It is disappointing that they would put out another site - there are several others - with pretty much the same name, hoping to counter her movie at: salmonconfidential.com.
I will deal with their claims in due course, here are some:
1. Fish farms say Morton says: missing Fraser Sockeye are missing because of fish farm diseases.
Their answer is that science has shown missing fish since 1940 and that scientists claim early migration and high temperatures are the cause. HIGHLY MISLEADING. Kristi Millers work shows a viral signature of up to 35 disease outcomes in Fraser Sockeye with associated up to 90% mortality. It is the disease that is prompting early migration, during too high temperatures. And PRV or HSMI, from Norway, is the real cause of prespawn mortality en route, as it affects the heart. And her work shows that Fraser sockeye had ISA - brought to the Pacific Ocean by Norwegian fish farms - as far back as 1988.
Secondly, fish farm claimed recent science shows clearly in its abstract that prior to 2003 there was no real predictive research on prespawn mortality.
2. Fish farms say Morton says: the channels are so narrow that sockeye fry and adults are contracting diseases released from fish farms.
They say their fish are put in disease free, but are infected by wild fish. And diseased fish are removed quickly. And infections don't spread far. WRONG. 1. There is a long history of diseased farm eggs and fry entering BC. That's why ISA is here, and HSMI.2. There is nothing wrong with nature, if fish farm fish are infected the logical outcome is to put them in closed containers on land. 3. Each fish farm puts out 60 billion viral particles in an hour and they are moved by tide and active for three weeks. Circa 2003, most fish farms on the west coast of Van Isle were infected with IHN releasing trillions of viral particles.
3. Fish farms say Morton says: Harrison sockeye which migrate out Juan de Fuca are disease free and in increasing numbers. They say there are fish farms in Juan de Fuca so salmonconfidential must be wrong. WRONG. Some of the channels north of Campbell River are perhaps half a mile wide and full of fish farms. The distance between Race Rocks and Port Angeles where there are a few fish farms is 25 miles wide and is the narrowest part of Juan de Fuca strait, which at the Pacific end is more than 50 miles from Cape Flattery to Ucluelet.
Fish farms also say there are fish farms on Van Isles west coast and so if Harrison's are doing well, salmonconfidential must be wrong. WRONG. The farms are in Sounds which are not on the open Pacific where fry migrate. But DFO's own stats for west coast Van Isle is only 6,000 wild chinook spawners, and in Clayoquot Sound where there are 22 farms each of which may contain 1,000,000 farmed fish. chinook numbers are at extinction levels - only 501 in six streams in 2012.
And, the Kennedy Lake sockeye run has collapsed, when historically it was the largest run. The Henderson Lake sockeye have collapsed, and Somass fish come from fertilized lakes. Read pages 62 - 64 in the document quoted by the fish farms as they run counter to fish farm claims.In fact, DFO's Salmon Outlook for 2013 shows the rest of west coast Van Isle sockeye numbers being rated 2 out of 4 - not good. And these are not large runs. The Hobiton historically has been 10,000 fish only.
One more thing about the Harrison's: fish farms say they migrate immediately to the ocean and that is what scientists believe explains their high numbers. WRONG. here is what the PFRCC report they refer to says on page 18-19: "A notable exception to declining escapements of Late-run populations is the Harrison Lake stock, which has had unprecedented large escapements in recent years, despite migrating upstream earlier than most other Late-run populations. The reason is not known with certainty but may be liked to the life history of this population." The other lower stock that has been wiped out is the Cultus :Lake sockey that migrate up Georgia Strait.
Also, further up the coast, the other sockeye that migrate as small fry are the Owikeno stock in Rivers Inlet that used to be the second highest commercial run in BC. They are not killed in the lake and they migrate at 2 grams - and the small size and ocean death is suggested as the reason. This stock has never recovered although the first ISA positive results in 2011 came from this stock, a disease that originates only in the Atlantic Ocean, and came here on fish farm eggs.
4. Fish farms say Morton says: the only salmon doing well are those not passing fish farms [meaning Fraser sockeye].
They say pink and chum are doing well in the Fraser. SOMEWHAT WRONG for pinks. Fraser pink are rated 4 out of 4 and 12.6 million - an average historical run. And WRONG on other counts: the PFRCC document they quote on sockeye shows drastic decline in WCVI pink numbers over the past few decades.. And the WCVI chum number for 2012 was a dismal 520,000 - a very bad number. The Nitinat alone has been as high as 1.8 million in the past. And, in fact, the common theme of DFO's salmon outlook has been steadily declining Fraser chum numbers from 1998 to 2010 which was halted in 2012 at 1 million fish escapement into the river. That is an abysmal number.
5. Fish farms say Morton says: Miller's work on SLV nails that Fraser sockeye deaths are from fish farm diseases.
They say that correlation does not mean causation, and that salmon leukemia only be linked with lymphoma-leukemia. And research shows SLV occurs in natural species. WRONG. Her work is into parvovirus and her viral signature work convinces everyone but someone who draws an income from a Norwegian fish farm giant. Also, the 1994 science cited was in part authored by Michael Kent, who, as below recanted all this work on the stand of the Cohen Commission. Miller's signature work strongly indicates PRV, HSMI and ISA. She has found ISA back to 1988 in Fraser Sockeye. She also found ISA and HSMI in 25% of farmed chinook in Clayoquot Sound - some 125,000 to 250,000 fish per farm. Additionally, SLV does indeed infect Pacific salmon - it was found in fish farms off Quadra Island raising, wait for it, chinook salmon, a Pacific species.
6. Fish farms say that Morton says 100% of sockeye exposed to SLV die, but they say it is only 72%. WEIRD ANSWER. ISA only kills 90% of farmed fish. Is 72% good?
Again, this work was in part authored by Michael Kent who recanted this work on the Cohen stand.
7. Fish farms say Morton says: SLV is like AIDS.
They say SLV is not like AIDS because it cannot infect humans. This is another WEIRD claim, so odd that it doesn't need comment.
8. Fish farms say Morton says: 100% of the sockeye passing salmon farms were getting infected with salmon leukemia virus from the farms.
Their answer is that research has shown this untrue. WRONG. the 1992 paper:
http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/52/23/6496 Is coauthored by Michael Kent. He authored about a dozen articles on SLV, salmon leukemia in farmed chinook in the narrows off Campbell River. However, in the August Cohen Commission hearings, he recanted his work, some of which he did while working for DFO on taxpayer dollars. Three other scientists also recanted their work. So this is research without standing and is noted as an advertisement in the journal because of its outside funding.
I read all 127 abstracts of Kent's papers at the time. I will go back and see which ones were written with scientists with conflicts of interest with fish farms. I recall that this list includes Saksida, but I will check, who now heads the 'research facility' for fish farms in Campbell River that DFO gave money for in 2012.
Furthermore, when the chinook farms with SLV were taken out of the Quadra Island area, suddenly sockeye were returning to the Fraser in far higher numbers.
During the Cohen Commission, one of my submissions made the point that all those who testified should be required to lay out their conflicts of interests, but this was not done. Cohen's rulings did agree with many points made in my three submissions, particularly that the Norwegian fish farms had their lawyers working full time against Cohen in his requiring the disease summary tables - which is what the whole point of their website is about - disease.
Once the summary tables were required, the fish farms told the news they were complying fully with Cohen and they were transparent. However, once Cohen moved to bring back fish farm diseases for a special December sitting, which has most of the material in Morton's new movie, Cohen made a firm requirement that the actual BC table be released. The Norwegian fish farms then had their lawyers arguing again against the release of this information, saying that Cohen had no authority to require that information. Cohen stood firm and the actual tables were placed on the record. This is a material part of the disease hearings, that Morton has shown the actual evidentiary evidence caught on tape, including, and while it sure was funny, Kim Klotins, from CFIA, who was cornered into saying that the CFIA did not want to find ISA in BC in farmed fish. It was a little unkind to replay her bugging eyes several times.
There is more to say, but this is the total of my volunteer hours today. I and BC residents simply stand for wild salmon. The fish farms have, in 2008 science, been shown to kill 50% of all wild stocks they come in contact with, largely because of their diseases:: http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.0060033. Please read and form your own opinions.
**********************************************************************************Once the summary tables were required, the fish farms told the news they were complying fully with Cohen and they were transparent. However, once Cohen moved to bring back fish farm diseases for a special December sitting, which has most of the material in Morton's new movie, Cohen made a firm requirement that the actual BC table be released. The Norwegian fish farms then had their lawyers arguing again against the release of this information, saying that Cohen had no authority to require that information. Cohen stood firm and the actual tables were placed on the record. This is a material part of the disease hearings, that Morton has shown the actual evidentiary evidence caught on tape, including, and while it sure was funny, Kim Klotins, from CFIA, who was cornered into saying that the CFIA did not want to find ISA in BC in farmed fish. It was a little unkind to replay her bugging eyes several times.
There is more to say, but this is the total of my volunteer hours today. I and BC residents simply stand for wild salmon. The fish farms have, in 2008 science, been shown to kill 50% of all wild stocks they come in contact with, largely because of their diseases:: http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.0060033. Please read and form your own opinions.
Sept 17, 2017. The Fraser runs are so low this year, the sockeye are the lowest on record. Meanwhile, Alaska that prohibits fish farms harvested 213 million sockeye and pink. At last count in BC, the Fraser sockeye were a miserable 1.36 million, Sept 8, 2017 (to Hell's Gate); on the same date, pinks were a miserable 3.7 million, the lowest count since I came to the coast more than 40 years ago.