Wild Salmon

December 2, 2002

Faulty Count of Sea Lice Produces Eco-Crisis

The Campbell government and its friends in the fish feedlot industry are in denial over the near total loss of the pink salmon run in the Broughton Archipelago. The 2002 return is less than 5% of the previous year. Government has reacted by asking scientists to study the matter in January even though John Fraser, Chair of the Pacific Fisheries Resource Conservation Council and former Speaker of Canada's Parliament, wrote a letter to both federal and provincial fisheries ministers saying "Given the timing of juvenile salmon movement into the sea it is urgent that action be taken as soon as possible with the Council recommending that action be agreed upon with implementation starting by mid-January 2003."

It is likely that sea lice will kill the pink salmon run in the Broughton Archipelago. Research by the Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) on whether the sea lice are damaging young salmon has been conducted in a manner that has been discredited in Norway. The DFO methods knock the sea lice off of the young fish before they are examined.

A DFO website says:

"DFO conducted a two-pronged approach to assess levels of sea lice on juvenile salmonids in a timely and effective manner. Data from preliminary results from a trawl survey, conducted June 29th and July 4th in the Broughton Archipelago area did not demonstrate a significant sea lice infestation of pink salmon in the survey area. Data from a second survey using seine sampling conducted in the Broughton Archipelago and Queen Charlotte Strait areas July 6-9 (following the natural migration route of juvenile pinks to the ocean), also did not demonstrate the infestation levels alleged by some residents in the Central Coast area."

Based on the "research" cited above, government apologists claim that Fisheries and Oceans Canada has not been able to produce evidence to support the theory that sea lice from and around fish feedlots are responsible for the loss of the run. Those apologists and scientists need to review the Norwegian literature. Sea lice are easily knocked off of the young fish during capture. Research that depends on using commercial fishing techniques will not produce accurate results.

A review of the environmental impacts of aquaculture for the Scottish executive reported:

"It was previously thought that wild salmon would not be exposed to the same degree of infestation owing to the limited period of contact. However, it is now suggested that, particularly in long sea loch systems with several fish farms, salmon may receive sufficient infestation to compromise their survival. This hypothesis is not easy to test, as it is difficult to catch salmon smolts in coastal waters, particularly in such a way as to protect the fish from skin/scale damage that may remove any early lice stages present. However, researchers in Norway have recently made significant progress in this area using a fishing net with an aquarium in the cod-end designed to minimize damage to the fish. The results from a co-operative research project between the Institute of Marine Research, Bergen, Norway and the University of Bergen indicate that more than 86% of the wild postsmolts of Atlantic salmon migrating out of the Sognefjord, and between 48.5% and 81.5% of the postsmolts from the Nordfjord were killed as a direct consequence of sea lice infections during the spring of 1999. The surviving fish were probably weakened because of the infection." (emphasis added)

If the fish farms continue to operate in the Broughton Archipelago, the few pink salmon smolts that are produced from this year's greatly diminished run will likely be destroyed resulting in the total loss of the run. Fish feedlots have ignored the warning and are restocking.

The loss of millions of wild pink salmon will have negative consequences throughout the food chain. Other fish that feed on the pinks will suffer. Bears and eagles will have less food. The entire ecosystem that benefits from the life cycle of the salmon will suffer. An ecological disaster is happening. That disaster can be prevented. What will Gordon Campbell do?

Also see: http://www.asf.ca/symposium2002/abstracts/3-1-norgesealice.html

September 16, 2002

First Nations, Wild Salmon & Sea Lice

The Campbell government has a strange way of encouraging economic development. Settling land claims is one of the most important issues that must be resolved in order to remove barriers to development. Is it possible to ignore First Nations on key resource decisions and still expect progress at treaty tables? The Ministry of Forests has ignored advice from its own consultant that inadequate consultation has occurred with First Nations over the proposed Results Based Forest Practices Code. The Ministry of Agriculture has also ignored First Nations with its announcement that the moratorium on fish farm expansion is being lifted.

In his news release, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries John van Dongen said "It's time to get on with creating jobs and revitalizing the economy for B.C.'s coastal communities and First Nations." The next day Chief Stewart Phillip, President of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, announced that the UBCIC categorically rejects Agriculture Minister John van Dongen's recent move to lift the moratorium on the expansion of fish farm operations within First Nations territories. "We have witnessed the negative impacts of the existing fish farms and the devastation those non-indigenous aquaculture operations inflict on our First Nations people, the marine environment, and the entire fishing industry," stated Chief Phillip.

Chief Philip's reaction to van Dongen is based on solid research. An online publication of the Scottish Executive (the devolved government for Scotland) confirms what Rafe Mair has been saying about sea lice and wild salmon. In the words of the report "Although the relationship between sea lice infection and the decline of wild populations is striking, and is additional to the widespread decline of migratory salmonids in areas without fish farms, there is as yet no absolute proof of a causal link. In spite of this, and owing to the increasing body of supporting (although as yet inconclusive) evidence, the burden of opinion has recently begun to swing in favour of accepting the likelihood that lice from farms constitute a direct threat to wild salmonids." The report went on to say that "Even with greater access to effective sea lice treatment agents it is uncertain that total lice numbers can be brought down to low enough levels to fully protect wild salmonids."

The Scottish report cited chilling evidence from a Norwegian study when it said: