detected in fish samples tested by provincial government labs.

The suggestion is the symptoms of the disease were detected, but not the disease itself, which has never been reported on the West Coast. ISA can be lethal to Atlantic salmon, but Pacific salmon have proved immune to it in tests. The concern is that if the disease were present, it could change and begin to kill Pacific stocks. if the disease were present, it could change and begin to kill Pacific stocks.

Read the full story in the Globe and Mail

Read background story

Shannon Moneo
May 3, 2011
Globe and Mail

Officials with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans have revealed that more than $1-million in fines for illegal fishing and habitat destruction have gone unpaid in B.C.

Under questioning at the Cohen Commission, which is examining the collapse of Fraser River sockeye salmon, DFO staff admitted they have no way of ensuring that fines they levy under the federal Fisheries Act are paid. The lack of follow-up means scofflaw anglers may realize they can continually break the rules without breaking the bank.

“If it’s widely known that a person could potentially get off without paying a fine, then that could have an effect on compliance and the deterrence level, yes,” said Paul Steele, DFO’s national director for conservation and protection, under questioning by lawyer Don Rosenbloom last month.

No single sector stands out when it comes to breaking fisheries regulations, as hundreds of commercial fishermen, recreational anglers and aboriginals have been fined for poaching over several years. Fines have also been handed out for habitat violations.

Most fines are under $5,000 for charges such as illegal oyster harvesting or the resale of commercially caught halibut, but last June a B.C. development corporation was penalized $375,000 after pleading guilty to illegally altering fish habitat in the Shuswap Lake area.

Despite repeated calls and e-mails to DFO, the department would not say whether the $375,000 fine has been paid, or how long the $1-million-plus in total fines has been accumulating.

Read the full story in the Globe and Mail.

Read related stories:

•  BC Local News; April 27, 2011; "Fishery violators get away without paying fines"

Richard Watts
May 1, 2011
Times Colonist

About 250 people gathered at the legislature Sunday after marching down the Saanich Peninsula to protest against fish farming, which they say is menace to wild fish populations.

The march, all 23 kilometres of it, began on the Tsawout First Nation and proceeded all the way to the legislature for speeches and cheers.

The march and rally were part of a campaign called Vote Salmon, which is asking all British Columbians to raise the issue of the dangers posed by open-net pen salmon farming to the wild populations and the environment.

Opponents of fish farming contend the fish, living in tight pens, make for a breeding ground for viruses, bacteria and parasites, which can be passed to wild populations. They can also escape and introduce alien, possibly damaging genes into wild populations.

Read the full story in the Times Colonist.

Read related stories:

• Abbotsford Times; May 3, 2011; "Morton: Wild salmon dying of politics"
• Times Colonist; April 30, 2011; "Salmon activist calls on voters to join rally"
• Maple Ridge News; April 29, 2011; "Salmon crusader grades politicians
• Vancouver Sun; April 22, 2011; NDP Surge threatens Greens' chances: pollsters

Mark Hume
April 29, 2011
Globe and Mail

A federal public inquiry into the decline of sockeye salmon on the West Coast has come under fire for being too secretive.

Alexandra Morton, one of the participants in the Cohen Commission of Inquiry, says the legal undertaking that all participants had to sign to gain access to documents is so restrictive it is keeping important information from the public.

“I have become very concerned about the extent to which important aspects of the Cohen Commission are operating in secret,” said Ms. Morton in a written statement she said was approved by her lawyer.

Ms. Morton, a scientific researcher and environmental activist who is campaigning against fish farms on the British Columbia coast, said she recently applied to the commission “to be released from the undertaking on a limited basis so that I might report information I consider to be urgent to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) in respect to a very significant risk to wild salmon.”

Read the full story in the Globe and Mail

Read related stories:

• North Shore News; May 11, 2011; "Fishy commission blackout"
• Times Colonist; May 5, 2011; "Rules keep fish findings under wraps"
• Courier Islander; May 6, 2011; "Salmon disease information kept under wraps"
• Courier Islander; May 6, 2011; Not so public public inquiry"

Dan Maclennan
April 27, 2011
Courier Islander

The federal election campaign has featured no shortage of mud-slinging, but Alexandra Morton brought a less traditional, smellier form to Campbell River Tuesday morning.

The outspoken opponent of open-net fish farming took containers of fish manure to local fish farm headquarters and to the Vancouver Island North campaign office of Conservative candidate John Duncan as part of a "Cut The Crap" campaign.

Morton visited the Marine Harvest and Mainstream offices with the containers, and a crew dressed in hazardous material suits or dressed as skeletons. The campaigners left some of the muck behind.

Read the full story in the Courier Islander

See related stories:

• A Channel News (video); April 26, 2011; "Fish Farm Protest"
• The Canadian; April 26, 2011; "Shocking new footage reveals devastation beneath salmon farms" 
• Courier Islander; April 27, 2011; "Something was a little off" 

Jeff Nagel
April 26, 2011
BC Local News

Despite a burgeoning Lower Mainland population and an ongoing development boom, researchers have found no evidence that localized pollution or habitat damage is a major factor in the decline of Fraser River sockeye salmon.

In fact, they argue habitat along the lower Fraser and in the Strait of Georgia has improved over the past two decades, thanks to tightened industrial, development and discharge regulations.

That's the core finding of a technical study commissioned by the Cohen Inquiry into the sockeye decline and led by Dr. Mark Johannes of Golder and Associates.

Researchers looked at population – which rose 150 per cent over the 1990 to 2010 study period – as well as impacts from farming, forestry, industry, sewage discharges, shipping traffic and river dredging and diking.

The heavier human footprint on southwestern B.C. through urbanization and other actions has not translated into more pollution in the receiving waters, they found.

"Contaminants in the Strait of Georgia show a general improvement over time, with decreases associated with effluent regulation and improved treatment in recent years," the study report said, pointing to better treatment of sewage by Metro Vancouver before it's released.

Construction that disturbs fish habitat is also better regulated, it said, resulting in net habitat gains in the Fraser estuary due to the duty of developers to enhance or replace damaged areas.

Juvenile sockeye swim through the lower river, its estuary and out into the Salish Sea before heading deeper into the Pacific Ocean.

During that transition period, they're sensitive to changes in water properties and levels of food, competitors and predators.

Migrating sockeye historically faced "moderate to severe" harm from human activities, the study noted.

"But these impacts have not been generally observed during the last two decades and importantly, these impacts have not been observed to coincide with the decline of Fraser River sockeye."

The authors noted that sockeye use the lower river only for a period of days while migrating.

They caution their conclusions regarding sockeye don't necessarily apply to other species in the river or offshore – particularly ones that spend more time in the area than sockeye.

Read the full story in BC Local News

Mark Hume
April 25, 2011
Globe and Mail

Seventy per cent of respondents think the beleaguered fish is as important to B.C. as French is to Quebeckers.

Wild salmon are as culturally important to British Columbians "as the French language is to the people of Quebec," according to a new poll by Angus Reid Public Opinion.

The poll, commissioned by two B.C. conservation organizations, measured the concerns of British Columbia on a broad range of environmental issues, with a focus on wild salmon, which are in decline on the West Coast.

The survey of more than 800 randomly selected adults found that 70 per cent agreed with a statement that maintaining and restoring salmon runs in B.C. is as important to British Columbians as protecting French is to Quebeckers.

"The response to that question shows how strongly people identify with wild salmon in this province," said Craig Orr, executive director of Watershed Watch Salmon Society, which funded the poll with Skeena Wild Conservation Trust. "The salmon resource is not a trivial thing in British Columbia. It's engrained in our culture and in our economy."

Dr. Orr said the poll was done by the groups to find out if the support of British Columbians for protecting wild salmon has been flagging with all the bad news in recent years about declining stocks.

He said the response makes it clear that people in B.C. continue to put high value on salmon and that they want to see government do a better job in protecting the resource.

Read the full story in the Globe and Mail.

Read related stories:

• Outdoor Canada; "Poll results show value of salmon to B.C. residents"
• Courier-Islander; April 29, 2011; "New poll shows British Columbians think salmon is crucially important"

Andrew Gomes
April 24, 2011
Star Advertiser

If a message in a bottle or a Portuguese man-of-war can drift for months on ocean currents, why not cages of "farm-raised" fish?

A Hawaii aquaculture company wants to test the idea.

Kona Blue Water Farms has applied for a permit to determine whether it would be possible to grow young amberjack to harvest size over 10 months in submerged cages tethered to surface buoys drifting freely on a circular ocean current off the Big Island.

Neil Sims, Kona Blue president, believes the idea could eliminate ecosystem impacts of near-shore ocean aquaculture farms, produce healthier fish and provide abundant room for industry growth.

"This is one of the next steps that we have to do to grow more fish in an environmentally responsible manner," he said. "The whole world could benefit from this."

Read the full story in the Star Advertiser

Walter Gibbs
April 24, 2011
The Province 

European salmon farmers and breeders who dominate global sales have a wary eye on transgenic American superfish that grow fast and might gulp part of the $107 billion-a-year aquaculture business.

"We don't have any monster pigs in Europe, or monster cows, and there's no need for such a salmon," said Geir Isaksen, the chief executive at big Norwegian fish farmer Cermaq.

Genetically modified Atlantic salmon patented by biotech firm AquaBounty are widely billed as growing at double speed and could be approved by U.S. regulators as early as this summer, taking the global GM food fight to the fish counter.

"This is a safe and stable construct," AquaBounty CEO Ronald Stotish said, explaining how technicians inject Atlantic salmon eggs with genes from Pacific Chinook and bottomdwelling ocean pout.

Stotish said transgenics could help U.S. salmon, shrimp and tilapia producers compete in an industry pegged at $107 billion last year. Th

e result -three species in one -would be the first GM animal approved for human consumption, joining GM plants like soy and corn altered to tolerate harsh herbicides.

Read the full story in the Province.

Read related stories:

• The National Journal; February 17, 2011; "Mark Begich's salmon run"
• The Guardian; January 14, 2011; "Frankensalmon fears prompt P.E.I. group to call for ban"
• The Telegram; January 22, 2011; "Frankenfish or super salmon"
• International Business Times; January 20, 2011; "Blocking GM salmon tops legislative agenda"
• CBC; January 13 2011; "GMO salmon opponents meet with Ghiz"
• Tundra Drums; January 3, 2011; "Lawmakers introduce legislation to protect wild salmon"
• CBC News; December 20, 2010; "Genetically modified fish lawsuit threatened"

Read background stories

Rob Hotakainen
April 20, 2011
The Province

In B.C.'s Fraser River, a mysterious illness has killed millions of Pacific salmon, and scientists have a new hypothesis about why: The wild salmon are suffering from viral infections similar to those linked to some forms of leukemia and lymphoma.

For 60 years before the early 1990s, an average of nearly eight million wild salmon returned from the Pacific Ocean to the Fraser River each year to spawn.

Now the salmon industry is in a state of collapse, with mortality rates ranging from 40 to 95 per cent.

The salmon run has been highly variable: The worst year came in 2009, with 1.5 million salmon, followed by the best year in 2010, with 30 million salmon. But the overall trend is downward.

Losses were particularly high in elevated river temperatures -warmer water makes it more difficult to deliver oxygen to the tissues of salmon

Read the full story in The Province

Read additional related stories.

Kelowna Capital News
April 20, 2011

Salmon advocates say federal fisheries staff in B.C. should be shielded from planned government cuts to avoid compromising potential recommendations of the inquiry underway into the collapse of Fraser River sockeye.

The planned cuts announced last month aim to carve nearly $57 million out of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans budget over the next couple of years.

 Read the full story in the Kelowna Capital News

One exhibit tabled was an internal note penned a couple of years ago by a Kamloop-based DFO habitat and enforcement manager who bluntly outlined the challenges.

“We can’t keep up,” Jason Hwang said in the note, in which he cited “huge” amounts of development in the Thompson, Okanagan, Nicola and Shuswap regions and long backlogs to examine proposals for possible habitat threats.

“We are not able to pursue smaller occurrences that in the past we have pursued and prosecuted.”

Read the full story in the Kelowna Capital News

Read related stories:

• Salmon Arm Observer; April 11, 2011 "Sockeye inquiry zeroes in on threat to fish habitat"
• Globe and Mail; April 7, 2011; "After fisheries officers cut, complaints plummeted, commission hears"
• Globe and Mail; April 4, 2011; "Fisheries habitat being steadily eroded, panel told" 

Mark Hume
April 20, 2011
Globe and Mail

The shocking collapse of sockeye stocks in the Fraser River in 2009 was not an isolated event, but was part of a long downward trend in salmon productivity spread over a large area, from Alaska to Washington State, a new scientific study concludes.

“This observation that productivity has followed shared trends over a much larger area than just the Fraser River system is a very important new finding,” states the report, filed Wednesday with a federal commission investigating the decline of sockeye in the Fraser. 

It suggests that whatever devastated the Fraser’s sockeye runs –only about one million of an anticipated 10 million fish returned to spawn – has also afflicted many other sockeye populations, from those in Lake Washington, near Seattle, to those in Yakutat, Alaska, more than 2,000 kilometres to the north.

Researchers Randall Peterman and Brigitte Dorner say it is possible “a coincidental combination of processes such as freshwater habitat degradation, contaminants, pathogens, predators, etc.,” have coincidentally affected the populations in many rivers at the same time. 

But they suggest a more likely explanation is that something that has an impact over a large area of ocean, where correlated sockeye stocks overlap, is the cause.

Read the full story in the Globe and Mail. 

Jeff Nagel
April 19, 2011
BC Local News

Last year's massive run of roughly 30 million sockeye salmon that filled freezers and kept barbecues sizzling won't likely be repeated this summer. 

Instead, officials at the Pacific Salmon Commission are forecasting a much lower return of between three and five million sockeye to the Fraser River for 2011.

That means relatively little, if any, sockeye fishing for commercial fishermen and sports anglers, and possibly even First Nations, who get first priority subject only to conservation needs.

"Expectations are much lower," said Mike Lapointe, the commission's chief biologist.

He predicts fishing will be heavily restricted to protect threatened stocks, particularly early running sockeye bound for Stuart Lake and late running fish that end up in Cultus Lake.

"It will be nothing in the way of what we had last year," Lapointe said. "I think people are pretty realistic."

Last year included the huge run of sockeye that return to the Fraser's Adams River tributary northeast of Kamloops once every four years.

Read the full story on BC Local News

 Read related stories: 

• Vancouver Sun,; May 5, 2011; "Sockeye forecast means big run for B.C."
• CTV News; April 23, 2011; "Bleak outlook for 2011 soekeye salmon run"
• Fisheries Information Service; April 20. 2011; "2011 Fraser River sockeye returns will be low: scientists"

Mark Hume
April 18, 2011
Globe and Mail

A lot of people have tried over the years to make fish an issue in elections in British Columbia. And so far, all of them have failed.

But this year, a couple of campaigns are swimming along just beneath the surface that are starting to catch the attention of voters and politicians.

B.C. environmental activist and biologist Alexandra Morton is visiting federal campaign offices around the province to ask candidates: “Do you stand up for wild salmon?” And she is holding rallies, sometimes accompanied by a man wearing a fish-head mask, that are getting media coverage in small towns.

At the same time, a group of sports anglers, who say they are “mad as hell” over halibut fishing regulations, are targeting several swing ridings with the hope of defeating candidates who don’t support their cause.

Ms. Morton, who has an e-mail list with 20,000 names on it, says she’s encouraged by the number of people telling her they are watching her website to find out where candidates stand. “They say this will affect how they vote,” she said of www.wildsalmonpeople.ca, where she quotes candidates responding to her questions. 

She launched her tour on April 13, with stops in Port McNeill, Campbell River, Courtenay and Nanaimo, then hit the Lower Mainland on the weekend, before heading inland for small towns such as Salmon Arm, Enderby, Kamloops, Yale and Hope. She plans to loop back to Vancouver Island, with a rally May 1, in Victoria.

Ms. Morton said she’s been encouraged by the responses of many candidates, who seem to be informed about salmon issues and who are ready to make firm declarations.

But she is not having much luck with one party.

“The Conservatives just don’t talk. They don’t say one way or another where they stand,” she said.

Read the full story in the Globe and Mail 

Read related stories:

• Vancouver Sun; April 29, 2011; "May calls for end to open net-cage fish farms on coast"
• Times Colonist; April 28, 2011; "10 key Island issues in the federal election"
• Valley Voice; April 27, 2011; "Morton backs NDP"
• Campbell River Mirror; April 26, 2011; "Vancouver Island North candidates' positions on aquaculture"
• Pacific Free Press; April 20, 2011; "Alexandra Morton on Candidates' Positions + New Video"
• Straight.com; April 20, 2011; "Environmental heavyweights back NDP Fin Donnelly, Peter Julian for re-election
• Times Colonist; April 19, 2011; "Voting for Wild Salmon"
• Courier-Islander; April 15, 2011; "Morton says fish farming, wild salmon need to be an election issue"
• Courier Islander; April 14, 2011; "Salmon can't vote, but are an election issue" 
• Kamloops Daily News; April 15, 2011; "Election Briefs: Salmon activist visits Kamloops"
• Chilliwack Progress; April 13, 2011; "Mayday for Wild Salmon tour to hit Chilliwack"
• Courier Islander; April 13, 2011: ""Mayday for Wild Salmon today in Campbell River"
• Nanaimo Daily News; April 13, 2011; "Morton takes her battle back to the streets"
• Courier Islander; April 10, 2011; " "Mayday for Wild Salmon" kicks off in Campbell River"
• Courier Islander; April 6, 2011; "Fish farming is going to be an issue"

Rob Hotakainen
April 14, 2011
McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — In Canada's Fraser River, a mysterious illness has killed millions of Pacific salmon, and scientists have a new hypothesis about why: The wild salmon are suffering from viral infections similar to those linked to some forms of leukemia and lymphoma.

For 60 years before the early 1990s, an average of nearly 8 million wild salmon returned from the Pacific Ocean to the Fraser River each year to spawn.

Now the salmon industry is in a state of collapse, with mortality rates ranging from 40 percent to 95 percent.

The salmon run has been highly variable: The worst year came in 2009, with 1.5 million salmon, followed by the best year in 2010, with 30 million salmon. But the overall trend is downward.

Losses were particularly high in elevated river temperatures; warmer water makes it more difficult to deliver oxygen to the tissues of salmon.

Seven of the last 10 summers have been the hottest on record for the Fraser River. But experts say it's too soon to pin the blame on global warming.

"Clearly, a warming climate is going to produce some new stresses for Pacific salmon," said Daniel Schindler, a professor of aquatic and fishery sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle. "Some of those stresses will certainly be expressed through increased susceptibility to disease, including something like this."

But he added: "The reality is we have very poor understanding of how climate and disease dynamics interact with each other in salmon. We know they're going to be important, but we can't say a lot in detail."

Read the full story in McClatchy Newspapers

Read related stories

Courier Island
April 13, 2011

Question: Now that aquaculture jurisdiction has moved from Victoria to Ottawa, are you satisfied with the current state of fish farm regulations and enforcement?

If so, why? If not, what changes should be made?

See the Courier Islander for responses from Vancouver Island North candidates.

See related stories:

• Courier-Islander; April 13, 2011; "Salmon farmers draft letter to candidates"
• Courier-Islander; April 13, 2011; "Maybe it's not an election issue" 

Annie Murphy
April 11, 2011
National Public Radio

Chile's is the world's second-largest producer of salmon, and much of all the salmon eaten in the U.S. comes from there. But the fish isn't native to Chile, and a few years ago, risky farming practices ushered in a virus that nearly wiped out the salmon industry.

Annie Murphy reports now on how the industry is rebounding in Chile and, in the process, transforming the country's coast.

ANNIE MURPHY: If you fly low above the Pacific, about 600 miles south of Santiago, red metal boxes and spheres appear in the sea off of Patagonia like lost toys. They're cages filled with farmed salmon and take hours to pass over.

This multibillion dollar industry is concentrated around the city of Puerto Montt. Until a few years ago, fish were packed too close together, which made it easy for a 2007 virus to kill millions of salmon.

Cesar Barros, head of the salmon farming organization SalmonChile, says a comeback happened only because farms became better regulated and spread out.

Mr. CESAR BARROS (President, SalmonChile): We have divided the sea into barrios, or neighborhoods, according to the more or less independent water systems. 

MURPHY: These enormous tracks of ocean were granted to salmon companies as concessions. The system is similar to measures taken in Canada but on a much larger scale.

Read /hear the full story at National Public Radio

Louis Bergeron
Stanford Report
April 7, 2011 

Aquaculture is a booming industry, but that means effluent from fish farms will be booming, too. What happens to that drifting waste in coastal settings is critical to maintaining a healthy environment, but little has been known about how that waste travels once it is no longer down on the farm. Stanford researchers have developed a highly detailed computer simulation that will help find suitable sites for aquaculture and help monitor any plumes of waste wafting through the waters.

One of the fastest-growing segments of livestock farming in the United States is aquaculture, according to Roz Naylor, a Stanford professor of environmental Earth system science. And like any other form of livestock, fish generate waste.

But just what happens to the waste produced by coastal aquaculture has largely been a matter of conjecture.

"For many years, people have assumed that because of the ocean's size, because of the energy in its currents, that any substance you introduced into the ocean would quickly be diluted into concentrations that were barely detectable," said Jeff Koseff, professor of civil and environmental engineering.

Now Koseff and Naylor, together with Oliver Fringer, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, and a team of colleagues, have developed a computational model that allows researchers to predict where the effluent from a coastal fish farm would go. The answer may not always be appealing to down-current swimmers and surfers.

"We discovered that the state of the natural environment around fish pens can dramatically affect how far waste plumes travel from the source," Koseff said. "This suggests that we should not simply assume 'dilution is the solution' for aquaculture pollution."

Read the full story in the Stanford Report

Steverin Carrell
April 7, 2011
The Guardian (UK)

Fish farms are being frequently hit by parasite infestations and mass escapes that threaten the survival of the UK's wild salmon stocks, a leading anglers' group has said.

Official inspections have revealed that scores of salmon farms around the Scottish coast have had infestations of the sea lice parasite that breached recommended levels or have led to fish suffering wounds or an early death.

The Salmon and Trout Association (S&TA) said that official reports, released to the group under freedom of information powers, showed that the government's inspection regime was failing and was too lenient – a claim disputed by the Scottish Salmon Producers' Organisation.

It said their evidence raised significant questions about the common practice of routinely warning fish farms, often up to 10 days in advance, that an inspection was to take place. This often allowed salmon farms to take action on sea lice and repair damaged nets before the inspectors arrived.

Read the full story in The Guardian (UK)

Jay Ritchlin
April 6, 2011
Vancouver Sun

Salmon farming has long been a controversial issue, especially in British Columbia. But is the tide starting to turn? We think it is.

Many problems with salmon farming have yet to be addressed, but thanks in part to the work of organizations like the David Suzuki Foundation and its allies in the Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform, consumers, retailers and industry are all paying more attention to seafood sustainability.

We can now envision a future when Canadian seafood, wild and farmed, will provide healthy choices, regional food security, innovation and jobs while allowing us to live in balance with the natural world. We're not there yet, though. Some fisheries and aquaculture systems continue to put too much stress on our water and ocean environments. But with salmon farming, the tide is starting to turn.

The idea of raising salmon in closedcontainment systems that separate farmed fish from wild started as a ripple set off by researchers and environmental groups. It has now gained enough momentum that the question is no longer whether real progress toward sustainability is possible, but rather, how soon can we make it the norm?

People are increasingly looking for seafood products that are healthy for their families and the oceans. Companies recognize that long-term business success requires sustainable seafood sources. This has prompted grocery stores such as Overwaitea, IGA, Loblaw, Sobeys, Metro and Whole Foods to develop seafood sustainability plans, to offer more environmentally preferable choices and to provide better labelling.

The demand has also spurred innovation in salmon farming methods, including closed-containment systems that protect the local ecosystem and ensure that farmers, not the environment, are accountable for the costs of doing business. This year, Agrimarine Industries installed floating closed-containment salmon tanks near Campbell River. Washington's SweetSpring Salmon raises coho in a land-based, closed-loop recirculation system and sells them to Overwaitea in B.C. The Toquaht First Nation in Twin Rivers is planning a 60-hectare land-based aquaculture park with a recirculating tank system that turns effluent into fertilizer for organic agriculture. The Namgis First Nation on Cormorant Island is developing a closed-tank project that will provide local training and jobs. These efforts are bringing research, investment and entrepreneurs to our region.

Read the full story the Vancouver Sun. 

Mark Hume
April 6, 2011
Globe and Mail

An unguarded note a Department of Fisheries and Oceans manager wrote to himself has given a judicial inquiry a glimpse into the frustrations and fears felt by frontline staff fighting to save salmon habitat in British Columbia.

The brief, one-page document written by Jason Hwang, a manager for DFO’s Habitat and Enhancement Branch in the Kamloops area, was entered as evidence at the Cohen commission on Tuesday by Judah Harrison, a lawyer representing a coalition of conservation groups.

Mr. Harrison, who obtained the document through disclosure, described it as “a sort of unguarded critique” of DFO’s struggles to protect habitat. 

“Well, I definitely agree it’s unguarded,” said Mr. Hwang, who was one of three DFO witnesses testifying on habitat issues. “I believe I wrote that for myself for some upcoming planning meeting. . . .trying to reflect on some key things we were grappling with.”

Mr. Hwang said the note is a few years old, but in response to questions from Mr. Harrison, he agreed things haven’t changed.

“Huge amount of development in Thompson, Okanagan, Nicola, Shuswap. We can’t keep up. Referral backlog is up to 4 months,” wrote Mr. Hwang, whose department is responsible for ensuring salmon habitat is not degraded by logging, mining, agriculture, urban growth and other activities. “We are not able to pursue smaller occurrences that in the past we have pursued and prosecuted.”

Earlier in the week, the commission heard that DFO is not meeting its key policy goal of ensuring that developments do not cause a net loss of fish habitat. The commission, which is examining the decline of sockeye salmon in the Fraser River, also heard DFO’s effectiveness was hampered by a new habitat management policy (known as the Environmental Process Modernization Plan, or EPMP), which staff in B.C. resisted because it was “lowering the bar” on environmental protection. 

Read the full story in the Globe and Mail.

Mark Hume
April 6, 2011
Globe and Mail

Some British Columbia Indian bands are calling on the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to close a sport fishery off the southern tip of Vancouver Island, saying anglers are intercepting Fraser River chinook that aboriginal fishermen aren’t allowed to catch because the stocks are endangered.

But sport anglers are against a blanket closing, saying the fishery is already being managed carefully, and chances that the threatened stocks will be caught are very small.

Ernie Crey, fisheries adviser to the Sto:lo Tribal Council, said DFO should close the southern approach waters to the Fraser to make sure the fish are protected.s

“DFO’s response has been, ‘We’re not going to change anything, but let’s talk more,’ so they are just avoiding the issue,” he said.

DFO officials couldn’t be reached for comment, but a March 26 letter to the Sto:lo from Susan Farlinger, regional director-general, acknowledged the concerns and said the department will work with first nations on the issue. It did not, however, promise any changes this season.

“It is very frustrating,” said Tracy Sampson, fisheries manager for the Nicola Tribal Association. “If DFO continues on with the same management actions it has followed in the past, we will not have any chinook stocks left in the Nicola River.”

Read the full story in the Globe and Mail.

Grad Badelt
April 4, 2011
This Magazine

There had been talk that 2010 might be a good year for sockeye salmon, maybe even a great one. But nobody expected what was to come.

It started in early August, when the Pacific Salmon Commission, a government-appointed body of Canadian and U.S. scientists, forecast 10 million sockeye would reach the mouth of B.C.’s Fraser River later in the month. It was seen as a bold prediction at the time, given the near total collapse of the sockeye fishery the previous three years.

Two weeks later, the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans released its first forecast, based on test catches in the area, a whopping 25 million sockeye salmon. It sparked a flurry of headlines—“Fraser River Fishery Braces for Bonanza,” the CBC crowed—and near-chaos along the river when the fishery finally opened on August 25.

“We’ve fished all our lives and we’d never seen anything like it” says Steve Johansen, owner of Organic Ocean, who fished in the Georgia Strait, near the mouth of the Fraser. “Every day we went out there, and as far as you could see in every direction were sockeye jumping. All day, every day,” said Johansen. “Some days there were so many fish they were actually hitting the sides of our boat.”

When all was said and done, more than 34 million sockeye returned to the Fraser River in 2010, making it the biggest return in nearly a century. It prompted some observers to ask the uncomfortable question: is this iconic fish really on the verge of collapse?

The short answer is yes. The sockeye salmon is in serious trouble, much like the Atlantic cod was two decades before its fateful collapse. The Fraser sockeye, which accounts for roughly half the economic value of all salmon caught in B.C., has been in a downward spiral for decades.

Read the full story in This Magazine

Larry Pynn
April 2, 2011
Vancouver Sun

Elizabeth May interrupts the interview for a B.C. moment. 

"Oh, there's an eagle, just this minute as I'm talking to you," the Green party leader says over a pay phone on a B.C. ferry sailing off Pender Island.

"It swooped right by. He's diving, he's going in for a fish."

Then she takes note of where she is and where she could be during this federal election race.

"How blessed am I in the midst of this campaign chaos," she says. "I am looking at seagulls overhead and waves lapping up on the shoreline. You don't get luckier than this."

Politically, that remains to be seen.

May is making her third federal election attempt after second-place losses in Nova Scotia in 2008 and Ontario in 2006, this time vying for the environmentally conscious riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands.

The Greens took 10 per cent of the riding's votes in 2008, compared to 43 per cent for Conservative Gary Lunn, Minister of State for Sport. However, Briony Penn, widely known for her environmental activism, scored 39 per cent for the Liberals. (Penn is not running in this election. Renée Hetherington, a climate scientist, represents the Liberals this time around, while Saanich school trustee Edith Loring-Kuhanga is running for the NDP.) May's political future could be on the line -and perhaps her party's, too -should support slip from the almost one million votes or 6.8 per cent of the popular vote garnered nationally by the Green Party in 2008, up from 4.5 per cent in 2006. And while the Greens stress they are not a one-issue party, it won't help if environmental issues take a back seat in this election.

Read the full story in the Vancouver Sun.