The latest salvo in what has been dubbed the "Salmon Wars" has been fired by Justice Bruce Cohen who yesterday (31 October) at a press conference in Vancouver urged the Canadian Government to halt the advance of the disease-ridden salmon farming industry in British Columbia.
Watch Justice Cohen talking tough on salmon farms via The Common Sense Canadian (31 October):
“Lay off that lox, Canadian filmmakers tell New Yorkers” reads the press release issued (31 October) by the Atlantic Salmon Federation in Halifax, Nova Scotia. "New Yorkers love their lox," says Nova Scotia writer and filmmaker Silver Donald Cameron. "But how many of them know that the salmon they're eating has been dyed, drugged and bathed in pesticides to rid it of sea lice?"
"The fish are raised in 'net pens,' which are just bags of netting hanging in the ocean with up to a million fish in each net," Cameron explained. "A huge sack jammed with salmon is a prime target for diseases and parasites, which the industry combats by lacing the feed with antibiotics and giving the fish regular baths in solutions of pesticide. Furthermore, the sea bottom under the cages is toxic, because over the course of a grow-out cycle, that mass of fish produces enough feces to fill a jumbo jet."
Download the press release in full online here
Watch "Salmon Wars" online here
The war on sea lice in Eastern Canada has already claimed many lives. CBC News reported in 2010 that dozens of officers from Environment Canada "armed with guns and wearing flak jackets" raided the offices of Cooke Aquaculture.
"Hundreds of dead or weak lobsters were hauled up in traps about a year ago in Grand Manan's Seal Cove and off Deer Island," reported CBC News in November 2010. "Tests by Environment Canada found they had been exposed to cypermethrin — a fast-acting synthetic insecticide that is illegal to use in Canadian waters and is toxic to lobsters. It has been used to kill sea lice in European fish farms."
Read more via "Salmon Pharming Kills Lobsters!"
Cooke executives, including CEO Glen Cooke, are due in court in Eastern Canada in the coming year to answer 33 charges of breaching the Fisheries Act prohibiting the discharge into the marine environment of "deleterious substances". If convicted, the salmon farmers could be fined $33 million and spend a grand total of 99 years in prison (read more via "Cooke Aquaculture charged by Environment Canada in illegal pesticide use").
Back in British Columbia, GAAIA filed a cross-appeal Vs. in the Court of Appeal in the ongoing legal battle against Norwegian salmon farming behemoth Cermaq.
"You can't appeal the truth," said the defendant Staniford speaking from the UK where he is set to embark on a tour of Norwegian-owned salmon farms in Scotland & Ireland. "The Norwegian Government's shameless attempt to abuse the Canadian courts to muzzle global criticism of the salmon farming industry is doomed to failure. Cermaq should stop fighting a losing legal battle and start relocating disease-ridden salmon farms away from wild salmon. For the sake of our global ocean, our children's health and the health of our environment, we should stub out salmon farming from the face of the blue planet."
Read more details via "Cross-Appeal Filed Vs. Cermaq!"
The fallout from Justice Cohen's final report is only just beginning. Alexandra Morton, petitioning the Premier of British Columbia (31 October), said:
“Premier, surely you do not want to risk the wild salmon of eastern Pacific in the face of these strong warnings by this federal inquiry. The Fraser River First Nations will have to be consulted now as salmon they have rights to are migrating through the effluent of exactly the salmon farms, Justice Cohen is saying must be prohibited if more than minimal risk is found. You cannot renew the salmon farm leases throughout BC in good faith. Deny salmon farm license renewals.”
The Cohen report includes:
- Salmon farms have the potential to import exotic viruses and amplify endemic ones
- There should be an immediate freeze on farm salmon production on the Fraser sockeye migration route
- DFO should be relieved of their duty to promote salmon farms
- Mitigation into the impact of salmon farms on wild salmon should not be delayed and should be carried out in the absence of absolute certainty
- DFO must assess ALL research done on the impact of farm salmon on wild salmon and if found greater than minimal, the industry must be prohibited from operating on the Fraser sockeye migration route!
- Siting criteria has to be revised to include wild salmon migration routes.
Read the final Cohen Commission report online here!
Keep track on the Cohen report’s implications via “Cohen Inquiry Tracker”
Watch CTV News (31 October) including Craig Orr of Watershed Watch recommending removal of salmon farms:
And more via CTV News (31 October) reporting live from the press conference:
“The recommendation to put a freeze on new salmon farms around the Discovery Islands is a step in the right direction, but it’s not enough,” said Torrance Coste from The Wilderness Committee (31 October):. “What we want to see is real and permanent protection for wild salmon, and that means shutting down open-net salmon farms altogether.”
Meanwhile the BC Salmon Farmers Association (31 October) are fighting back:
“We know that the fish on our farms are healthy – and Justice Cohen has acknowledged the impressive data we made available,” said Stewart Hawthorn, Board Member of the BCSFA. ”We are committed to protecting the marine environment and our iconic wild salmon – and we support the call for further research in this small farming area.”
“Our members are committed to farming responsibly - and that commitment will continue as we move forward in light of these recommendations,” said Clare Backman, Board Member of the BCSFA. “It’s important that we continue with the important social and economic role we play in the coastal communities of BC while protecting our natural environment.”
According to The Canadian Press (31 October):
“Among the recommendations, Cohen calls for a freeze on the controversial practice of net-pen salmon farming around the Discovery Islands, on B.C.'s central coast, saying salmon farms have the potential to introduce disease to wild salmon. "I therefore conclude that the potential harm posed to Fraser River sockeye salmon from salmon farms is serious or irreversible," he told media after releasing his report on Wednesday. He said there is a conflict within the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada between conservation of wild stocks and promotion of the aquaculture industry.”
The Globe & Mail also reports on a black Wednesday for the salmon farming industry (31 October):
"B.C. Supreme Court Justice Bruce Cohen is calling for a freeze on salmon farm development in a key area on the West Coast and is highly critical of the federal government in his long-awaited report on the disappearance of sockeye salmon on the Fraser River."
The Surrey Leader (31 October) also reports:
"The Cohen Inquiry is calling for an immediate eight-year freeze on new net-pen salmon farm licences in the Discovery Islands between northern Vancouver Island and the B.C. mainland."
As the Canadian Government digests the contents of Justice Cohen's damning verdict the fires are burning on both sides of Canada. The Salmon Wars rage on - until disease-ridden salmon farms get out of our global ocean!
Protestors in the UK also visited Chinatown to send the message to China - which is fuelling the expansion of Scottish salmon farming - that Scottish salmon farming is scary.
A press release issued by the Pure Salmon Campaign on Halloween 2007 included:
Read more via "Halloween Trick Not Treat - Scary Farmed Salmon!"
For more background on the war raging against the evil corporations controlling the planet's salmon farms read the regular "Global News Updates" and also read "Fish Farmageddon: The Infectious Salmon Aquacalypse"
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