Fish & Fly Magazine
September 26, 2013

The Commission for Environmental Cooperation, an entity established under the North American Free Trade Agreement, determined the petition includes sufficient information that Canada may be violating its own conservation laws to trigger a formal response.

The petition was filed by conservation, fishing and native groups last year out of concern that disease and parasites from proliferating industrial fish farms are harming British Columbia’s wild salmon. This week’s decision by the commission is an important step in moving the petition forward under NAFTA’s environmental dispute process.

“The initial response from the NAFTA environmental commission is encouraging, since the damage being done to wild salmon along the west coast of North America by the aggressive Norwegian salmon farming industry is an environmental and trade issue of international concern,” said biologist Alexandra Morton with the Pacific Coast Wild Salmon Society. “I hope the Canadian government acknowledges the extent of the problem and that they need help moving toward immediate action.”

“We look forward to examining Canada's response and measuring it against the Cohen Commission Report recommendations,” said Chief Bob Chamberlin of the Kwikwasu'tinuxw Haxwa'mis First Nation. “The government must end their delay, deny and distract approach and safeguard wild salmon.”

“Wild salmon shouldn’t fall victim to diseases, toxic chemicals and parasites from industrial fish operations,” said Jeff Miller with the Center for Biological Diversity. “Canada must abide by its Fisheries Act and protect wild salmon habitat.”

Read the full article in Fish & Fly Magazine.

FIS
September 23, 2013

The National Fisheries and Aquaculture Service (Sernapesca) reported that there has been an increase in the prevalence of two pathogens that harm domestic salmon: the infectious salmon anemia (ISA) virus and caligus or sea lice.

According to the Health Status Report on ISA/caligus prepared by Sernapesca, during the first half of 2013 there were no new outbreaks of ISA virus. The latest cases of this disease were recorded in April.

The Service noted that the way of expressing the frequency of the disease is the prevalence, which corresponds to the proportion of positive centres over the operational centres at any given time.

Given that this measure involves new and old cases, and relates them to the total susceptible centres, the prevalence expresses the extent of the situation in a more realistic way.

The report specifies that "in the epidemic curve (since the first case of ISA in the country in July 2007 to date), constructed from the monthly prevalence of the ISA positive centres along with the number of susceptible centres (with Atlantic salmon), it is noted that that the prevalence of positivity to the virus corresponding to the HPR 0 variant has been increasing in recent months," and that a peak of 36 per cent was reached in June.

Read the full article on FIS.

Bloomberg
September 19, 2013

Marine Harvest ASA (MHG), the world’s biggest salmon farmer, and other producers are surviving a slump in fish prices over the last two months as a supply overhang is seen coming to an end.

Spot prices for Atlantic salmon plunged 32 percent from a record in July as warmer sea temperatures hastened fish growth and boosted volumes, according to data from the Bergen, Norway-based Fish Pool ASA salmon exchange. The Oslo Stock Exchange’s 15-member Seafood Index has fallen 0.6 percent since mid-July, helped by an outlook for a “pretty tight” market next year, Swedbank AB (SWEDA) said.

“Despite the price decline, expectations for 2014 are almost unchanged,” Henning Steffenrud, chief analyst at Swedbank First Securities, said in a phone interview. “Combined with the fact that salmon stocks are looking attractive on earnings multiples, that’s holding share prices up.”

An easing of market imbalances will probably stem a price decline, the worst since a market crash in 2011. Production in Chile, the world’s second largest, has peaked for the year and output from Norway, the biggest producer, isn’t expected to grow beyond the seasonal pre-Christmas jump, said analyst Kolbjoern Giskeoedegaard at Nordea Markets in Oslo.

Marine Harvest’s biggest owner, billionaire John Fredriksen, has since July 22 bought about 100 million shares, boosting his share in the company to 31.31 percent. Marine Harvest is up 21 percent this year, valuing the company at 22.6 billion kroner ($3.8 billion). The seafood index has risen 28 percent in the same period.

Read the full article on Bloomberg.

CBC
September 14, 2013

A major bankruptcy protection case is being transferred from Newfoundland and Labrador to New Brunswick.

The Gray Aqua Group filed for bankruptcy protection at the end of August.

Gray Aqua was issued an eradication order to destroy about a million diseased fish — and that put the company into financial trouble.

The company was hit with three outbreaks infectious salmon anemia.

Under the Bankruptcy Act, the company will file a proposal to its creditors that would allow the company to restructure in order to survive.

In total, the Gray Aqua Group has six companies in Newfoundland on the south coast.

The area is the hub of the province's salmon farming industry, which has produced hundreds of jobs and has helped to revive about a dozen communities. Gray Aqua also has two companies in New Brunswick.

The Supreme Court was asked to grant an application to allow the bankruptcy proceedings to be transferred to New Brunswick.

Read the full article in CBC.

Read related story:

• VOCM; September 16, 2013; "Gray Aqua Still Trying to Acquire New License"
• Western Star; August 29, 2013; "Salmon anemia hit company hard"
• Metro; August 29, 2013; "Aquaculture downturn expected in Newfoundland"
• CBC; August 28, 2013; "Gray Aqua files for bankruptcy protection"
• The Telegram; August 27, 2013; "Gray Aqua ordered to pay $648,000 owed for fish feed"

CBC
September 16, 2013

About 100 protesters gathered in downtown Vancouver on Monday to speak out about Canadian government scientists who are being hampered from talking to the public about their taxpayer-funded research.

Prominent scientists such as David Suzuki spoke at the rally on the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery at noon, saying the Conservative government is shutting down research on controversial topics such as genetically modified foods, farmed salmon and oil pipelines.

"We now have a prime minster intent on pushing the pipeline through across British Columbia before all the scientific information is in.  We don't make informed decisions that way.  We have to assess the information available," said Suzuki.

Evidence For Democracy in Vancouver

Protesters in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery said scientists were being muzzled by the federal government. (CBC)

"We are threatened with politicians deciding not only whether or not to listen to scientists, but the kind of information that scientists are able to tell us about."

The protest was one of 17 in cities across Canada today organized by the group Evidence For Democracy.

The group is trying to pressure Ottawa to be more forthcoming about communicating what government-funded scientific research is uncovering in fields such as public health, crime prevention, fisheries management and climate change.

Read the full article in the CBC.

South Coast Today
September 14, 2013

According to a news release from the Center for Biological diversity, an international commission ruled this week that a citizen petition challenging Canada’s failure to protect wild salmon from industrial fish farms warrants an official response from the Canadian government. The Commission for Environmental Cooperation, an entity established under the North American Free Trade Agreement, determined the petition includes sufficient information that Canada may be violating its own conservation laws to trigger a formal response.

The petition was filed by conservation, fishing and native groups last year out of concern that disease and parasites from proliferating industrial fish farms are harming British Columbia’s wild salmon. This week’s decision by the commission is an important step in moving the petition forward under NAFTA’s environmental dispute process.

“The initial response from the NAFTA environmental commission is encouraging, since the damage being done to wild salmon along the west coast of North America by the aggressive Norwegian salmon farming industry is an environmental and trade issue of international concern,” said biologist Alexandra Morton with the Pacific Coast Wild Salmon Society. “I hope the Canadian government acknowledges the extent of the problem and that they need help moving toward immediate action.”

“We look forward to examining Canada's response and measuring it against the Cohen Commission Report recommendations,” said Chief Bob Chamberlin of the Kwikwasu'tinuxw Haxwa'mis First Nation. “The government must end their delay, deny and distract approach and safeguard wild salmon.”

Read the full article on South Coast Today.

Read related article:

• Indy Bay; September 13, 2013; "NAFTA Commission: Canada Must Respond to Concerns that Fish Farms Hurt Wild Salmon"

The Fish Site
September 13, 2013

The Newfoundland Aquaculture Industry Association will engage in more promotional activity at home and abroad with assistance from the Provincial Government.

Derrick Dalley, Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, announced C$27,488 under the Fisheries Technology and New Opportunities Programme to support marketing initiatives at a variety of special events.

“Newfoundland and Labrador’s aquaculture industry has grown rapidly in recent years, and strong marketing will be vital to continuing that success,” said Minister Dalley.

“The Provincial Government is proud to invest more than C$27,000 as part of ongoing efforts to support the industry as it builds awareness of its high quality seafood products and attracts new customers in diverse markets.”

The funding supports the Newfoundland Aquaculture Industry Association’s participation in provincial events such as the Salmon Festival Dinner held by the Town of Grand Falls–Windsor, the Royal St. John’s Regatta, and the Harvest Celebration Agrifoods and Garden Show held in Corner Brook. The funding also supports the association’s attendance at international trade shows such as Seafood Expo North America (formerly called the International Boston Seafood Show).

Read the full article on The Fish Site.

Surrey Leader
September 12, 2013

A huge number of pink salmon returning to the Fraser River has conservationists warning that the temptation to fish them heavily could still threaten at-risk sockeye salmon.

The Pacific Salmon Commission estimates 26 million pinks are returning to the river this year – almost three times as many as expected.

Commercial fishermen, anglers and First Nations all got the go ahead to fish for pinks after sockeye fishing was closed this summer to ensure enough of that species get upstream to spawn after a lower-than-forecast return and dangerously warm river temperatures.

Watershed Watch Salmon Society executive director Craig Orr warned the pressure to fish abundant pinks can result in an accidental bycatch of sockeye, as well as weak runs of Interior coho salmon.

"This return of sockeye this year are the ones coming back from the disastrous 2009 return that triggered the Cohen Inquiry," Orr said. "We have to take special care with these sockeye. There's not a lot of them around."

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans did halt commercial pink fishing near the river mouth Tuesday night, a decision Orr applauds.

Read the full article in the Surrey Leader.

Vancouver Sun
September 12, 2013

The Harper government, accused of an "unacceptable" delay in responding to the Fraser River salmon inquiry report issued a year ago, insists it's following Justice Bruce Cohen's recommendations.

Fisheries Minister Gail Shea said the government has, in the past year, announced a $10-million program to support local fisheries conservation projects. The 2013 budget included more money for the Pacific Salmon Foundation, a non-profit group involved in salmon conservation.

"Our government has long recognized the importance of protecting sockeye salmon in the Fraser River," Shea said in a statement, adding that's why the government set up the $26-million Cohen commission. "We will continue to take action that is consistent with the recommendations of the Cohen Commission."

Former Tory Fisheries Minister John Fraser and a group of conservation proponents complained about what they saw as a delay in a letter to B.C. Conservative MP John Weston earlier this week, after a summer that saw sockeye runs at half the level predicted by scientists.

The letter to the MP for West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country said Ottawa hasn't come close to responding adequately to Cohen's sweeping recommendations - or even indicated whether it will even discuss its views of the report.

"This is unacceptable, especially when significant salmon fishery closures have occurred on the Fraser River once again this year, along with predictions of high in-river mortality of migrating sockeye," stated Fraser, Randall Lewis of the Squamish First Nation, and Dave Brown, vice-chairman of the Squamish to Lillooet Sportfish Advisory Committee. "Action needs to occur to ensure the management of Fraser sockeye and other salmon is improved via implementation of the Cohen Inquiry recommendations, which were so thoroughly researched," the letter said On Wednesday, Brown rejected Shea's statement: "It doesn't go anywhere near taking Cohen's report seriously.

Read the full article in the Vancouver Sun.

Read related articles:

• Georgia Straight; October 22, 2014; "David Suzuki: A year after Cohen report, salmon still face upstream battle"
• The Chief; September 12, 2013; "Fisheries action urged"
• Pique; September 12, 2013; "No Government Response to Cohen Inquiry Final Report"

FIS
September 11, 2013

The Salmon & Trout Association (Scotland) (S&TA(S)) warns that the damage being caused to wild salmon and sea trout in Scotland continues. It claims that the number of salmon farms on the Scottish mainland and in the Hebrides that are in areas where average sea-lice numbers exceeded the industry’s own limit for sea lice has grown from one quarter to one third in the first half of this year.

The association's warning emerges from the analyisis of aggregated sea lice data published by the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation (SSPO), in its first two quarterly sea lice reports.

According to the S&TA(S) in three key fish-farming areas, the SSPO’s ‘averaged data’ shows sea lice numbers in excess of the industry’s own limits for sea lice for every month from January to June 2013:

• ‘Inchard to Kirkaig North’: eight active salmon farms, all run by Loch Duart Limited, the self-styled “sustainable salmon company”. Between February and April the average monthly lice count on Loch Duart farms was more than three times the industry’s own threshold and never went below twice that threshold in any month.
• ‘Kennart to Gruinard’: seven farms operated by two companies, Wester Ross Fisheries Limited and Scottish Sea Farms Limited. Between February and June the average monthly lice count on farms in this area ranged between four to more than nine times the industry’s own threshold
• ‘Isle of Harris’: 12 fish farms operated by three different companies, including The Scottish Salmon Company and Marine Harvest (Scotland) Limited. Between February and June the average monthly lice count on farms in this area was at times more than five times the industry’s own threshold.

“The SSPO reports confirm that, in at least three key fish-farming regions of Scotland, sea lice numbers are out of control and consequently the fish-farm companies are failing to protect wild fish from the devastating effects of the release of vast numbers of juvenile parasitic sea lice into west coast sea lochs," said Hugh Campbell Adamson, Chairman of S&TA(S).

Read the full article in FIS.

Read related article:

• FishNewsEU; September 9, 2013; "Calls to expel “serial sea lice offenders” from SSPO"
• Fish & Fly; September 9, 2013; "Sea Lice ‘Out of Control’ in Many Scottish Regions"

FIS
September 9, 2013

Canadian-based aquacultre tecnology firm AgriMarine announced that it has signed a non-binding term sheet with an established steelhead trout producer in British Columbia. The move is in line with the company´s decision to shift its strategy toward becoming a global producer of sustainable fin fish such as salmon and trout. 

Under the terms and conditions of the term sheet, AgriMarine Industries Inc., a subsidiary of AgriMarine Holdings Inc., would acquire all of the outstanding shares of West Coast Fishculture (Lois Lake) Ltd. and West Coast Fishculture Ltd. (jointly referred as WCFC) for cash.

The term sheet is subject to the successful execution of a Definitive Purchase and Sale Agreement, approvals by the TSX Venture Exchange, and other customary terms and conditions, such as satisfactory due diligence with respect to WCFC, including a valuation report, and the approvals from the Board of Directors from both companies. 

The acquisition price will remain undisclosed for the time being, as it will depend on a yet-to-be-completed count of the biological inventory upon closing of the transaction.

Read the full article in FIS.

Read related article: 

• Undercurrent News; September 9, 2013; "AgriMarine snaps up Canadian trout farmer"

The Fish Site
September 9, 2013

On 4 and 5 September, Federal and provincial Ministers discussed a range of topics, including recreational fisheries, the lobster fishery, the continuing importance of the seal hunt to Canadian coastal communities, the federal Fisheries Protection Programme, aquaculture, and aquatic invasive species.

"Today was a day of collaboration between federal, provincial and territorial partners,” said Gail Shea, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

“We want to see our fisheries and aquaculture industries grow and we remain committed to working together to protect our fisheries’ productivity and develop the fishing and aquaculture industries to ensure its sustainable future in Canadian waters.”

“It was a pleasure to welcome the federal, provincial and territorial fisheries and aquaculture ministers and to share our priorities and directions. Our government will continue to support initiatives that help make Quebec’s fisheries and aquaculture industry a prosperous industry that creates well-paying jobs, is environmentally responsible and contributes to the highest and best use of our territory’s resources,” said Jeannine Richard, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and MNA for Îles-de-la-Madeleine.

Read the full article in the Fish Site.

Atlantic Salmon Federation News
September 6, 2013

A major workshop on closed-containment land-based aquaculture has been underway this week.

Scientists and representatives of the aquaculture industry from fourteen countries gathered in Shepherdstown to explore the latest advances in the technology and economics of developing methods to raise Atlantic salmon and other species in ways that remove them from the marine environment.

The Atlantic Salmon Federation is a sponsoring partner of the workshop, and Jonathan Carr, ASF’s Vice President for Research and Environment is keenly aware that this workshop can be a vital part of extending knowledge about land-based aquaculture in the United States.

With more than 135 participants and 28 presentations, this is a significant event in sharing the pioneering technology that offers many advantages over traditional aquaculture that harms the marine environment and places at risk wild populations of Atlantic salmon and other species.

Among the advantages: Economic predictability, reducing the chance that a disease such as ISA can send a company into bankruptcy, as recently happened in Newfoundland Wastes are retrieved, and instead of being pollutants, become a byproduct with economic value as a spinoff. Predictable costs that give advantages to the producer. Faster grow-out for the product.

Besides Atlantic salmon, the workshop involved researchers raising many other species that included barramundi, sea bream, yellow perch and arctic char. 

Read the full story on Atlantic Salmon Federation News.

For further coverage on Aquaculture Innovation Workshop #5:

• Atlantic Salmon Journal; Winter 2013; Making it work. ASF co-hosts an international sumit on land-based fish farming
• The Fish Site; September 23, 2013; "Symposium Discusses Making Land-based Aquaculture more Sustainable"
• Freshwater Institute; September 6, 2013; "International Summit on Fish Farming in Land-Based Closed-Containment Systems"
• Tides Canada; September 6, 2013;"Fish Needs – Doing it right by the farmed fish AND the environment (Day 1 of Aquaculture Innovation Workshop)" 
• Tides Canada; September 7, 2013: "Fish Stories - (Day 2 of Aquaculture Innovation Workshop)" 
• VOCM; September 5, 2013; "Critic Pushing for Inland Fish Farming"
• Tides Canada; September 4, 2013; "Fish farming experts gather for the 5th Aquaculture Innovation" Workshop"
• Atlantic Salmon Federation News; September 4, 2013; "Bennett encouraged by Minister looking at closed containment" 

Presentations from Aquaculture Innovation Workshop #5 can be accessed at this link.

FIS
September 5, 2013

The latest figures released by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) indicate that commercial salmon fishing has already generated the capture of more than 262 million salmon statewide. This figure tops 2005’s record, which was 221.9 million fish.

State fisheries biologists have released preliminary total figures which show a total of 29.3 million sockeye salmon, 17.6 million chum, 3.8 million silver or coho salmon, 304,000 king salmon and 211 million pink salmon.

The pink salmon harvest was nearly two times higher than expected, 117.7 million, while coho harvest was slightly lower than expected, which was 3.9 million.

Most of the catch came from the region of Southeast Alaska, where fishermen delivered 98 million salmon to processors, including 84.6 million pink salmon, 9.9 million chum, 2.4 million silver, 867,000 sockeye and 224,000 king salmon.

Read the full article on FIS.

Fishnews.eu
September 5, 2013

A groundbreaking project off the west coast of Scotland will see wave energy being used to power the equipment on a salmon farm. 

Marine Harvest Scotland has applied for permission to site a prototype device on its new site near the Isle of Muck.

As Chris Read, Marine Harvest's Environmental Manager, said: "This is a very exciting development with huge potential. Our environment in Scotland makes us a natural home for both salmon farming and wave energy and this could prove to be a winning combination."

Wave power is still in its infancy but devices such as this could offer a solution for generating electricity at remote sites far removed from the grid.

Known as the WaveNET, the device will be held in place by 160m mooring legs which will sit within the existing mooring footprint. The generator consists of six individual modules, known as SQUIDs, each able to produce 7.5KW, giving a total of 45KW installed capacity. The device is a prototype which has been developed by AlbaTERN.

Maclean's Magazine
September 1, 2013

Fancy some Manitoba cod? How about Saskatchewan salmon? The idea of Prairie seafood may seem outlandish, but with soaring demand running headlong into environmental concerns over fish farms, some believe the future of the fisheries industry rests on dry land.

At the Cheslakees Indian Reserve near Port McNeill on Vancouver Island, environmental groups and the ’Namgis First Nation recently opened North America’s first commercial-scale Atlantic salmon farm based entirely on land. It’s already common for land-based farms to raise smolts, or baby salmon, before dumping them into ocean net pens. But the ’Namgis project mechanizes the entire fish-growing process from smolt to slaughter in a series of large tanks (using 98 per cent recycled water), covering about the same area as two Olympic-sized swimming pools. Every aspect of the fish’s environment is controlled, from water quality and temperature to light exposure and feed, all without the threat of predators or the risk of contaminating wild fish.

There’s clearly a market. For the first time ever, global production of farmed fish has surpassed that of farmed beef, according to a recent study by the Earth Policy Institute, and the gap is set to widen as demand soars. Yet Canada’s share of the booming global seafood market has shrunk by 40 per cent over the last decade, thanks in large part to changing legislation affecting ocean-based fish farms.

The $8.5-million ’Namgis project, financed in part by the federal and provincial governments, could help change that. It draws heavily on recent work by the U.S.-based Freshwater Institute, a research and economic development program. It found salmon can be grown in water with up to eight times the density of a net pen, in about half the time. There is less waste of expensive feed, and the fish require no vaccines, antibiotics or pesticides, despite a low mortality rate. “From a quality standpoint, it’s an excellent product that people will pay more for,” says research lead Steven Summerfelt.

The ’Namgis project says it expects to sell the fish at a 25 to 30 per cent premium over regular net-pen salmon. But proof will have to wait until the spring, and the first harvest of about 470 tonnes of fish. “The intent of this thing is to show the economics work well enough to attract private investment dollars,” says project vice-chair Eric Hobson. Expansion plans are in the works for the system to produce 2,350 tonnes of salmon annually, comparable to a net-pen operation.

Read the full article in Maclean's.

For related stories click here.

For more information on this project see the 'Namgis closed containment salmon farm.

Chilliwack Progress
August 30, 2013

The Chilliwack chapter of the Farmed Salmon Boycott held a celebration rally at the Safeway grocery store Tuesday after the company announced it would adopt a new sustainable seafood policy.

The group, also known as the Salmon Feedlot Boycott, has spent months publicly protesting the seafood sourcing practices of Safeway and other stores in Chilliwack and around B.C. Members claim that open net fish farms located on the approaches to migratory rivers used by wild salmon release toxins and diseases that contribute to the decline of wild salmon stocks. Salmon from such fish farms should not be sold to consumers, the group believes.

Leader Eddie Gardner has welcomed Safeway's new policy.

"This is encouraging news and we applaud this sustainable alternative to open net pens on the migration routes of wild salmon," said Gardner in a release. "This helps us move closer to making Chilliwack an Atlantic farmed fish free zone."

The manager of the Safeway at 45850 Yale Road led Gardner on a tour of the seafood section of the store, where a banner announcing the new policy was displayed.

Read the full article in the Chilliwack Progress.

Huffington Post
August 30, 2013

A population of Fraser River sockeye salmon that had dwindled to such alarming numbers it prompted a federal inquiry is showing signs of improvement, says a spokesman with Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

About 1.4 million to 1.6 million sockeye out of an estimated run of 10 million returned to the river in 2009, leading the federal government to call an inquiry led by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Bruce Cohen.

But Les Jantz, who is the co-chair of the department's Fraser River panel, said Thursday the offspring from the 2009 run are now making their own way back up the Fraser, and the department estimates those numbers could hit four million.

"Obviously it shows a sign of rebuilding when you go from 1.6 million to something, you know, that's going to probably end up over four million," he said. "That's a reasonable return.

"Fraser sockeye have had some highly variable return rates over the years, so this isn't one of the better ones, but it is an improvement."

Jantz said sockeye in 2010 returned in near-record numbers -- 30 million by some estimates -- and the department is seeing an improving annual trend in marine survival, and its scientists hope those numbers will continue into the future.

Still, the news isn't all good for the 2013 run, and the fishery has been closed since the second week of August because of high water temperatures and poor river conditions.

Read the full article in the Huffington Post.

Read related stories:

• See this link for a bundling of news items on the poaching of Fraser River sockeye
• CBC; August 29, 2013; "Fraser sockeye numbers up from 2009, officials say"
• Mission Record; August 29, 2013; "Fraser salmon fishing resumes but not for sockeye"
• Business in Vancouver; August 27, 2013; "Federal government failing to reverse salmon decline in B.C."
• Chilliwack Progress; August 16, 2013; "Most Fraser sockeye expected to die before spawning: DFO"
• Surrey Leader; August 14, 2013; "Fraser sockeye test fishing curtailed to conserve weak run"
• Abbotsford Times; August 22, 2013; "Fraser River salmon shutdown DFO announces all-out ban on Fraser River salmon fishing until further notice"  
• Maple Ridge News; August 21, 2013; "Low salmon numbers keep nets out of Fraser"
• Rossland News; August 18, 2013; "Salmon run, water level low" 
• Huffington Post; August 18, 2013; "Sockeye Fisheries Closed Following Historic Lows In Skeena River, B.C."
• CBC News; August 14, 2013: "Fraser River sockeye test fishery scaled back Follows closure of the commercial, sport and First Nations fisheries"
• Globe and Mail; August 12, 2013; "Lake Babine sockeye fishery at risk of unprecedented closure"
• Vancouver Sun; August 12, 2013; "Sockeye returns hurting on Fraser, Skeena rivers; pink, coho, and chinook salmon surge on B.C. coast"
• CBC; August 12, 2013; "First Nations Skeena sockeye fishery shut for first time"
• Courier Islander; August 10, 2013; "Fraser River low levels, high temperature a major concern"
• CBC; August 10, 2013; "Sockeye salmon shortfall drives up price"
• CJFW; August 9, 2013; "Skeena Sockeye Fishing Ban now includes First Nations"
• Northern View; August 9, 2013; "Low sockeye numbers shut down First Nations food fishery, recreational fishery"
• Globe and Mail; August 8, 2013; "Sparse sockeye run is an echo of 2009"
• Chilliwack Progress; August 8, 2013; "Everyone awaits news on Fraser sockeye openings"
• Northern View; August 7, 2013; "Sockeye season called the worst in three decades"
• Vancouver Sun; August 7, 2013; "Size of sockeye run returns still unknown"
• Vancouver Sun; August 6, 2013; "Canadian, U.S. fisheries managers wait anxiously for summer sockeye returns"
• Business in Vancouver; August 6, 2013; "Local fishery caught by Cohen report inaction"
• Global BC; July 30, 2013; "Sockeye salmon returns expected to be up"

 

FIS
August 29, 2013

The European Commission (EC) has requested documents from the Irish Government which were not made available during the recent Commission ‘Pilot’ investigation into sea lice on Irish salmon farms. 

The request follows a ‘Request for Redress for Maladministration’ lodged against the Department of Agriculture by the environmental lobby group Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE) for their handling of the EU investigation of complaints from Irish NGOs on salmon farms and sea lice.

FIE has published on its website internal Irish Government files which they say show that the Report requested by the EU from Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) during the investigation was withheld by the Department of Agriculture from the investigators.

Janez Potocnik, the European Environmental Commissioner, has told Nessa Childers, MEP, that ‘all the information and material referred to by FIE will be sought from the Irish Authorities and duly examined’ to see if it ‘justifies reopening the investigation.’

The IFI Report entirely contradicted the Department of Agriculture’s claims during the Pilot investigation, which were based on a Marine Institute study (Jackson et al., 2011; Jackson et al., 2011). The Institute said their 10 year study proved that infestation of outwardly migrating salmon smolts with sea lice was only a ‘minor component of the overall marine mortality in the stocks studied’. The same Marine Institute study formed the basis of the Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed Galway Bay salmon farm.

However, in a critique published in the same peer reviewed international Journal of Fish Diseases recently, four international scientists have re–evaluated the Marine Institute’s work. Rather than the 1 per cent of wild salmon mortalities claimed by the Institute, using the same data but correcting three methodological errors the authors show that the true figure is 33 per cent mortalities of wild salmon due to farmed salmon sea lice.

Read the full article in FIS.

Read related article:

• FIS; August 6, 2013; "Sea-lice contamination three times higher, NGO claims"
• FishNewsEU; August 4, 2013; "Sea lice infestations soar in Ireland"

Business in Vancouver
August 27, 2013

It is now 10 months since Mr. Justice Bruce Cohen tabled his 75 recommendations on how to protect deteriorating Fraser River sockeye runs. With the next four-year cycle of the devastated 2009 run upon us, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) is warning that as many as 70% of spawning sockeye in the Fraser will die before they spawn. The entire Fraser salmon fishery from Mission to Yale has been shut down to protect the lower-than-expected run of sockeye as they struggle with record high water temperatures and viruses linked to fish farms.

The Cohen commission spent $26.4 million on its inquiry, after prodding from MP John Weston got the prime minister himself to announce it.

“It is in the public interest to investigate this matter and determine the longer-term prospects for sockeye salmon stocks,” Stephen Harper said in November 2009.

What he didn’t say was that he had no intention of actually protecting sockeye salmon. That lack of intent is ridiculously obvious now that so much time has passed since the tabling of the Cohen report without any response, or any person appointed to be carrying out its recommendations. As reported in BIV’s August 6 edition (“Local fishery caught by Cohen report inaction” – issue 1241), missed deadlines in the report include the creation of a new DFO position to implement a wild salmon policy, publication of a detailed plan for implementation of the wild salmon policy (by March 31, 2013), and revising salmon farm siting criteria to reflect new scientific information about salmon farms (by March 31, 2013).

Read the full article in BIV.

Read related stories regarding Fraser sockeye fisheries here.

Seafood Source
August 27, 2013

Salmon farming company Verlasso has earned the blessing of the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program, according to Director Scott Nichols.

The program, which advocates for sustainable seafood, labeled Verlasso salmon a “Good Alternative” ranking.

With the program typically labeling many farmed salmon as something for comsumers to “avoid,” this is the first time ocean-raised farmed salmon has received such a positive endorsement, Nichols said in the company’s blog.

“I want to thank the Verlasso team for the commitment, enthusiasm and creativity that have led to the realization of Verlasso’s vision,” Nichols said. “The work has been hard but so very worthwhile.”

The program issued its new ranking after studying the farm under its external assessment model, which measures the farming process against the program’s criteria for sustainability.

Read the full article on Seafood Source.

Read related article: 

• USA Today; August 26, 2013; "First ocean-farmed salmon makes eco-friendly list"

Williams Lake Tribune
August 26, 2013

Union of BC Indian Chiefs vice-president, Bob Chamberlin, told a gathering last week in the Chilcotin that the resilient Chilko sockeye salmon face a perilous danger from fish farms on the BC coast.

Chamberlin, who is chief of the Kwikwasut’inuxw Haxwa’mis First Nation of northern Vancouver Island and founder of the Wild Salmon Alliance, attended the Tsilhqot’in Nation Gathering Aug. 20 and 21 near Hanceville. He said fish farms in the Broughton Archipelago between Northern Vancouver Island and the mainland of British Columbia is inundated with fish farms that are spreading diseases like infectious salmon anemia to the wild salmon stocks.

“Infectious salmon anemia is a virus that weakens the hearts of migrating salmon so they can’t make it back to their spawning grounds,” Chamberlin said. He added that one of the key attributes of the Chilko sockeye is their strong hearts.

He said Chilko smolts making their way to the ocean, have to pass the Broughton Archipelago fish farms. Despite attempts by the fish farm regulators to place the pens where they can be flushed by tidal waters, the small fish are helpless to swim against the tidal flows and are often swept right into contaminated waters.

In his effort to lobby against the proliferation of fish farms, Chamberlin says he is continually faced with the deafness of government. He said one measure of his success is that the provincial government hasn’t allowed the number of fish farms to expand in recent years.

He said other countries are putting the brakes on fish farming.

“I’ve been to Norway four or five times and they now ban fish farms in the national fjords.”

Chamberlin says his people of the Kwikwasut’inuxw Haxwa’mis First Nation at Gilford Island are fish eaters and clam diggers. He has worked tirelessly to bring the First Nations together to preserve the wild salmon stocks.

Read the full article in the Williams Lake Tribune.

Herald Scotland
August 24, 2013

Evidence cited by the fish-farming industry that sea lice kills only a tiny fraction of wild salmon is seriously flawed, it has been claimed.

The scientific study published in Agricultural Sciences by a scientist of Ireland's Marine Institute, which, it has been claimed, justified the salmon fishing industry's stance that a mere 1%-2% of wild salmon deaths are due to sea lice, has been challenged in a key publication.

A recent critique by scientists from Scotland, Canada and Norway and led by Martin Krkosek of the University of Toronto's department of ecology and evolutionary biology, published in the Journal of Fish Diseases, argues that the Marine Institute's work has "fundamental errors".

Hughie Campbell Adamson, chairman of the Salmon and Trout Association Scotland (S&TAS) is now demanding that the Scottish Salmon Producers' Organisation (SSPO) retract a statement made by its chairman, Professor Phil Thomas, six months ago dismissing the impact of sea lice on wild salmon.

The new interpretation of the research claims there are "grave mistakes in measuring control and treatment groups, leading to wide inaccuracies".

The fresh examination of the original data shows that the impact of sea lice on wild salmon causes a far higher loss (34%) of those returning to Irish rivers than the 1% loss that was calculated in the original paper.

The February publication of research opened up a new chapter in the debate on the impact of the parasite on fish stocks, with recent controversial claims that sea lice thriving among farmed salmon put wild stocks at risk.

Krkosek said the purpose of the research was not to downplay other factors involved, but to highlight that parasites can and do have a large effect on the conservation of wild salmon stocks.

Read the full article in the Herald Scotland.

Zoe Mcknight
August 23, 2013
Vancouver Sun

Enforcement officers are stepping up their efforts to put a stop to midnight poaching of sockeye salmon on the Fraser River.

Since a full ban on fishing this summer’s sockeye salmon run went into effect last Thursday, fishery officers have seized over 50 gillnets and nine vessels, and launched 27 investigations.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans banned commercial and sport fishing for everyone, including First Nations, last week when it became clear this year’s summer sockeye run would be just two million, nearly half the 3.7 million expected by the Pacific Salmon Commission.

That means “every one of these fish we now need to get to the spawning grounds, so all the fisheries in the Fraser River were shut down,” said DFO’s Herb Redekopp, chief of conservation and protection in the Lower Fraser area.

Higher-than-normal reports from the public and sightings by air and land patrols led to the deployment of more resources to the area to enforce the ban. Officials are concerned about black-market sales.

Redekopp was out Thursday night around midnight near Agassiz when he and his crew saw a blacked-out boat with two fishermen using gillnets. In the 10 minutes it took to catch up to the boat using night-vision equipment and a floodlight, 47 fish had been killed, Redekopp said.

Most poachers have been caught between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m., using skiffs with small outboard motors, he said.

Read the full story in the Vancouver Sun.

Read related stories:

• CTV News: August 24, 2013; "Salmon poaching investigation: Boats seized on Fraser River"  
• CBC News; August 23, 2013; "DFO targets salmon poachers on Fraser River"

See stories on 2013 low numbers of Fraser River sockeye at this link. 

The Local
August 23, 2013

A leading Norwegian bio-safety campaigner has warned that a new technology could lead to 'monster salmon' escaping into the wild, with unforeseeable consequences.

AquaGen, the Norwegian salmon breeding company, is this year delivering a million genetically engineered 'triploid' salmon to farms in Norway. 

The salmon have three sets of chromosomes instead of two, making them sterile. 

Ingeborg Myhr, the acting director of the GenØk Centre for Biosafety, warned that because of this, the new salmon might reach an unnatural size. 

"Salmon stop growing when they reach sexual maturity. Would sterile salmon continue to grow so that we would get the media talking about 'monster salmon at large'?," she asked. 

Triploid salmon have previously suffered serious skeletal weaknesses which have made them unviable for salmon farming. 

But AquaGen has developed a special diet, which when fed to the parr (juvenile salmon)  offsets the problem. The salmon will be harvested in 2015.

Nina Santi, a spokesperson for AquaGen, said that using sterile fish was the best way to prevent GM salmon escaping and breeding in the wild.  

Read the full article in The Local.

The Fish Site
August 22, 2013

A £2 million joint research project based at Machrihanish is showing signs of real success with 6,000 Scottish bred Ballan and 3000 Goldsinny wrasse being transferred to salmon farms over the next two months (August and September 2013). A further 1000 bred Ballan will be retained as broodstock for the future.

Wild caught wrasse have been successfully deployed on a number of Argyll and Highland marine salmon farms to reduce the naturally occurring sea lice parasite and achieve industry national targets. The use of wrasse as ‘cleaner fish’ reduces the need for medicinal chemical treatments, improving the environmental footprint of the farms and reduces the sea lice risk for both wild and farmed salmon.

Salmon famers recognise that use of wild wrasse will be limited to the numbers that can be sustainably caught in inshore waters. As a result Scottish Sea Farms, Marine Harvest Scotland and Stirling University have been working together since 2010 developing the farming of ballan wrasse on a commercial scale.

Captive breeding of wrasse will allow all Salmon farmers in Scotland to utilise ‘cleaner fish’ and further enhance Scottish Salmon’s clean and green credentials.

“This project is fundamentally different from other smaller projects as the scale of what we are investing in could transform sea lice management across the aquaculture industry,” said Jim Gallagher, Managing Director of Scottish Sea Farms.

Mark Hume
Globe and Mail
August 13, 2013

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has confirmed a report by independent researcher Alexandra Morton that there are diseased herring in Johnstone Strait, near the north end of Vancouver Island.

But Arlene Tompkins, acting manager of salmon health for DFO, said it is too early to say what is causing the herring to hemorrhage or how serious the outbreak is.

Ms. Tompkins said a DFO crew was sent out after Ms. Morton, who has raised concerns before about diseases in salmon, reported catching herring that were bleeding heavily.

“They went to the sites Alex had identified near Sointula and had been able to do some beach seining there. They were successful in recovering herring for testing, probably greater than 100 herring in their catch, and it did appear about 30 per cent of those fish did have signs of disease,” Ms. Tompkins said on Tuesday.

Asked what symptoms the fish displayed, she said: “Similar to what Alex had identified. The redness, bleeding near the base of fins, the loss of scales on the body, the sign of redness around the base of fins.”

Ms. Tompkins said the fish are being tested for a variety of diseases at the Pacific Biological Station in Nanaimo.

“They started running the tests Friday, so it is a little early yet,” she said. “The expectation is we’ll know within two weeks, but we’ll know at the latest by the end of the month, early September.”

Ms. Tompkins said the herring will be tested for viral hemorrhagic septicemia, a disease that is lethal to herring and typically causes hemorrhaging around the eyes, mouths and fins.

Read the full article in the Globe and Mail. 

Read related article:

• Courier Islander; August 16, 2013; DFO investigating reports of bleeding herring 
• Globe and Mail; August 13; 2013; "Bleeding herring discovery alarms B.C. marine biologist"
• 24 Hours; August 12, 2013; "Bleeding herring discovery alarms B.C. marine biologist"

August 20, 2013
Fish News EU

Childrien visiting the Pacific National Exhibition, an annual agricultural fair held in British Columbia, will be able to try their hand at salmon farming.

For the third year, the BC Salmon Farmers Association is participating in the Kidz Discovery Farm, which gives children the opportunity to visit simulated farms and net a farm-raised salmon.

"The Kidz Discovery Farm is a great place for kids to learn about where their food comes from in a fun, interactive way," said Elizabeth Young, Communications Manager for the BCSFA.

Read the full story on FishNewEu

August 18, 2013 Huffington Post; August 18, 2013; "Sockeye Fisheries Closed Following Historic Lows In Skeena River, B.C."

Globe and Mail
August 15, 2013

The commercial fishing industry has long claimed it strives to ensure salmon that can’t be legally kept are released alive and well.

But a video shot by a conservation group in British Columbia shows seine boat crews kicking salmon across decks, or waiting for fish to stop moving before picking them up and throwing them overboard.

In a season where there have been widespread concerns about low numbers of some stocks, particularly sockeye and chum salmon, the video is expected to stir controversy.

An industry spokesman has dismissed the video as misleading, however, and says fishing crews are “doing a good job” of ensuring the safe release of fish that are accidentally taken in a by-catch.

“I’m sure that they have cut the footage that they took to try and emphasize the point they are making,” Rob Morley, vice-president for the Canadian Fishing Company, a subsidiary of the Jim Pattison Group, said Thursday. “And I think the majority of the crews are doing an extremely good job in handling a very small volume of by-catch.”

Mr. Morley, whose company owns most of the seine boats on the West Coast, said fishing crews are told they have to obey Fisheries and Oceans regulations, which require the prompt and safe return to the water of all prohibited species.

But he says crews handle a lot of fish and can’t always immediately get to the species that have to be released.

In Area 6 on B.C.’s central coast, where the video was shot, he said boats have scooped up about seven million pink salmon so far this season, typically taking 20,000 salmon a day, of which only about 200 might be prohibited species.

Mr. Morley said he’s convinced the crews “in general” are doing a good job of releasing fish.

But Aaron Hill, the man who shot the video, says it provides clear proof of abusive behaviour on the fishing grounds.

“We’ve known this has been happening for a long time, but we finally have evidence,” said Mr. Hill, a biologist with Watershed Watch. He took the video in the Great Bear Rainforest, near Hartley Bay.

Mr. Hill said the fishery, the largest on Canada’s West Coast this year, is targeting pink salmon but other species – including sockeye and chum – are mixed in because the runs overlap.

Mr. Hill said federal regulations require fishermen to quickly and safely return to the water any species accidentally taken.

But he said he followed three seine boats and was alarmed to see fish being abused on all of them.

Mr. Hill said salmon should be sorted on a table on a boat’s deck and fish should be returned to the water down a tube or slide.

Instead he saw salmon thrown overboard, apparently lifeless, or kicked across the deck, ricocheting off metal railings.

“There’s no doubt those fish were goners,” he said.

Read the full article in the Globe and Mail.

See the full video referenced in this article here.

See related articles:

• Global TV; August 15, 2013; "Fishermen waste salmon species"
• Huffpost British Columbia; August 15, 2013; "B.C. Salmon Fishermen Improperly Releasing Fish: Enviro Group (Video)" 
• Times Colonist; August 15, 2013; "Poor oversight of B.C. fishermen killing salmon: environmentalists" 

Jason Clay
August, 14, 2013
The Guardian

Major milestones don't come along very often. The commitment by the Global Salmon Initiative (GSI) not only to embrace sustainability, but to work together to become more responsible is a game-changer. It is not yet an end, but it is a means.

Here's what is happening - 15 companies, representing 70% of global farmed production, are committing that 100% of their production will be certified by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council by 2020. This should measurably reduce the impact of salmon production on some of the world's most ecologically important regions.

This approach will change aquaculture – and could have ripple effects through the entire global food industry.

Read the full story in the Guardian. 

Read related stories:

• Environmental Leader; August 19, 2013; “Farmed salmon industry launches sustainability initiative”
• World Fishing; August 19, 2013; "Salmon farmers unite"
Fishnewseu.com; August 16, 2013; Canadians welcome salmon scheme 
• The Fish Site; August 16, 2013: "Salmon Farming Companies Join New Initiative to Address Challenges, Create Sustainability" 
• FIS; August 15, 2013; "New global initiative to promote salmon industry sustainability"
• Fish Update; August 15, 2013; "Global Salmon Initiative looks to sustainable future"
• Business Insider; August 15, 2013; "Global salmon farmers unite to create new industry body"
• The Fish Site; August 16, 2013: "Salmon Farming Companies Join New Initiative to Address Challenges, Create Sustainability" 

Fish Update
August 13, 2013

A lot needs to happen to threaten the prodiminance of the net-based production concept in salmon farming, according to a new report from Norwegian food research institute Nofima.

In the long term, more efficient land-based aquaculture can come close and report authors scientists Audun Iversen, Otto Andreassen, Øystein Hermansen, Thomas A. Larsen and Bendik Fyhn Terjesen also see that land-based aquaculture in countries with low production costs may be somewhat of a threat.

On commission from the Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs, the scientists have evaluated whether new operational concepts within aquaculture can threaten Norway’s position as an aquaculture nation.

The following systems were evaluated: recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) both in Norway and in countries with low production costs, offshore sea cages and closed-containment sea-based systems in both exposed and sheltered locations.

“We see that land-based or closed-containment sea-based systems, often using recirculating technology, are being built in Denmark, North America, Scotland and China. Land-based and closed-containment sea-based systems will involve much higher investment costs, but some of this disadvantage is expected to be offset by lower operating costs. However, there is a long way to go before closed-containment constructions will be as economical as today’s net-based solutions,” said Audun Iversen.

Read the full article in Fish Update.

Read related article: 

• FishNewsEU; August 14, 2013; "Norway still safe from exotic salmon alternatives"

Huffington Post
August 12, 2013

Aboriginal people in British Columbia who rely on Skeena River sockeye are facing some extremely difficult decisions as sockeye salmon returns plunge to historic lows.

Lake Babine Chief Wilf Adam was on his way to Smithers, B.C., on Monday for a discussion about whether to entirely shut down the food fishery on Lake Babine, something he said would be drastic and unprecedented — but may ultimately be necessary.

The recreational and non-aboriginal fisheries on the lake and Babine River have been shut entirely since the Department of Fisheries and Oceans issued a directive last week, though aboriginal people have still been able to fish in a limited way for food.

But that could change.

"If the numbers are the way they are, we've got to close everything down," Adam said.

"That's not an easy decision to make. Salmon is our livelihood. That is the soul of our being. To deny that from our citizens is not a happy event."

Last month, the department noted returns for the Skeena River sockeye run were dire.

Read the original article in the Huffington Post.

Read related articles: 

• Click here for stories on low water conditions in the Fraser and prediction that most fish will die before spawning. 
• Rossland News; August 18, 2013; "Salmon run, water level low" 
• CBC News; August 14, 2013: "Fraser River sockeye test fishery scaled back Follows closure of the commercial, sport and First Nations fisheries"
• Globe and Mail; August 12, 2013; "Lake Babine sockeye fishery at risk of unprecedented closure"
• Vancouver Sun; August 12, 2013; "Sockeye returns hurting on Fraser, Skeena rivers; pink, coho, and chinook salmon surge on B.C. coast"
• CBC; August 12, 2013; "First Nations Skeena sockeye fishery shut for first time"
• Courier Islander; August 10, 2013; "Fraser River low levels, high temperature a major concern"
• Northern View; August 9, 2013; "Low sockeye numbers shut down First Nations food fishery, recreational fishery"
• CJFW; August 9, 2013; "Skeena Sockeye Fishing Ban now includes First Nations"
• Globe and Mail; August 8, 2013; "Sparse sockeye run is an echo of 2009"
• Chilliwack Progress; August 8, 2013; "Everyone awaits news on Fraser sockeye openings"
• Northern View; August 7, 2013; "Sockeye season called the worst in three decades"
• Vancouver Sun; August 6, 2013; "Canadian, U.S. fisheries managers wait anxiously for summer sockeye returns"
• Business in Vancouver; August 6, 2013; "Local fishery caught by Cohen report inaction"
• Global BC; July 30, 2013; "Sockeye salmon returns expected to be up"

Darryl Fears
August 11, 2012
Washington Post

Cobia is a sleek and powerful fish that devours flesh and doesn’t apologize for it. Open its belly and anything might pop out — crab, squid, smaller fish, you name it.

Recently, three Baltimore researchers — Aaron Watson, Frederic Barrows and Allen Place — set out to tame this wild and hungry fish sometimes called black salmon. They didn’t want to simply domesticate it; hundreds of fish farmers have already done that. They sought to turn one of the ocean’s greediest carnivores into a vegetarian.

The researchers announced last week that they pulled off the feat at a laboratory in the Columbus Center in downtown Baltimore. Over the course of a four-year study, Watson said, they dabbled with mixtures of plant-based proteins, fatty acids and a powerful amino acid-like substance found in energy drinks until they came up with a combination that cobia and another popular farm fish, gilt-head bream, gobbled down.

The conversion of these carnivorous fish to a completely vegetarian diet is a first, according to the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, and a key to breaking a cycle in which the ocean’s stocks of small fish — menhaden, anchovies and sardines — are plundered by industrial fishing partly to provide fish feed to aquaculture, one of the fastest-growing economic sectors in the world.

Read the full story in the Washington Post. 

Read related stories:

• CBC News; August 16, 2013; Scientists engineer vegetarian diet for carnivorous fish 
• The Globe and Mail; August 12, 2013; Turning carnivorous fish into vegetarians 
• Fox 5; August 12, 2013; Researchers turn carnivorous fish into vegetarians 
• Yahoo News; August 12, 2013; Turning Carnivorous Fish Into Vegetarians 

The Fish Site
August 7, 2013

A multi-year research project to determine if cunner and lumpfish can protect farmed salmon from sea lice will receive additional funding through the Provincial Government’s Fisheries Technology and New Opportunities Programme.

Derrick Dalley, Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, announced C$85,000, to continue a research effort that has involved Memorial University, the Canadian Centre for Fisheries Innovation, and representatives from the Aquaculture industry.

“Sea lice poses a significant threat to aquaculture operations worldwide, and so this research could be of great benefit to provincial aquaculture sites that are generating more than C$100 million in economic activity each year,” said Minister Dalley.

“There is evidence from aquaculture operations in Norway and Scotland that certain types of fish can be used in salmon cages to mitigate sea lice effectively, and so the Provincial Government will make $85,000 available so that industry and research experts can explore whether cunner and lumpfish can do that here.”

Cunner and lumpfish are considered to be “cleaner fish,” a type of fish that clean other species and eat parasites. The Provincial Government provided C$51,600 to support earlier phases of research into the use of cleaner fish to protect commercially farmed salmon. If the research proves successful, it will identify a remedy for sea lice that is both cost effective and ecologically sound.

Read the full article on The Fish Site.

Globe and Mail
August 5, 2013

The federal Conservative government consulted with both environmental organizations and industry associations before making controversial changes to the Fisheries Act last year, but listened primarily to industry.

When a section of one of the government’s massive 2012 omnibus budget bills limited the scope of the legislation governing the protection of fish and their habitats, some ecologists said it was the biggest setback to conservation law in more than 50 years.

One of the most significant changes was to remove the broad protections that covered all fish habitats and to specify the law would now prohibit only “serious harm” to fish “that are part of a commercial, recreational or aboriginal fisheries, or to fish that support such a fishery.”

Documents released recently to The Globe and Mail under federal access to information laws suggest that wording was offered by industry associations.

Read the full article in the Globe and Mail.

BBC
August 4, 2013

Plans for the Republic of Ireland's biggest salmon farm have sparked a furious dispute, with a group of islanders in one of Europe's most remote communities leading the campaign against it.

The Aran Islands shield Galway Bay from the wild Atlantic beyond - a key reason its waters have been chosen as the proposed site for the country's biggest salmon farm by the sea fisheries state agency (BIM).

The plan to double the farmed-salmon output of 15,000 tonnes a year pits those who say it is an under-developed resource badly needed in recession against those arguing it threatens the environment and wild salmon and sea trout stocks.

Out on Inis Oirr island, the Irish-speaking community of fewer than 300 relies mostly on fishing and tourism. Bilingual posters oppose the farm. Background music to breakfast is a new protest CD against the scheme.

Some islanders like Ruairi O Cualain fear the farm could change the islands forever.

"It could pollute the waters, pollute the sea around us, put an end to the fishing, put an end to the tourism here," he says.

"We've a beautiful beach, we've beautiful clean waters. Who's going to visit the place with a huge fish farm just a mile off of it, with noise there 24 hours a day, with smell from fish? I don't even know if I want to live here if the fish farm comes in here."

Read the full article in the BBC.

Read related articles:

• FIS; July 30, 2013; "Pesticide use in 'organic salmon' questioned by NGO"
• Southern Star; July 29, 2013; "Salmon farming plan condemned"
• Galway Bay FM; July 25, 2013; "BIM defends use of pesticides at proposed Galway Bay fish farm"
• FishNewsEU.com; July 22, 2013; "Irish wary of “mega-farms”"

First Nations Drum
August 1, 2013

The ‘Namgis First Nation is holding out high hopes for a first-of- its-kind closed containment Atlantic salmon farm near Port McNeil on northern Vancouver Island. The $8.5 million dollar ‘Namgis Closed Containment Project aims to prove it can produce high quality, healthy salmon from fry to market size of about three to five kilograms in 12 to 15 months. In open-net pens, the fish take 18 to 24 months to grow to harvestable size.

The facility will be the first commercial-scale, land-based Atlantic salmon farm in Canada. The project is being intensely monitored by the salmon farming industry and conservation groups. The farm received delivery of 23,000 Atlantic salmon smolts from Marine Harvest, the largest Atlantic salmon farming company in the province. The smolts entered the facility in March and have since more than tripled in weight. “We’ve basically built a ClubMed for fish,” said N’amgis spokesperson Garry Ullstrom. “We expect these fish to grow to full size in about twelve months, which is twice as fast as open-net.”

The closed containment system (CCS) uses water recirculation technologies that continuously filter and recycle the water used to produce fish. That means the ‘Namgis can do large scale fish farming using just a small amount of water, producing little or no pollution. As much as 99.8% of of the water flowing through each of the five 500 cubic metre tanks is continuously cleaned, filtered, and returned to the tanks. The CCS can control and capture over 99% of fish waste solids, which can be used as fertilizer. The CCS filters pathogens, removing the need for pesticides, antibiotics, or harsh chemicals. The salmon produced are healthy, nutritious, and free from dangerous contaminants.

The K’udas project (the name means “place of salmon”) could ultimately produce 2,500 tonnes of fish per year, and the initial phase is expected to produce about 470 tonnes. The land-based salmon farm is entirely owned by the ‘Namgis, but funding for the project came from the federal government, Tides Canada, and other conservation and philanthropic organizations.

Read the full article in First Nations Drum.

Read related articles here.

BYM Marine Environment News
August 1, 2013

The Atlantic Salmon Federation and the Conservation Fund, two internationally recognized conservation organizations, partner to produce sustainably farmed Atlantic salmon.

What does the town of Shepherdstown on the Potomac River in West Virginia, USA have in common with the town of St. Andrews on the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick, Canada? Both small communities have researchers that are at the forefront of making salmon aquaculture a commercially and environmentally-sound venture for forward-thinking entrepreneurs throughout the world.

The Freshwater Institute, located in Shepherdstown, is an internationally-recognized program of the Conservation Fund, a charity that has been protecting land and water in the United States for thirty years. Its premier research and development facilities are dedicated to sustainable water use and re-use. The Atlantic Salmon Federation, a charity in both the United States and Canada, has worked for more than 60 years, through research, education and government relations, to conserve, protect and restore wild Atlantic salmon and the ecosystems on which their well-being and survival depend.

So it made good sense for the Conservation Fund Freshwater Institute (CFFI) and the Atlantic Salmon Federation (ASF) to partner in 2011 to demonstrate the feasibility of producing farmed Atlantic salmon in land-based, recirculation aquaculture systems. This project is producing thousands of pounds of premium salmon sustainably, while creating a viable alternative to net-pen farming and helping to turn the tide of open ocean expansion. The product is getting rave reviews for its quality and taste from chefs, seafood distributers, and the general public. The program is determined to transfer expertise and technical information to industry, government, researchers and conservationists. The CFFI and ASF will host, along with the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, an international summit on fish farming in land-based, closed-containment systems in Shepherdstown, September 4 to 6, 2013. Sessions on farmed salmon health and performance, maximizing flavor, economic and environmental comparisons to open net pen operations, and the experiences of closed-containment entrepreneurs in the United States, Denmark, Canada, Chile, Holland, and Norway are all part of the workshop agenda.

Read the full article in BYM Marine Environment News.

Read related stories:

• FIS; August 5, 2013; International Workshop Leads the Way to Sustainable Farming of Atlantic Salmon
• Daily Herald; July 30, 2013; International Workshop Leads the Way to Sustainable Farming of Atlantic Salmon 

Fisheries Information Service
July 30, 2013

In two aquaculture centres of Newfoundland and Labrador province new cases of infectious salmon anaemia (ISA) have been found, generating serious concern to the important salmon industry of the area.

The two affected sites are the centre that Cooke Aquaculture operates in Manuel’s Arm and the farm Gray Aquaculture at Pass My Can Island, with two and twenty-one infected cages respectively, reported VOCM.

Both fish farms are located in the northeast of Bay d’Espoir.

At Gray Aquaculture centre, as many as 500, 000 fish had to be destroyed this year and as a result of three different ISA outbreaks.

Executive Director of the Newfoundland Aquaculture Industry Association, Cyr Couturier, says that right now the only fish they have left won't be ready for market for another 18 months. 

This has meant that the facility which was meant to open at Gray early this year can produce salmon.

Fisheries Minister Derrick Dalley expressed his and the government’s concern about the cases of ISA reported in the last 18 months.

Even though the outbreaks have been confined to a specific area, Dalley said, the province is concerned about managing and mitigating the impacts of any potential virus on the aquaculture industry.

Read the full story on Fisheries Information Service

Read realted stories:

• Daily Business Buzz; July 26, 2013; NL: Virus outbreak confirmed at fish farms on Newfoundland's south coast 
• MetroNews; July 26, 2013; Virus confirmed at Newfoundland fish farms 
• CBC NL – Fisheries Broadcast; July 26, 2013; Concerns About Increasing ISA on NL South Coast 
• VOCM; July 25, 2013; ISA Confirmed at Two Aquaculture Operations 
• The Coaster; July 23, 2013; Gray Aqua to start rebuilding stock

Globe and Mail
July 22, 2013

A B.C. salmon-farming operation has won a $75,000 appeal-court judgment against a man a lower court said had dedicated himself to eradicating salmon farming.

In December, a B.C. Supreme Court judge ruled Don Staniford’s comments against Mainstream Canada were defamatory but dismissed the action, saying the criticisms fell under the fair comment rule.

The lower court judge said Staniford was akin to a zealot who cruelly mocked people who had a different point of view, but she still dismissed the case against him.

In a unanimous decision, a three-member B.C. Appeal Court panel disagreed with the decision and awarded Mainstream $25,000 in general damages, $50,000 in punitive damages and court costs.

Staniford calls the decision shocking, saying it will lead to a chilling effect on campaigners speaking out on environmental and social justice issues.

Read the original article in the Globe and Mail.

Read related articles:  

• Times Colonist; December 24, 2013; Gagged fish-farm foe takes fight against industry to Scotland
• Metro News; December 24, 2103; Fish-farm foe takes fight to Scotland
•  Mondaq; August 16, 2013; Canada: Controversial "Salmon Farming Kills" Campaign Declared Defamatory 
• Vancouver Observer; August 12, 2013; Wild salmon advocate learns $75,000 lesson in court so you won’t have to 
• Mondaq; August 12, 2013; Canada: The Second Opinion: B.C. Court Of Appeal Clarifies Defence Of Fair Comment 
• DeSmog Canada; August 12, 2103; The Chill Effect: Wild Salmon Advocate Learns $75,000 Lesson in Court So You Won’t Have To
• Mondaq; August 9, 2013; Canada: Fish Farm Company Silences Activist Opponent With Defamation Order; 
• The Fish Site; July 31, 2013; Mainstream Canada wins defamation appeal against anti-fish farm campaigner 
• Canada.com; July 25, 2013; "Anti-fish- farming activist must pay $75,000"
• The Vancouver Sun; July 23, 2013; "Appeal court awards fish farming giant $75K"
• Huffington Post; July 23, 2013; "Don Staniford, Salmon Activist, Ordered To Pay Fish Farm $75,000"
• FIS; July 23, 2013; "Mainstream wins appeal against defamation"
• Vancouver Sun; July 22, 2013; "B.C. fish farm company wins cash award in appeal against salmon farming 'zealot'"
• CBC; July 22, 2013; "Salmon farming company wins defamation lawsuit"
• Times Colonist; July 22, 2013; "B.C. fish-farm company wins cash award in appeal against salmon-farming 'zealot'"
• The Province; July 22, 2013; "Salmon-farming foe must pay $75,000 in defamation case"
• Campbell River Mirror; July 22, 2013; "Court orders activist to pay $75,000 to salmon farming company"
• The Common Sense Canadian; July 22, 2013; ‘Salmon Farming Kills' campaign ruled defamation on appeal" 

FIS
July 18, 2013

The Agency for US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stopped imports of fresh and frozen salmon produced in Chile by the Norwegian multinational firm Marine Harvest.

The FDA took this action following the discovery, on 5 June, of traces of crystal violet, a chemical carcinogen compound in a batch of salmon from that company.

The crystal violet is an antifungal product that is prohibited in Chile and the US due to its carcinogenic effects.

The sales and marketing director for Marine Harvest, Gianfranco Nattero, reported that following the discovery of this substance, "all shipments of fresh and frozen salmon from this trans-national firm to the US have been seized," according to what Ecocéanos News published.

"The ban does not extend to third-party products imported by Marine Harvest, or to smoked salmon," stated the manager.

Nattero said US authorities that are responsible for the control of food and the Norwegian trans-national firm are investigating the potential sources of contamination with the prohibited antifungal substance.

"We're checking everything: food, processing stage and packaging phase. All of it. We do not use crystal violet, and our own analysis, such as the official sampling programmes in Chile have not detected it," he added.

Meanwhile, the company sent samples to independent laboratories, and expects to have the results of the analysis in the next 10 days.

Read the full article in FIS.

Read related articles:

• FIS; August 19, 2013; Sernapesca to authorize stock release of Marine Harvest salmon
• FIS; August 6, 2013; FDA and Sernapesca analyzed crystal violet case in Chilean salmon
• FIS; July 30, 2013; Sernapesca does not find crystal violet in Marine Harvest plant
• Undercurrent News; July 30, 2013; Sernapesca tests show no crystal violet at Marine Harvest Chile sit
• Santiago Times; July 18, 2013; "US halts salmon imports from Chile due to contamination" 
• Undercurrent News; July 16, 2013; "US puts Marine Harvest Chile salmon shipments on hold"

Undercurrent News
July 17, 2013

The virus that causes heart and skeletal muscle inflammation (HSMI) in salmon has been detected outside of Norway for the first time, according a new report’s co-authors, which include Alexandera Morton and researchers from Chile, Norway and Canada.

Morton also refers to Fred Kibenge, whose lab was recently stripped of its credentials by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), as a researcher on the report.

As HSMI spreads rapidly in Norway, the study says the virus that causes the disease – piscine reovirus (PRV) – is in British Columbia, Canada and came from Norway; and it is also present in Chile, with a sequence that most closely matches that in Norway.

Morton, a highly active anti-farming salmon activist in British Columbia, announced the news on Wednesday.

She is also the researcher that announced there was infectious salmon anemia (ISA) in British Columbia in 2011, but that claim was later refuted by the Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), as well as the OIE, an intergovernmental organization responsible for improving animal health worldwide.

“The evidence suggests PRV recently arrived from Norway, which means we have not experienced its full potential to kill B.C. wild salmon yet,” Morton said.

The Canadian province of British Columbia does not accept that PRV causes HSMI; but Morton argues there is no published study supporting the province’s theory.

HSMI, first recognized in Atlantic salmon farms in Norway in 1999, is a condition that weakens salmon, making it difficult for their hearts to pump blood.

Read the full article on Undercurrent News.

Read related article:

• HQ Comox Valley; July 17, 2013; "Wild salmon activists fight for credibility"

Times Colonist
July 16, 2013

A very important negative event occurred recently with the World Animal Health Organization pulling Dr. Fred Kibenge’s status as the only disease reference lab in the western hemisphere for testing fish diseases, particularly, ISA from farmed Atlantic salmon.

I asked the OIE several times for the origin of the complaint but received no response. While news releases have pointed to complaints from other countries, the other factor is that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, discredited in the Cohen Commission testimony in December 2011, has made representations to the OIE to pull Kibenge’s status. In testimony, they were cornered into admitting their interests are the export possibilities of the largely Norwegian-owned farms over natural wild salmon, a clear conflict of interest. Dr. Kim Klottins said the CFIA didn’t want to find ISA in B.C. The video is not pretty.

You will have recently read in the Times Colonist that they tested several thousand wild salmon – not farmed fish, the source of the Atlantic Ocean diseases, ISA and HSMI — and announced they found no ISA in B.C. That should be a good thing because the two diseases could well lead to the demise of all 11 Pacific salmonid species from California all the way to Korea. But it is not a good thing.

Drs. Miller (DFO, Nanaimo), Kibenge (P.E.I.) and Nylund (the only other OIE lab in the world, in Norway), have found ISA in B.C. wild salmon. During Cohen they discredited the DFO, CFIA and the B.C. testing systems. The CFIA and DFO use the Moncton lab under Dr. Gagne, and the experts found its procedures don’t find ISA and its equipment is poor; this means a negative response for the worst fish farm disease means nothing. These doctors have found literally tens of thousands of cases of ISA in B.C., dating all the way back to 1988.

Read the full article in the Times Colonist.

Read related articles:

• Globe and Mail; July 4, 2013; "Lab that found virus in B.C. salmon stripped of credentials after audit"
• CTV News; July 7, 2013; "Scientists concerned over fear of reporting salmon virus after lab delisted"
• Vancouver Sun; July 7, 2013; "Scientists concerned over chill in reporting of salmon virus after lab delisted"
• Montreal Gazette; July 7, 2013; "Scientists concerned over chill in reporting of salmon virus after lab delisted"
• CBC; July 8, 2013; "P.E.I. fish lab loses international credentials"
• FIS; July 9, 2013; "ISA lab delisted after issuing incorrect results"
• Winnipeg Free Press; July 9, 2013; "Scientists concerned over chill in reporting of salmon virus after lab delisted"
• CBC; July 10, 2013; "AVC lab loses international credentials"
• Advertiser; July 11, 2013; "Salmon at risk?"
• Vancouver Observer; June 30, 2013; "Shooting the messenger: Lab stripped of credentials after finding infectious virus in BC salmon"

The Local
July 16, 2013

Wild salmon in Norway is having a tough summer, with stocks down by 60 percent in some parts of the country compared to figures last year. Some fishermen are blaming industrial salmon farmers for the decline.

A survey of by the association Norwegian River Salmon, which represents about 7,000 licenced salmon fishers, said the worst affected rivers are found in Nord-troms, Nordmore and around the Trondheim Fjord. In the rivers Gaula, Orkla and Stjørdals, members report that salmon stocks are 30 to 60 percent lower than in a normal year.

"When fish stocks are down 60 percent in a year, we're on the brink. It's very serious," said association chairman Torfinn Evensen.

He told the Dagbladet newspaper that Norway should consider introducing stricter regulations on fishing salmon this season, and said he believed industrial salmon farmers could be to blame for the decline. If farmers do not properly delouse salmon in the farms, river salmon risk catching lice larvae on their way out to sea, where they then perish, he said.

Read the full article in The Local.

CBC
July 15, 2013

P.E.I.'s representative in the federal cabinet, Gail Shea, was moved back to the Fisheries and Oceans portfolio in a cabinet shuffle Monday.

Shea was minister of national revenue and for ACOA. New Brunswick MP Rob Moore takes over the ACOA portfolio, and Vancouver MP Kerry-Lynne Findlay joins the cabinet as National Revenue minister. Findlay was named associate minister of national defence in February.

Shea was first elected to Parliament in 2008 and was made minister of Fisheries and Oceans that October. She stayed in that portfolio until 2011, when she was moved to National Revenue. She also served as interim DFO minister for two months after Minister Keith Ashfield had a heart attack in October 2012.

In February of this year ACOA was added to her responsibilities.

Read the full article on CBC.

Read related article:

• Wall Street Journal; July 15, 2013; "Canadian Aquaculture Industry Welcomes Gail Shea as New Fisheries & Oceans Minister"

Chilliwack Progress
July 11, 2013

Local members of the National Salmon Feedlot Boycott were making some noise at the Chilliwack Walmart Wednesday.

Chants of "Boycott farmed salmon!" and "Wild salmon forever!" were heard across the busy parking lot in the Eagle Landing development.

They were at the local Walmart to again for the second time this year, to ask the big retailer to remove open-pen Atlantic farmed salmon products from their shelves, because of perceived risks to human health and threats to the survival of wild salmon stocks.

"They're too full of toxins that are harmful to our health," said spokesperson Eddie Gardner, a Skwah elder.

"We're warning the customers who come in and out of this store to avoid buying and consuming this crap because it's going to destroy their health. And we're going to keep on doing this until we get this job done.

"We're going to be moving (the boycott) to Superstore, moving to Costco, moving to Safeway, and we're going to ask anyone and everyone to boycott feedlot salmon wherever it is sold."

Another rally against farmed salmon was held last February at the same Chilliwack store, with the same request that it be removed from store shelves.

Ultimately they want all open-net salmon feedlots removed from the migration routes of Fraser River wild salmon in 2013.

Read the full article in the Chilliwack Progress.

Read related article:

• My Chilliwack News; July 11, 2013; "Wild Salmon Forever"

Natural News
July 11, 2013

Remember all those industry claims that genetically-modified (GM) AquAdvantage salmon would not be harmful to the environment in any way, and would not breed with other fish because it is inherently sterile? These are both lies, according to a new study out of Canada, which found that "Frankensalmon" is fully capable of breeding with other salmon, as well as other fish species such as trout. This same study also found that the resulting hybrid fish can persist in the wild, permanently damaging entire ecosystems.

Researchers from McGill University in Quebec, Canada, arrived at this dire conclusion after conducting their own independent experiments on what would happen if GM salmon escaped from their fish pens into the wild. In a simulation that looked at how GM salmon would behave in a simple stream environment, it became apparent that Frankenfish are not sterile, and that they reproduced with other fish. The Frankenfish also "out competed" wild fish in the study, proving that they can very easily become a dominant and invasive species.

Published in the journal Proceedings of The Royal Society B, the findings basically contradict everything that AquaBounty, creator of AquAdvantage GM salmon, has ever alleged concerning the "safety" of its Frankensalmon. The modified fish, which supposedly grows twice as fast as natural salmon, is a serious threat to the environment at large, and if it were to ever escape into the wild the consequences would be disastrous and irreversible.

"To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study demonstrating transmission and ecological consequences from interspecific hybridization between a GM animal and a naturally hybridizing species," says Dr. Krista Oke, who led the study. "Ultimately, hybridization of transgenic fishes with closely related species represents potential ecological risks for wild populations."

Read the full article in Natural News.

CBC News
July 9, 2013

Nova Scotia’s first land-raised salmon could be on the market by next summer.

Sustainable Blue, a small salmon farm in Hants County, has moved in a batch of young salmon and said it’s well on the way to raising them for commercial sale.

Opponents of open-net salmon farming have long called for farms to be moved to the land preventing fish from exchanging diseases with wild salmon, but until recently there’s never been any Nova Scotian salmon raised out of ocean waters.

At the farm on the banks of the Avon River close to 5,000 salmon swim in circles through clear salt water kept at a constant 15 degrees to recreate the ideal ocean conditions. The closed-containment system recycles all its water, keeping water, fish and waste away from the ocean.

"We use the slurry in a separate, secondary process where we recover the water from it, leaving the solids in a tank and bringing the water back to the farm,” said Jeremy Lee, president of Sustainable Blue.

Since 2009, the farm has raised arctic char and sea bass. A month ago, Lee exchanged most of those fish for salmon smolts. They've never been given anything but organic fish food partly due to careful biosecurity measures.

"We've never seen any kind of major diseases that would require us to feed them antibiotics or similar."

CEO Kirk Havercroft said he can't talk about how much it costs to raise salmon this way, but says they're growing faster than expected and as they raise more, cost per fish will go down.

Read the full article on CBC News.

The Fish Site
July 9, 2013

Walcan Seafood Ltd has achieved Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certification. Walcan Seafood is the exclusive processor of Skuna Bay Vancouver Island Craft Raised Salmon.

Walcan Seafood’s processing plant on Quadra Island, British Columbia, earned BAP certification on July 2, joining the BAP-certified farms that produce Skuna Bay Salmon, which are owned and operated by Grieg Seafood BC Ltd. The first four farms that produce Skuna Bay Salmon earned BAP certification in December 2011.

“We have always said that we are committed to meeting and upholding the Best Aquaculture Practices standards in all Skuna Bay Salmon,” said Dave Mergle, director of Skuna Bay Salmon. “Having our processor join us in this accomplishment by becoming BAP certified is remarkable and demonstrates our commitment to the highest standards.”

“We saw the Global Aquaculture Alliance and Best Aquaculture Practices certification as a natural fit for Skuna Bay. We share the same values and passion for farming and sharing healthful, sustainable salmon,” added Mergle.

Read the full article on The Fish Site.

Read related article:

• Perishable News; July 9, 2013; "Skuna Bay Salmon Processor Attains BAP Certificaiton"

The Shelburne County Coast Guard
July 9, 2013

While its difficult to tell from shore, there has been a flurry of activity in Shelburne County waters by Kelly Cove Salmon, a division of Cooke Aquaculture.

After a fallow period, the fish farm pens in Shelburne harbour now have 500,000 smolts stocked.  As well, new pens in Jordan Bay are coming into play and have been stocked with smolts weighing approximately ¼ of a pound. Those fish are expected to reach harvest size in about 18 to 24 months.

I was able to go aboard a Boston Whaler to get an inside look at the operations.

After close to a week of rain, the sun was a welcome sight.  Before I could even board the small vessel I was asked by the Nova Scotia saltwater production manager, Jeff Nickerson, to step onto a mat soaked in a disinfectant.

That was just one of the precautions I was to experience throughout the morning as part of the effort to stop outside germs coming in contact with the fish farms.

Read the full article in The Shelburne County Coast Guard.

South Coast Today
July 8, 2013

One year after salmon were harvested and the lease surrendered, a study has found that the sea bottom under an open net pen fish farm at Sandy Point in Shelburne Harbour is still toxic and marine life still has not recovered. The former fish farm is the site of a multi-year study examining the recovery of the sea bottom.

According to Milewski, copper levels in the sediments exceed levels known to have negative effects on marine organisms and are at levels that prevent biological recovery from occurring. “Federal and provincial regulators are under the mistaken assumption that it takes just a few months to a year for the sea bottom to recover from the effects of massive waste loading, said Milewski. “As these results demonstrate, this is simply not true.”

Milewski says that the high levels of copper around fish farms are the result of the anti-foulants used in nets, excretion of more concentrated copper in the fish feces and the accumulation and breakdown of uneaten feed. “The Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment have set guidelines for copper levels in marine sediments but there is no enforcement of these guidelines,” said Milewski. According to the study’s results, sediment copper levels around the former fish farm are up to 10 times higher than other areas within inner Shelburne Harbour and up to 40 times higher than areas in outer Shelburne Harbour.

The Nova Scotia Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture granted three new leases to Kelly Cove Salmon, a division of Cooke Aquaculture, in the inner Shelburne Harbour area. All new leases are approximately 100 metres from former farm sites that had poor environmental performance records. Stocking of all salmon farm sites in Shelburne Harbour was put on hold because a highly contagious virus ISA (infectious salmon anemia) was found on a farm site in outer Shelburne Harbour in February 2012.

Read the full article in the South Coast Today.

NY Times
July 5, 2013

I have come to view a meal of wild salmon as a splurge, a treat to be savored, and I’m willing to pay the price. Wild salmon is a seasonal thing, available from May to October. It’s not cheap, but the flavor is incredible — sweet, silky, meaty — and the vermilion color is magnificent.

Wild salmon may be expensive, but it's worth the price.

With the abundance of relatively low-priced farmed salmon, however, many of us succumb. But the flavor of farmed salmon doesn’t even compare. It’s like the difference between a free-range chicken and one that’s been factory raised.

Wild salmon swims long distances, its color a result of a natural diet of krill, plankton and algae. Farmed salmon languishes in pens, and its pink color comes artificially.

And even if some fish farms are exploring more-sustainable methods, it is well known that aquacultured salmon is an environmental danger and potential health hazard. A quick Internet search will give curious cooks more information on the topic. It’s enough to put you off your dinner, and may well make you a wild-salmon convert. Certainly, once you taste wild salmon you’ll be convinced.

Read the full article in the NY Times.

Fish News EU
July 5, 2013

The environmental group Friends of the Irish Environment have lodged a 'request for redress of mal-administration' to Minister Simon Coveney alleging that the Department of Agriculture Food and Fisheries [DAFF] knowingly misled the European Commission in its investigation of sea lice and wild salmon. 

The Department denied having and failed to send to the Commission a report which the Commission had specifically requested prepared by Inland Fisheries Ireland and forwarded to them by the Department of Communications Energy and Natural Resources.

The Report is a damning commentary on the official position put in by DAFF in response to the Complaint in June 2010. It was sent from DCENR to DAFF in November 2010 but the Department of Agriculture told the EU investigation in November 2011 that it had not received it.

As a result, the Friends say that the EU complaint was dismissed in 2012 and an application for the doubling of Ireland's salmon production was ordered by the Minister.

Noting that it had not been consulted in the preparation of Ireland's reply, the suppressed Report cited examples from Marine Institute salmon farm lice records, stating: 'This does not constitute good sea lice control'. It said DAFF's position that 'no empirical evidence has been made available suggesting the presence of sea lice in salmon fish farms has a significant impact on the protected species' is 'not consistent with available information', providing 'numerous records that provide contrary evidence'. It concluded that 'Mortalities of salmonoids attributable to sea lice have been well documented.'

The Report, marked 'final' and sent to the same official who denied its existence to the Commission investigation less than a year later, concluded ' the potential exists for sea lice transfer from farmed salmon to outward migrating wild salmon smolts in any estuary with a marine salmon farm present'.

Read the full article on FishNewsEU.

The Times of London
July 4, 2013

Wild trout are being “eaten alive” by large numbers of sea lice coming from salmon farms off Scotland’s West Coast, environmentalists have claimed.

In the latest war of words between the wild fisheries sector and the fish farming industry, the Salmon and Trout Association (S&TA) said levels of infestation were out of control.

The association said the numbers of sea lice were growing in salmon farms owing to high concentrations of fish, which could allow the lice to build up a resistance to chemicals used to control them.

Read the full article in The Times of London.

FIS
July 2, 2013

The National Fisheries and Aquaculture Service (Sernapesca) confirmed the existence of 51 Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) farms with a high spread of caligus (sea lice).

Under the Specific Health Programme of Caligidosis Surveillance and Control (PSVEC Caligidosis), these centres have an average weekly load that is higher than nine caligus parasites per specimen.

Six centres are engaged in rainbow trout farming and the remaining ones in Atlantic salmon farming.

Out of all the centres reporting high spread of caligus (CAD), four were undergoing a harvesting state while others were in a fattening state.

Among the companies that had a higher amount of CAD were Mainstream, with nine of the notified centres; Multiexport, with eight centres; AquaChile, with six centres; and Australis Mar, with five centres, among others.

Read the full article in FIS.