The End of the Line for Open Net Cage Salmon Farming?

A new short documentary produced by Canadian film-maker Damien Gillis lifts the lid on the problems caused by open net cage salmon farms worldwide. Farmed Salmon Exposed: The Global Reach of the Norwegian Salmon Farming Industry reveals the pervasive nature of the issues plaguing salmon aquaculture and features testimonials by witnesses discussing the environmental and socio-economic damage caused by poorly managed salmon farms.

The film features ghillie Brian Fraser from Scotland; John Mulcahy from Save The Swilly in Ireland; Orri Vigfusson from the North Atlantic Salmon Fund in Iceland; Alexandra Morton and Dr Daniel Pauly from British Columbia; Dr Matthias Gorny from Oceana in Chile as well as Sven Helge Pedersen, King Harald and Vegard Heggem in Norway.

Today, for the first time this film is being broadcast in full online around the world. Watch all four episodes below:





Comments by:

Damien Gillis, Canadian film-maker: “Norway - land of breathtaking natural beauty, a country with pronounced policies of environmental stewardship. At least that’s how it appears on the surface. Norway is also headquarters of the multi billion dollar global salmon farming industry including the world’s two largest producers of farmed salmon: Cermaq, whose largest shareholder is the Norwegian Government; and Marine Harvest. These firms are leaving a trail of environmental, socio-economic and cultural problems around the world”.

Alexandra Morton, biologist, Raincoast Research (Canada): “Fish farms are killing off wild salmon”.

John Mulcahy, Chairman of Save the Swilly (Ireland): “What gives them the right to destroy livelihoods in countries far away?”

Alex Munoz, Vice President of Oceana Chile (Chile): “Their shareholders should know that their businesses are having a great impact on our Chilean environment”.

Orri Vigfusson, Chairman of the North Atlantic Salmon Fund (Iceland): “It's not sustainable. That is why I would like to see the salmon farms taken out of the sea where they cannot be controlled and put on the coast or the land where they can be controlled”.

Brian Fraser, Scottish ghillie (fishing guide): “How long can we keep raping the seas of these white fish to produce food to produce salmon. I don't think it's sustainable”.

Damien Gillis, Canadian film-maker: “All of these issues have led to an undeniable tipping point and the pressure is now on the industry to either to continue repeating the same mistakes of the past or chart a new course to a more sustainable future”.


The Pure Salmon Campaign is a global project with partners in Scotland, Ireland, Norway, United States, Canada, Australia and Chile all working to raise standards on salmon farms.

For more information about the Pure Salmon Campaign and the fourth annual Global Week of Action, go to Pure Salmon Campaign - Raising the Standards for Farm-Raised Fish and Farmed Salmon Exposed -- Global Week of Action

For more details please contact:

Don Staniford (Global Coordinator for the Pure Salmon Campaign): dstaniford@puresalmon.org

Send this petition letter (easy and automatic)

what these companies get away with is Criminal.

Jim

__________________
The Fishermans Friend is the Flirty Fly,Fickle Food for Fleeting Fish.

Too true Jim,

Hopefully below is the future. Even if we have to pay more for the salmon we eat, it is a price worth paying.

Colin

+++++++++++++++

Salmon farming method shows green light at the end of the tunnel

At last we may be seeing the beginning of the end. The end -- that is -- to environmentally damaging salmon farming. Fish farmer and green-minded entrepreneur, Per Hegglund has created an environmentally friendly way of faming salmon.

His company AquaSeed Corporation based in Seattle has launched the SweetSpringSalmon brand which supplies salmon that have been farmed in fresh water in wholly contained and controlled environments; “To escape and breed with native stocks, salmon raised in our system would need wings (or legs).” said Per. What is more, through containment the threat of lice and disease spreading into wild populations is prevented too.

The company has been recognised by Monterey Bay’s internationally recognized Seafood WATCH program. SweetSpring salmon and wild-caught Alaskan salmon are the only salmon listed on Seafood Watch’s “Super Green” list which highlights “Best Choice” seafood that is not only safe for the environment, but better for people due to low levels of contaminants and high levels of omega-3 fatty acids.

CB ,
thanks for posting that , hope a good number of us here get involved .

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Andy Wren
Winter grayling taking a year off !
Claret not just a great dubbing colour!

Good post 'cb'.

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http://www.salmon-trout.org

See this link MEPs declare war on tuna mafia

You may or may not be aware of the situation in Scotland with salmon farm directors/managers becoming trustees on fisheries trusts. They contribute money to these trusts (blood money in my opinion) to keep these trusts in line and prevent adverse publicity. We have a situation in NW Scotland of declining numbers of sea trout on systems that house these fish farm cages. Farmed salmon escapees are now interbreeding with wild stocks ( I have seen the evidence with DNA samples) One such fish farm cage system was left fallow for a year and surprise, suprise, the sea trout population increased and larger specimens caught. When I asked why this was happening, I was told it was due to a huge explosion in the numbers of sand eels, nothing to do with the sea cages being left fallow.
With the increasing numbers of salmon farm cages being put in loch/river systems in NW Scotland we face the probability of complete loss of sea trout stocks and catching "farmed" salmon in our systems.
I hear that game fishing contributes huge amounts of money into local economies, what will happen when game fishing doesn't exist as we know it?

Department of Justice lays charges against fish farm company

Unlawful by-catch of wild salmon by Norwegian fish farm company

(April 20, 2010, Port Hardy) Today, Todd Gerhart of the Department of Justice, stayed charges laid by biologist Alexandra Morton against Marine Harvest, the largest Norwegian fish farm company in the world, for unlawful possession of wild salmon. In a landmark initiative Gerhart advised the Court that on April 16, 2010, DOJ filed a new indictment against Marine Harvest, including the original charges laid by Alexandra Morton as well as new charges for unlawful possession of herring reported in October 2009. Mr. Gerhart will be the prosecutor.

Morton and her lawyer Jeffery Jones are relieved. “It is my strong opinion,” says Mr. Jones, a former Crown Prosecutor for DOJ, “that this industry was given access to the BC coast and appears to have been conducting itself as if it were above the law. Today’s decision by Mr. Gerhart and the Department of Justice confirms that no corporation is above the law. This is why private prosecutions are important democratic safeguards. Ms. Morton’s prosecution has triggered enforcement action by DOJ. I am extremely pleased by Mr. Gerhart’s decision.”

In June of 2009, young wild salmon were observed falling from a load of farm salmon being off-loaded from Marine Harvest’s vessel Orca Warrior. Some of these fish were collected and Marine Harvest admitted in the newspaper to catching the wild salmon. “By-catch” is fish caught without a licence in the process of fishing for other species. By-catch is strictly controlled in all other fisheries and in some cases causes entire fisheries to be shut down.

“For decades we have heard reports of wild fish trapped in fish farms, eaten by the farm fish and destroyed during harvest,” says biologist Alexandra Morton, “but when DFO was informed of these offenses they would not, or could not, lay a charge. Canada cannot manage wild fish like this. You can’t regulate commercial and sport fishermen and then allow another group unlimited access to the same resource. BC will lose its wild fish.”

In 1993, the Pacific Fishery Regulations exempted salmon farms from virtually all fishing regulations. Unlike commercial fishermen, salmon farmers can use bright lights known to attract wild fish. The oily food pellets they use also attract fish and wildlife. Commercial fishermen are required to pay for observers and cameras on their vessels that record by-catch, so that fishing can be halted to preserve non-targeted stocks. No such enforcement has been applied to salmon farmers, despite regular reports of black cod, rock cod, herring, lingcod, wild salmon, Pollock, capelin and other species in the pens, in stomachs of the farmed fish and destroyed at harvest time….Until now.

“This is a ray of hope that we can work through the issue of Norwegian salmon farming in BC waters. I am thankful to hand this over to the Department of Justice. Aquaculture is not the problem. The problem is the reckless way government sited it, managed it and gave it priority over the public fisheries. I call on government to protect the families now dependant on this industry as it undergoes the long overdue scrutiny of the courts, the judicial inquiry and public opinion.“

Alexandra Morton 250-974-7086

Just seen the above ,hopefully the BC justice system will remind marine harvest of their responsibilities!

__________________
Andy Wren
Winter grayling taking a year off !
Claret not just a great dubbing colour!

Alexandra Morton <wildorca@island.net> to Alexandra Morton <wildorca@island.net>

The Get Out Migration Begins
A people’s movement to protect the fish that built BC – wild salmon


(April 22, 2010, Sointula, BC) After 20 years of expressing concern to governments that won’t listen and have shielded Norwegian salmon farms from the laws of Canada, the public of British Columbia is taking to the streets to get industrial salmon farming out of the ocean and away from their wild salmon.

The Get Out Migration begins today with an evening send-off from the fishing village of Sointula. Tomorrow morning the Namgis First Nation will perform a ceremony at the Nimpkish River at 10am for the group walking into the mountains.

“Get Out for Wild Salmon” released today on SalmonAreSacred.org | <http://www.salmonaresacred.org> shows Biologist Alexandra Morton leaving the Meetup River with the young wild salmon and the send off by the Broughton First Nation village Gwa'yasdams Village. “When International companies come in here and lay waste to our territory we have a problem with that,” said elected chief Bob Chamberlin.

Anissa Reed of Ocean Aura and one of the planners says, “people absolutely hold salmon sacred. The outpouring to the Get Out Migration of artwork, volunteers organizing awesome events in every town, offering us shelter in their homes is a demonstration of the attachment British Columbians have to wild salmon. We expect thousands to participate.”

“Government has ignored its own studies on salmon farming since 1989. This is exactly how we lost the food security, thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars that the North Atlantic cod brought to Canada. “We in BC do not intend to play out this tragedy again,” says Alexandra Morton, “government must support the families dependant on this industry as it is removed from the ocean onto land.”

On April 16, 2010, the Department of Justice (DOJ) had to instruct DFO to lay charges against Norwegian fish farm company Marine Harvest, for unlawful possession of wild salmon and herring. “This offence was reported to DFO last year, why did it require the DOJ to lay a straightforward charge?” asks Morton. “If we want wild salmon, British Columbians need to send government a very clear message this nonsense is over, get salmon farms out of the ocean and let Canadians reinvent this industry on land.”

The Get Out Migration has spread to other towns. For details Itinerary | SalmonAreSacred.org



There will be public events scheduled in:

- Quadra Island (27th April)

- Campbell River (28th April)

- Courtenay (29th April)

- Fanny Bay (30th April)

- Big Qualicum River (1st May)

- Qualicum Beach (2nd May)

- Lantzville (3rd May)

- Nanaimo and Gabriola Island (4th May)

- Ladysmith (5th May)

- Duncan (6th May)

- Sidney (7th May)

- Victoria (8th and 9th).



Other Migrations around BC are taking place in:

- Lillooet (22nd April)

- Adams River (24th April)

- Tofino (25th April)

- Prince George (3rd May)

- Lumby (8th May)

- Paddle for Wild Salmon down the Fraser River leaving Hope on 28th April and arriving in Sidney on 7th May.

-30-




Contact: Alexandra Morton 250-974-7086

__________________
Andy Wren
Winter grayling taking a year off !
Claret not just a great dubbing colour!

I wonder do our rulers behave like this ????

[fishermenlist] Fish farmers threaten not to release disease information
Alex Morton <gorbuscha@gmail.com> to Alex Morton <wildorca@island.net>
May 28

Salmon Farms refuse to release disease information if the province of BC makes fish farm disease public



Eighteen years of secrets, the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands and Gordon Campbell





(May 28, 2010 Sointula) In July 1992, IHN virus broke out in Atlantic salmon smolts as they were put in salmon farm in Okisollo Channel. Okisollo is within the Fraser sockeye migration route. Even though the Fraser sockeye were migrating through the area, no one called for the IHN infected farm salmon to be culled. The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) kept this epidemic secret from the Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks (MELP) even though there was a disease sharing protocol in place. When MELP heard “rumors” of this IHN outbreak three months later, MAFF still refused to give them the details of the outbreak. The policy in enhancement hatcheries is to destroy IHN infected smolts to prevent spreading to wild salmon.



Today, MAL is misinforming the public about the extent of past IHN outbreaks on their website and in a recent legal decision all BC salmon farming companies state they will refuse to reveal disease records if their reports to MAL are made public.



Note: MAL and MAFF are the same agency and MELP and MOE are the same.





1992 memos - a trail of secrets and disregard for wild salmon health



October 5 1992 Don Peterson at MELP : “Our fish health staff report …. rumours of an IHN virus outbreak in Atlantic salmon… Please provide …information …..IHNV is easily transmitted to trout and Pacific salmon species and we need to make an assessment of risk to wild stocks please respond ASAP.”



October 8, 1992 Don Peterson, MELP: “Had a call from Al Castledine (MAFF3) ….There has been an outbreak….DFO doesn’t want this to become an issue at this time, Al specifically asked that we not make a media issue of this – at least not until DFO has their act together.” This was 4 months after the outbreak began



October 28, 1992 the Minister of MELP John Cashore to MAFF: “IHN virus is lethal to trout and steelhead. These wild fish inhabit the marine environment where this farm is located… my Fish Culture staff only learned of this incident very recently …. There is … a protocol agreement that is intended to alert each of our agencies when problems such as this arise….the breakdown in communication could have potentially serious consequences for fish stocks….”



November 12, 1992 Harvey Andrusak MELP to MAFF: “The recent outbreak of IHN virus in Atlantic salmon smolts owned by BC Packers causes considerable concern for the Fisheries Branch of MELP….I request your cooperation.”



November 19, 1992 J. E. Fralick MAFF to MELP “results are considered proprietary by our Animal Health Branch and cannot be released. I firmly believe…the IHN outbreak poses very minimal risk to wild stocks.”



November 27, 1992 H. Andrusak, MELP to MAFF “I am disappointed with your response….when MAFF is asked for information…we are referred to DFO, when we ask DFO, I am referred to you. This is unacceptable….fish health is the responsibility of DFO … and MELP….why is MAFF involved in fish health at all?”



December 17, 1992 G.R.Armstrong MELP “Prior to the IHN outbreak, fish health scientists believed that IHN was transmitted only in fresh water. The significance of the outbreak is that it apparently occurred in sea water…Atlantic salmon farms are now a potential vector for transfer of IHN.”



January 5, 1993 G.R. Armstrong MELP to MAFF “I do not understand how the Department of Fisheries and Oceans can have little concern for IHN simply because it is endemic to wild salmon…. Atlantic salmon in pens are now a potential vector.”



While the 100,000s of Atlantic salmon in the IHN infected fish farm were left in the ocean on the Fraser salmon migration route, 300,000 trout were culled in a provincial hatchery in 1991 due to IHN. B.C. Environment, Lands and Park – Information Issue 92-35



When Gordon Campbell took office in 2001 he cancelled MELP and so the BC public lost the only team of bureaucrats who were fighting to protect our wild salmon from corporate salmon.



MAL website today - inaccurate



Have things improved, No.



While the MAL website acknowledges there have been IHN outbreaks in Atlantic salmon farms, it grossly misinforms the public about the timing and location of the outbreaks.



“Outbreaks of this disease (IHN) in Atlantic salmon farms in British Columbia occurred in 1992, 1995, 1996,1997 and 2001. All reported cases occurred within the Campbell River area.” .Infectious Hematopoietic Necrosis Virus (IHNV) - BC Ministry of Agriculture and Lands (website updated May 16, 2004)



In fact, there were in 12 million Atlantic salmon infected from 2001 – 2003 over 400km of the BC coast from Clayoquot Sound to Klemtu (Saksida 2006). More than 1/3 of BC’s wild salmon and many Washington State salmon use this area and were challenged with this highly infectious disease generation after generation. The BC Liberal government did nothing to stem this flow of pathogens.



February 2002 - BC Supreme Court Injunction identifies IHN risk to wild salmon



When a salmon farm in the Broughton Archipelago tried to dispose of 1.6 million IHN infected farm salmon in 2002, BC Supreme Court granted the Musqueam First Nations an injunction to prevent delivery of these fish to a processing plant in the Fraser River because these fish threatened the Fraser River’s wild salmon with IHN.



What about the other 10 million left in net pens on the marine migratory routes used by the Fraser all south coast, and Clayoquot wild salmon and steelhead?



March 1, 2010 - Ruling forces MAL to release fish farm disease information and fish farmers threaten to cease all public reporting of disease outbreaks



Four years ago the T. Buck Suzuki Foundation filed a Freedom of Information request to MAL for salmon farm disease records. MAL refused. But BC’s Freedom of Information and Privacy Commissioner ruled on March 1, 2010 that MAL could not legally conceal this information and to release it by April 12, 2010. In the decision, the fish farm companies of BC are on the record stating if their disease information is released they will never report diseases to the province of BC ever again. (see below) T. Buck Suzuki is still awaiting full disclosure.



“Mainstream flatly submits that it will not supply similar information when it

is in the public interest that similar information continues to be supplied.66

Mainstream does not explicitly say there is no authority under which it may be

compelled to provide data for the audit.”



“Marine Harvest submits there are “no regulations or laws” which require it

to release the information it gives to Ministry veterinarians or designates during

on-site visits. It states that release of the requested information would result in

Mainstream no longer supplying the requested information”



“Grieg Seafoods contends there is no statutory requirement that allows

the collection of audit data and that it only provides data on the understanding

the data would be kept confidential. It states it will no longer submit the data if

the applicant‟s access request is granted”



“Creative Salmon argues that it provides audit information on a voluntary

basis and if the applicant’s access request is granted it will “immediately cease

to volunteer further information to the Ministry”



Public gains long-awaited access to sea lice records &mdash; Ecojustice (formerly Sierra Legal Defence Fund)



How can the governments of Canada and British Columbia allow this ongoing suppression of information that is clearly in the public interest and the courts have ruled threatens a resource the people of Canada and British Columbia are passionate about? Salmon farms are in the public waters of Canada, they are leasing Crown Land supposedly “to provide the greatest benefits for British Columbians” (Crown Lands BC website) and they do not legally own their fish. Will the BC Liberal government allow them to operate in secret, to the detriment of a highly valued public resource? We will all get to find out.



This has got to stop.

__________________
Andy Wren
Winter grayling taking a year off !
Claret not just a great dubbing colour!