Patty Sullivan is an active member of ny4whales, has swum across the Hudson River in our SWIM TO SAVE DOLPHINS - TWICE! - and is the Director of Education for Cetacean Society International. This is Patty's article on the expected extinction - in just four years! - of juvenile wild pink and chum salmon in the Pacific Northwest due to local salmon farms. This article is published in American Chronicle at http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/61357.
Patricia Sullivan
May 09, 2008
In April 2008, the Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform (CAAR) welcomed a decision by the British Columbian government to institute an indefinite moratorium on open net-cage salmon farming in northern British Columbia. The provincial government is recognizing the need to protect marine ecosystems and wild salmon stocks from the impacts of current salmon farming practices, a sign of change.
CAAR member group Living Oceans Society's (LOS) Campaign Director Catherine Stewart applauds the government for listening to the citizens of the north and granting a reprieve to the wild salmon and waters of the North Coast. She emphasized the imperative to move salmon farms in the South and Central Coast to closed containment before the wild pink and chum salmon fall into localized extinctions.
"Along with chemical antifoulants used on nets, waste feed and feces contaminating the benthos – including feed laced with antibiotics, colourants and paraciticides, marine mammal deaths – from 'predator control' shootings and entanglement/drowning," Stewart explained, the biggest problem with open net cage fish farms is sea lice which are killing B.C.'s out-migrating juvenile salmon. Stewart detailed the problem: "Sea lice occur naturally on mature wild adult salmon but die when the salmon move into fresh water to spawn in the fall. In spring, when tiny juvenile salmon entered salt water they would not encounter lice until they were much larger and had scales to protect them. But now, the multitude of salmon farms located near the rivers act as a breeding ground for lice over the winter and out-migrating wild juveniles no larger than a AAA battery are subject to lethal lice loads when they enter salt water." Stewart cited a piece in the journal Science (Krkosek et al, Nov, 2007) that predicts at the present rate of death of juvenile pink salmon, localized extinctions can be expected within two lifecycles, or four years.
If the transition to closed containment salmon aquaculture projects could be funded and developed, the benefits for British Columbians might be many, including the protection of the wild salmon and the environment; reduction in conflict within coastal communities; respecting of First Nations rights and title and supporting coastal economic development.
LOS requests letters be written to B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell and urge him to invest in the development of closed containment technology. The $10 million Closed System Aquaculture Innovation and Development (CSAID) Fund would provide matching funds to entrepreneurs to build and operate closed containment salmon aquaculture projects, and establish transparent environmental and economic monitoring and analysis of these projects and assist in marketing viable new technologies at home and abroad (LOS).
Ironically, a virus called infectious salmon anemia, or I.S.A., is killing millions of Chilean farmed salmon destined for export to Japan, Europe and the United States (Barrionuevo, p.1). According to Stewart, the ISA outbreak has led to serious problems for Norwegian-based Marine Harvest, one of the world's largest aquaculture companies. The company's 4th quarter profit in 2007 was down $147 million from the previous year, largely due to the "biological situation" on their Chilean farms. Over one thousand Marine Harvest workers in Chile have recently lost their jobs and several farms have had to be culled of diseased fish in an attempt to bring the outbreak under control. Chilean non-governmental organizations are highly critical of the rapid expansion of the industry, the lack of regulatory control and enforcement and the density of farm siting along the coast, especially in Chile's Region X. Escapes of farmed fish are also a significant problem – while there are no wild salmon indigenous to Chile there is now a booming salmon sports fishing industry targeting escaped farm salmon.
These problems are not being ignored; according to information on the World Wildlife Fund web site, impacts of salmon aquaculture were discussed as the top agenda item at the Salmon Aquaculture Dialogue Meeting held in Barcelona in February 2008. More information is available at the WWF website link http://worldwildlife.org/cci/dialogues/salmon.cfm.
References:
Barrionuevo, A. (March 27, 2008). Salmon Virus Indicts Chile's Fishing Methods. The New York Times. Retrieved on March 27, 1008 from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/27/world/americas/27salmon.html?ex=1364270400&en=16d37d6a1ec90d8d&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss.
Living Oceans Society main page. Retrieved on March 28, 2008 from http://www.livingoceans.org/ Salmon Aquaculture Dialogue (2008). World Wildlife Fund.
Retrieved on March 31, 2008 from http://worldwildlife.org/cci/dialogues/salmon.cfm.
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