The Law on Blood Water Discharge

You would think that with 90% of farmed fish having PRV and other possible pathogens that fish farms and processing centres should be banned from shedding them into the ocean. They should be prevented from doing so, another reason for being on land.

West Coast Environmental Law has done a post that examines the provincial and federal laws in BC. See: https://www.wcel.org/blog/how-we-treat-wild-salmon-fish-farm-bloodwater-discharged-salmon-migratory-route?utm_source=LEB.

There are plenty of links in this one to take you directly to the laws, so take advantage of this one for your records, when fish farms trot out their we are clean and healthy spin. Say, not so fast slim, there are many problems with the law and you are gushing feces, food waste, pathogens, lice, pieces of rotting fish and so on, because the laws are deficient.

So, what is the case under the Fisheries Act? This: "The federal Fisheries Act prohibits unauthorized deposits of blood and other biological substances into the water (which likely qualify as "deleterious substances" under the Act), except when they come from fish farms directly. Under the Aquaculture Activities Regulation, fish farms can deposit fish blood and other matter (such as fish feed and feces) directly into the sea,"

On pathogens like PRV and its disease HSMI, WCEL says: "Both fish farms and fish processing facilities must monitor fish and fish blood for disease. So why is it legal to discharge bloodwater that contains PRV, despite the fact that it has been linked to HSMI?

Although discarding diseased fish parts into the water is prohibited under the federal Health of Animals Act and its regulations, PRV and HSMI are not listed as reportable diseases under the Act. So it appears that under the current regulations, it is legal to discharge fish processing water that contains instances of this virus."

And under the provincial rules? This:  "Though the [provincial] permit does not name the procedures that the company should follow, the practice captured in Tavish’s footage [the blood water video] may violate the 1975 non-legally binding Fish Processing Operations Liquid Effluent Guidelines, which restrict the discharge of bloodwater and require treatment of contaminated process water."

And, the current case on DFO needing to prevent PRV getting into the water when smolts are transferred in, or growing with PRV: "Scientist Alexandra Morton and Ecojustice are in court with the federal government arguing that the government has been acting illegally by issuing licences allowing the transfer of farmed salmon without testing for the virus."

And, Horgan started an investigation into BCMAL, the disease testing lab in BC: "A month ago the BC government launched a review of the Province’s animal testing laboratory which conducts diagnostic testing on farmed salmon."