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Salmon Farming in British Columbia: Expand or Minimize Risk?
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Canada, January 11, 2002 (ENS) - There
currently are 121 salmon farms in coastal British Columbia. In total, the
salmon farms take up one square kilometer on 10,000 square kilometers of
coastline. According to the B.C. Salmon Farmers Association, the industry
contributed $675 million to the provincial Gross Domestic Product in 2000,
and employs 3,400 people.
British Columbia is the fourth largest producer of farmed salmon in the
world after Norway, Chile, and the United Kingdom. In 1999, 77 percent of
B.C.'s farmed salmon was exported, 90 percent to the United States.
It sounds like a lucrative and productive use of one square kilometer of
the British Columbia coastline, but environmentalists say the salmon farms
are damaging the surrounding waters and polluting the genes of wild salmon
that were once so abundant on the Pacific Coast of North America.
The Vancouver based David Suzuki Foundation, established by the well known
geneticist, author and broadcaster, is leading the campaign against the
lifting of a moratorium on salmon farm expansion that has been in place for
five years.
The Suzuki foundation does not oppose aquaculture in general, but says,
"The threats arising from the use of industrial and environmentally
destructive open netcages in B.C. by far outweigh any economic benefits."
The Suzuki foundation and many First Nations, along with environmental,
fishing, tourism and recreation organizations have raised an array of
issues, including pollution under net cages, escapes of farmed fish, and
the spawning of at least two generations of Atlantic salmon in B.C.
streams, polluting the genetics of wild Pacific salmon.
B.C. Fisheries Minister John van Dongen has been studying the possibility
of ending the moratorium and expanding salmon farming, and last week told
reporters that he intends to lift the moratorium, although he did not say
exactly when.
The minister indicated his intention at the same time that he confirmed
more escapes of Atlantic salmon from salmon farms in Clayoquot Sound. In
the past week, at least two salmon farms in Clayoquot Sound on the west
coast of Vancouver Island have reported significant escapes.
"In the same breath that Mr. van Dongen told the media that yet more
escapes have occurred, he asserted that he intends to lift the
moratorium on salmon farm expansion. From an ecological perspective,
this is unbelievable," said Lynn Hunter, the Suzuki foundation's
fisheries and aquaculture specialist.
At the provincial government level, an Aquaculture Opportunities Study is now underway to
identify suitable areas for aquaculture on the B.C. coast
such as Kyuquot, Quatsino, North Island Straits, North Coast and
Nootka. Completion of the study is forecast for March 2002, the fisheries
ministry said in a document on the status of the Salmon Aquaculture Review
issued January 9.
New siting criteria for fish farms have been implemented through new
requirements for site Management Plans, and the province will continue to
revise siting criteria based on an adaptive management approach and in
response to new information. A New Management Plan Guide, also due out in
March will clarify application of the criteria to potential sites.
On November 29, 2001, former B.C. Supreme Court judge Stuart Leggatt
released the results of his Inquiry into Salmon Farming in British
Columbia. Leggatt recommends that all net-cage salmon farms be removed from
B.C. waters within three years in his report, "Clear Choices, Clean Waters."
?There is no question that net cages are the root cause of environmental
damage, including massive escapes of Atlantic farm salmon, disease transfer
and pollution of marine waters and the ocean floor,? said Leggatt.
The Leggatt inquiry was established by the David Suzuki Foundation, but set
its own terms of reference and operated independently. Despite the
impeccable credentials of the former judge, the federal and provincial
governments and the salmon farming industry stonewalled his inquiry.
?The provincial government supports the development of salmon aquaculture
in a way that is environmentally sustainable and socially acceptable to
communities,? said van Dongen. ?We are already addressing the environmental
issues facing the industry. However, we welcome any new information that
may be made available through the citizens? forum.?
The Leggatt Inquiry found that industry pollution may be violating federal
fisheries law.
?A specific finding is that pollution of the environment caused by net-cage
salmon farming may well violate the federal Fisheries Act, particularly
Sections 34 and 35 that deal with fish habitat protection and pollution
prevention,? Leggatt wrote.
The former judge warned that by operating in territories that are subject
to unresolved aboriginal claims and failing to effectively consult First
Nations, the industry may be violating aboriginal rights.
Leggatt urged government and industry to work together to assess various
fish farm systems that minimize environmental damage. Two such systems were
presented to the inquiry, a land based salmon farm near Nanaimo and a solid
wall floating marine operation in Washington State.
The province says that it is attempting to limit the contamination of wild
salmon populations by fish farms. Currently, no fish farms are allowed
within one kilometer of a significant anadromous salmon bearing stream.
Provincial policy prohibits commercial culture of transgenic salmon.
But that assurance does not satisfy environmentalists. "It is beyond time
that the public and the media challenge industry advocates on this issue,"
said Hunter. "Since the Salmon Aquaculture Review was published [in 1997],
production at B.C. salmon farms has more than doubled. This is how industry
has gotten around the moratorium, and as we can see from these continuous
escapes it is having serious environmental consequences."
In an attempt to minimize the impact of last week's Clayoquot Sound
escapes, The federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) allowed a
special opening for fishermen to try and catch the escaped fish which has
proved fruitless, a DFO official confirmed.
"Most of these fish will never be seen from again. That tends to be our
experience," federal fisheries spokesman Andy Thomson, who heads the
department's Atlantic Salmon Watch program, told reporters.
The province says in its January 9 document that aquaculture operations
must file escape recovery plans that include provisions for responding to
escapes if they occur.
The province has supported the aquaculture industry's work to develop
regional escape response plans in Clayoquot Sound and other areas.
The scope of the stream survey program has been expanded, with industry
support, to monitor streams for presence of escaped Atlantic salmon, with
First Nations involvement.
A joint Management Plan Guide will provide information to farmers on
producing escape prevention and response plans.
Experimentation into feminized - non-reproductive - Atlantic salmon is
being encouraged through the Pilot Project Technologies Initiative, the
ministry says. And the province is continuing to support research into the
ecological effects of aquaculture.
"Well, this is cold comfort for those of us concerned about the impact of
this introduced species in our waters," said Hunter.
"Here we have a DFO official responsible for monitoring Atlantic salmon
confirming that these fish will now enter local ecosystems, but our
provincial fisheries minister is not at all concerned and assures us
that soon he will lift the five year moratorium," Hunter said.
The aquaculture industry views itself as environmentally sustainable.
"Scientific studies suggest that properly located and operated salmon farms
have minimal, localized and short term impact on their surroundings.
Continuing research, constant monitoring and stringent regulation help
ensure minimal risk of environmental damage," according to the B.C. Salmon Farmers
Association (BCSFA).
Odd Grydeland, president of the BCSFA, says there is no lack of good
science to guide aquaculture operations. "While this is a new industry for
B.C., there's a lot of science behind it already in other parts of the
world, like Norway, where salmon farming has been going on for decades," he
said.
On the issue of contamination of the ocean floor and surrounding waters,
the industry says that is a cost of providing salmon to meet consumer
demand.
"We know that that all forms of food production create environmental
costs, Grydeland said. "What we found is that the environmental costs
associated with salmon farming are restricted to the immediate vicinity of
the netpens and, in the case of properly sited farms, those effects are
ephemeral - they go away in a few months. In some cases, we have actually
seen an explosion of life in nearby sediments."
Commercial finfish culture in British Columbia can be traced back to at
least the mid 1950s when the province licensed the first rainbow trout
farms. The first salmon farm began operation in 1971.
Currently under culture in B.C. marine waters, Atlantic, Chinook and Coho
salmon are the principal species. Some companies are experimenting with
sablefish, also called black cod, and the holding of wild caught halibut.
The salmon aquaculture industry developed from 10 operating farms in 1984
to a peak of 135 farms in 1989. The 121 licensed marine salmon farms in
B.C. are owned and operated by 12 companies, down from from 50 in 1989.
In October, many scientists and professors told the Leggatt Inquiry into
Salmon Farming in B.C. that the provincial and federal governments'
approach to salmon aquaculture is seriously flawed yet both ministers
choose to ignore these professional opinions, Hunter charged.
"We call on concerned citizens to contact their elected representatives
to tell them that this industry must not expand until it can operate in
an ecologically responsible manner, which includes containment of an
introduced, exotic species," Hunter said.
The industry association says, "Salmon farmers work hard to protect their
local environment so that the industry will be profitable today and future
generations will be able to harvest salmon for ever. Salmon farming is
truly an environmentally sustainable industry in action."
Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2002. All rights reserved. |
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