Tuesday 29 December 2015

Fish Farm Lice Kill 34% of Wild Salmonids

This is yet another study that shows that lice from fish farms kill wild salmonids. In this case the researchers reanalyzed a study and found a wild salmonid kill of 34%.

This has previously shown in other research. Check the Index to this site in October of 2014 to find the links to those studies.

From the study in Scotland in the immediately preceding post on this site, the paper, is item 4.

Here is a quote: "Research published in 2013 by a group of fisheries experts from Norway, Canada and Scotland re-analysing data from various Irish studies, showed that the impact of sea lice on wild salmon causes a very high loss (34%) of those returning to Irish rivers (4) ."

The reference says this: (4) M Krkosek, C W Revie, B Finstad and C D Todd (2013) Comment on Jackson et al. "Impact of Lepeophtheirus salmonis infestations on migrating Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L., smolts at eight locations in Ireland with an analysis of lice-induced marine mortality" - Journal of Fish Diseases.

The Scotland study in the last post goes on to say that fish farms claims of no harm are not true:

"There is also clear evidence that both wild salmon and sea trout are in decline in Scotland’s ‘aquaculture zone’, whereas, generally, populations have stabilized on the east and north coast where there is no fish-farming.

After examining east and west coast catch trends, fisheries scientists from the Rivers and Fisheries Trusts of Scotland (RAFTS) concluded that: “there is a clear trend of declining salmon catches, compared with catches on the East coast, in areas where the Scottish aquaculture industry operates.

The assertion by SSPO [the Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation] that ‘the catch statistics show salmon farming has had no effect on wild salmon catches’ does not stand up to scrutiny. It is also apparent that the decline is greater for those areas whose juvenile fish have to swim past larger number of salmon farms in order to reach the open ocean”(5)

The fisheries scientists from Norway, Scotland and Ireland reviewed over 300 scientific publications on the damaging effects of sea lice on sea trout stocks in salmon farming areas to reach their conclusions.

So, Marine Harvest's plan to get ASC accreditation doesn't look good for their so-called 'profound' effect on their image. Fix the image, but not the problem. Sorry Jo Lunder et al, the scientists do not agree. Nor does anyone else.


Lice Out of Control in Scotland, Updated Dec 29, 2015

A study out in December 2015 points out that lice are beyond control of operators in most of Scotland and wild salmonids suffer, and are in need of urgent protection. They recommend public inspectors take over lice counts and that fish farms move to closed containment.

Read the PDF: http://www.salmon-trout.org/pdf/THE%20CONTROL%20OF%20SEA%20LICE%20S&TCS%20REPORT%20December%202015.pdf.

Here is part of the Executive Summary:

... little consideration is being given to the consequent negative effects on wild salmonids.

Where there is evidence of early harvest or culling out of farmed fish, this appears only to be associated with unacceptable damage being caused to the farmed fish, causing either commercial losses or animal welfare issues for the farmed fish, rather than this occurring in order to protect wild fish.

Action by Scottish Government is required urgently to address the sea lice issue as it affects wild fish. The major barrier to proper scrutiny of the fish farms - the lack of published farm-specific sea lice data - needs to be removed and further information concerning newer control methods for sea lice should be recorded and published to ensure that a complete picture is obtained of the sea lice control methods used.

The voluntary CoGP should be made a statutory code, as provided for in the 2007 Act, and an upper tier sea lice threshold should be introduced, above which an immediate cull or harvest of farmed fish is mandated. It should not be possible for fish-farmers, where sea lice numbers have effectively gone out of control on their farms, to assert that they remain in compliance with the CoGP merely because they have instigated treatment, regardless of its efficacy in reducing lice numbers. 2

The Scottish Government should amend legislation with the express purpose of protecting wild fish from potential damage caused by fish-farms, with inspectors given a legal duty to control sea lice on fish-farms expressly in order to protect wild fish populations. Those farms consistently failing to control sea lice should be identified for closure and / or relocation.

In parallel, Scottish Government should focus on alternative more sustainable production methods with the ultimate objective of moving to full closed containment of farmed salmon production in Scotland to eliminate the biological interaction between farmed and wild fish.

You will recall  from a post a week or so ago on fishfarmnews that Marine Harvest is going for ASC accreditation in Scotland and Norway, resulting, it thinks, in a 'profound' change for fish farms. Sorry Jo Lunder et al, it just ain't so. See my post: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2015/12/marine-harvest-fix-image-not-problem.html.

Not to mention that the Norwegian government is so angry with fish farms, about lice and other problems, that it is giving out free licences to get them out of the water and set up on land, a saving of $9 to $12-Million for on-land. See:  https://www.undercurrentnews.com/2015/12/11/norway-to-make-land-based-aquaculture-easier/?utm_source=Undercurrent+News+Alerts&utm_campaign=33b8782ce8-Salmon_roundup_Dec_11_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_feb55e2e23-33b8782ce8-92426209.

----

Here is a list of the chemicals used in Scotland to kill lice. Slice is used in BC, Cypermethrin is the illegal chemical that Cooke Aquaculture used for two years in Atlantic Canada - and paid a large fine of, as I recall, $500,000, which was far less, and no jail sentence, from the penalties that could have been handed out.

Azamethiphos is an organophosphorus pesticide, which works by interfering with the transmission of nerve impulses. It has been used in a spray form to control insects such as cockroaches and flies in buildings, warehouses and intensive farming installations10. Azamethiphos is highly toxic to birds and aquatic invertebrates and moderately toxic to fish11 .

Deltamethrin is a pyrethroid insecticide and is highly toxic to humans and other mammals and is a neurotoxin. It is relatively non-toxic to birds and earthworms although it presents a high risk to most aquatic organisms and honeybees12 .

Cypermethrin is an insecticide and is considered a serious marine pollutant. It is moderately toxic to mammals and there is some concern regarding its potential to bioaccumulate. It is highly toxic to most aquatic species and honeybees13 .

Emamectin benzoate [that is, SLICE] is a pesticide which works by interfering with nerve impulses in the body. It is used in agricultural settings to control insects amongst vegetable crops such as cabbage and broccoli and on cotton plants. Emamectin benzoate is toxic to birds, mammals, fish and other aquatic organisms (particularly those living on the sea bed)14 .

Teflubenzuron is used to control a wide range of insect pests and mites in fruit, vegetable, cereal and seed crops. It works by interfering with the synthesis of insect chitin, which is essential to their growth and development. Teflubenzuron is classed as having low toxicity for mammals, fish and birds. Other aquatic organisms (particularly crustaceans and those living in sediments) may however suffer adverse effects if exposed15 .

"These are administered either as a bath or in feed treatment. Bath treatments are applied using full enclosure, in a tarpaulin, at a marine cage site, or in a well-boat adjacent to the marine cages. Bath treatments include azamethiphos (Salmosan), deltamethrin (Alphamax), cypermethrin (Excis). Emamectin benzoate (Slice) or teflubenzuron (Calicide) can be administered as in-feed treatments. Hydrogen peroxide is also used to control sea lice as well as other diseases of farmed salmon, such as Amoebic Gill Disease."

Friday 11 December 2015

KEY Document: Tipping Point - Goodbye In-ocean Fish Farms, Hello On-Land Fish Farms, Updated Jan 24, 2016

It is hard to believe that this day would ever come, having watched the multi-billion dollar Marine Harvest, Cermaq and Grieg Seafood, simply push their way into all the pristine oceans on earth and soil them for so long, to finally say, and they will no doubt not agree, but that the world is on the tipping point, even though it will take these companies a decade of death throws to die or change, that the beginning of the end for in-ocean fish farms has finally come.

They have soiled Norway, the Shetlands, Faroes, Ireland, Scotland, England, Chile, Canada East and Canada West (Canada is so big it is more than two countries). And more oceans are soiled with Norwegian-style industry: NZ, Tasmania, Australia, the Balkans, Russia, the rest of Europe. And then there are the African and Asian countries, too warm for salmon like Vietnam, Thailand, then China, Korea... and the rest that are polluting their own oceans with salmon or other fish and crustaceans.

The saddest place of them all is that the industry is currently pushing into pristine Patagonia, a touchwood place for all of North America, because the rest of Chile is so soiled with fish farm disease, lice, escapes and sewage, they need new areas to despoil. These are euphemistically referred to as sanitary problems.

As everyone who reads this site knows, I have found 127 different fish farms systems on land, comprising more than 10,000 actual on-land fish farms around the world on land. But Norway and its Norwegian style fish farms have steadily refused to come out of the water. See: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2012/01/key-document-34-mostly-on-land-closed.html.

But finally the world is moving on from Norway and its people who have given the rest of the world a method of farming that ruins the very water it enters. And those of us who fight the fight do so on behalf of our own countries, our own pristine water, our own wild Pacific salmon, our aboriginals and their 10,000 year way of living with the ocean and salmon.

I estimate some 73 million wild salmon - before fisheries in saltwater - put at risk in BC alone, compared with only 170,000 at-ocean Atlantic salmon in the rest of the country.

BC has 99.8% of all the wild salmon in Canada, six eastern provinces, only a very small .2%. And those of us who give our time to this cause will just keep on fighting it. I make no money doing this, it is all for standing up for wild Pacific salmon.

Enough of that, let's move on to why we are at a tipping point. On the above link are a half dozen papers on how on-land farms cost less and make more money than in-ocean whose chief benefit is to release their sewage into everyone else's water, and don't want to have to stop that free externality. And on-land farms are cheaper, the Kuterra on-land fish farm on Vancouver Island, cost a small $7.6 Million. Compare this with the in-ocean, auctioned licence cost in Norway of $9 - $12 million - that's before even purchasing paper clips for the office, or even having an office in Norway.

Two pieces of the puzzle fell into place from the four global fish farm newsletters that I scan every day for clues.

The first one is that Norway is so mad at the lice problems, the disease, fraudulent activities and the soiling of its own waters that it finally, after several decades of the companies just making things worse, has told them it will grant free licences to set up on land. (a 60- to 80-million Kroner cost in saltwater)

See: https://www.undercurrentnews.com/2015/12/11/norway-to-make-land-based-aquaculture-easier/?utm_source=Undercurrent+News+Alerts&utm_campaign=33b8782ce8-Salmon_roundup_Dec_11_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_feb55e2e23-33b8782ce8-92426209.

Even the Norwegian government wants Marine Harvest, Cermaq, Grief Seafood and the rest to come out of the water.  Their own water is spoiled - more fish farm sewage flows into the ocean than the entire human population of Norway - and there is far less damage to put farms on land and deal with the sewage and eliminate all the other problems: the lice, disease, antibiotics,  peroxide, killing of seals with a bullet in the head, and all the rest.

The Norwegian government realizes that the rest of the world is just moving right on by, putting in on-land structures. More and more these structures are being built in the major market areas, and this eliminates transportation issues, exchange rate issues, tariffs, and the other costs. Norwegian companies have to come out of the water or lose their markets.

Consumers, more and more, are against in-ocean farmed fish, and will no longer buy it. This is around the world. This will become zero sales for Marine Harvest, Cermaq and Grieg Seafood when the on-land farms set up in Los Angeles, Buenos Ares and the rest.

Norway got out of a 26% tariff in the USA last year (but there are other tariffs out there, and Russia, a real big market, has refused Norwegian salmon), but they can't send fresh product daily into New York, or Taiwan, or Beijing and all the rest. Companies setting up in the markets on land will simply render the old-tech dinosaurs, the Norwegian companies, as obsolete relics to the dump.

The second reason I think we are at the tipping point, is comments from the Deloitte Powerpoint document put out by Anders Milde Gjendemsjo, in Norway, in the past few months. It is a costing document for in-ocean, partly on land, and all on land, that you will find a direct link to in the 127 on-land link above. (I got a copy from Anders and read it a few months ago).

But today in global fish farm news, Gjendemsjo, had much to say. Here is a partial quote:

"Through detailed calculations, Deloitte disagree with these arguments [that on-land is too costly]. We have looked at the production and investment cost for both traditional open pen farming and land based farming in RAS. The calculations shows an estimated production cost per kilo at 26,50 NOK for the traditional production regime with smolts transferred to sea at 100 grams. The interesting result is that the estimated production cost on land is nearly the same, at 26,75 NOK per kilo."

There are more figures for you to look at, so do read this piece. Here is a further quote:

"With regards to investments, a production of 5000 metric tons of salmon in open pen cages at sea, the cost is in the range of 325-400 million Norwegian Kroner. This includes four licenses with a market price of 60-80 million Norwegian Kroner. Looking at land based farming – where we assume that the licenses will be free – the investment cost of a correspon-ding production volume is estimated to be in the range of 300-450 million Norwegian Kroner.

With these figures in mind, prepare for an increase in the worlds salmon production, not at sea but on land."

So, Anders concludes that on-land is the future for fish farms. See: http://www.akvagroup.com/news/future-growth-in-salmon-farming.

Marine Harvest, Cermaq, Grieg Seafood and the rest can change or die. Just so you know these same companies are ramping up to make big time growth in BC, right now, and instead of coming out of the water, they want to put more 'farms' in our pristine ocean. So, the fight just goes on. In their own country, Norway, in-ocean is toast, but Norwegians are still trying to further foul other people's oceans. Sad but true. I sure hope I don't have to do this for another 10 years.

As we know, in Canada, 'Canada is back', in Trudeau's phrase. We can only hope that the conflicted department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada will be changed, and we end this industry soon. I will be getting in touch with him and Minister Hunter Tootoo, too. Please send a note yourself.

You can reach the office of Justin Trudeau at justin.trudeau@parl.gc.ca. All federal MPs have the same root to their email at Parliament in Ottawa. 

If Norwegian fish farms are going to be on land in their own country, Norway, why the heck are Marine Harvest, Cermaq and Grieg Seafood still in Canadian water in BC, and Atlantic Canada? 

Here is another list on the environmental damage caused, and illegal actions, resulting in jail sentences by fish farms, mostly in Norway: http://alexandramorton.typepad.com/alexandra_morton/2015/11/international-salmon-farming-news-fraud-cheating-fines-prison.html.

And, finally, go look at this list of News Bites on fish farm/seafood issues around the world, including that Fredrikson, CEO, Jo Lunder - the company that owns Marine Harvest - was sentenced to six months in jail for corruption. It is item 129 on this list. I think you will be shocked:  http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2015/07/key-document-fish-farm-news-bites.html. I have found more than 260 problems in the global press in the last six months. Hard to believe.

Out of the water, or out of business.

Tuesday 8 December 2015

Marine Harvest - Fixes the Image, Not the Problem, Updated Dec 18, 2015

Marine Harvest et al, are having a deuce of a time with lice in Norway, and have just been excoriated in the press over the well-boat dumping of peroxide into the ocean - a chemical to kill lice - for the past 30 years. You can have Google translate this Norwegian press for you: https://www.dn.no/nyheter/naringsliv/2015/12/06/2052/Havbruk/dumper-kjemikalier-uten-tillatelse.

It is pretty raking text regarding the industry and the government. A Norwegian lawyer thinks fishermen can sue for loss of shrimp and fisheries - an issue, here in BC (the new Grieg Seafood licences for instance, for which they offered shrimp fishermen money in compensation).

And the CEO of Fredriksen, the company that owns Marine Harvest, has just been jailed for corruption, item 129 on this list of more thant 200 article links: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2015/07/key-document-fish-farm-news-bites.html.

The rest of the list details the problems with fish farms and seafood industry, including, fraudulent reporting of lice and jail sentences for that, boom bust industry, job losses, carnivorous takeovers, diseases, lice, killing of seals, and so on. The problem is fish farms being in the ocean in open nets. The solution is to put fish farms on land, and, voila, no lice, no disease, no dead fish, no sewage, no peroxide, no antibiotics and no dead, shot-in-the-head seals.

Ignoring all the evidence, Marine Harvest chooses to fix the image, not the problem. You see, MH is seeking ASC accreditation for its Norway operations.

Here is their spin:  "Marine Harvest will initially roll out certification against the ASC standard of their salmon farms in Norway and Scotland in cooperation with WWF. The company said it is an important step for the farmed salmon market and will have a profound effect on the industry by introducing and standardising best practices for responsible farming practices on a global scale." 

See: http://www.seafoodnews.com/Story/1000935/81870/Marine-Harvest-is-Largest-Salmon-Producer-to-Commit-to-Certifying-its-Global-Operations-Against-ASC

Profound effect? I doubt that. In fact it will have no effect, or a negative one. People who have to live with fish farms overwhelmingly reject them. The global news gets out to consumers who have been turning their backs on farmed fish all around the world. The on-land, near market farms will likely kill in-ocean open-net farms in the next decade because of lower transport costs, and avoidance of tariffs will give them enough margin to make more money. And supply a fresh product.

Back to the ASCs. As the ASCs allow in-ocean fish farms, they are not a valid accreditation. Such orgs as Greenpeace, David Suzuki Foundation, Sea Watch and Monterrey Bay Aquarium don't credit in-ocean farms. So Marine Harvest's fix is just not going to fix the problem - so it will persist. They are just trying to fix their image. More and more, consumers just don't buy it.

The Skuna Bay fish farm in Nootka Sound BC did the 'we are organic' routine, though, as an in-ocean fish farm, it was leaching out chemicals, lice, disease, sewage and was also done for killing the unheard of number of 65 seals in its net, netting a fine of $100,000. What are they doing with this in-ocean problem? They, too, are image fixing, sending employees across North America selling to chefs as organic. My article on the US Open Tennis tournament being gullible enough to accept at face value what they were sold is one of the high traffic articles on this site. The link is in September: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2015/09/skuna-bay-sells-farmed-salmon-to.html.

Just go look at the list of problems with fish farms I have found in the past five months. I think you will be shocked. See: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2015/07/key-document-fish-farm-news-bites.html.

And just look at this Dec 11 news: even the Norwegian government is going to give out free on-land fish farm licences because of lice, environmental damage, and getting fish farms out of the ocean they use as a free, open sewer: https://www.undercurrentnews.com/2015/12/11/norway-to-make-land-based-aquaculture-easier/?utm_source=Undercurrent+News+Alerts&utm_campaign=33b8782ce8-Salmon_roundup_Dec_11_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_feb55e2e23-33b8782ce8-92426209.

So why is Marine Harvest fixing its image when it can fix the problem and get out of the ocean for free? The government also notes that other countries are getting ahead in the on-land bandwagon, leaving Marine Harvest, Cermaq and Grieg Seafood in the dust.






Sunday 6 December 2015

Monsanto, Marine Harvest, Cermaq, Grieg Seafood, Big Tobacco, is There any Difference?, Updated, Dec8, 2015

Of great surprise, a coalition of ENGOs, scientists, lawyers and individuals just initiated action to take Monsanto to the world court in the Hague in 2016 for crimes against humanity.

Just announced at the time of the Paris climate change initiative, Dec 2015, the substance of the case is that Monsanto's business practices, media and government manipulation, its products, for example, Round Up, Agent Orange (yes, from Vietnam), PCBs and its GMO seeds for single-crop farming, have caused great damage to the environment, the world, the soil and to humans themselves that is criminal in nature.

This is one news document on the subject: http://sustainablepulse.com/2015/12/03/monsanto-put-on-trial-for-crimes-against-humanity-in-the-hague/#.VmSyX7iDGkr. Read it and come back here.

I was struck by the similarity between what is suggested of Monsanto and what was suggested against the global fish farm industry, the multi-national, multi-billion dollar companies, typified by Marine Harvest, Cermaq and Grieg Seafood, after it neutralized a January 9, 2004 article in Science that determined farmed salmon have high levels of cancer-causing chemicals (largely because of fish meal in fish feed).

When I finished reading the document, I realized I would never again believe anything said by a fish farm company again, unless I ground-proofed it first.

This is that document: https://www.academia.edu/2939514/Spinning_farmed_salmon. Like Big Tobacco, that didn't know cigarettes caused cancer a good score of years after everyone else on the planet did, the fish farms went after the Hites et al group, Albany, New York, and did what it took to discredit the research. The David Miller article reads like a Hollywood thriller, very hard to believe an actual company doing such things in the real world, not on screen.

This is the Science article that was neutralized: http://www.albany.edu/ihe/salmonstudy/salmon_study.pdf.

The Hites group have gone on to publish a decade worth of articles on the high level of persistent organic pollutants (including, like Monsanto, PCBs), cancer causing and other chemicals in farmed fish. Last year, Norwegian doctors and researchers were warning Norwegians not to eat farmed fish because of the chemicals. See my index for www.fishfarmnews.blogspot.com to find documents: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2014/10/index-to-wwwfishfarmnewsblogspotcom.html.

In both the Monsanto and fish farm case, the documents suggest a high level of collusion and willingness to win for big dollars at any cost; the part of this story that hadn't fallen into place for me, is whether fish farms currently have problems with their public image, like in 2004.

I started listing articles that came my way into a post. I receive four fish farm international newsletters every day, some with 50 stories to scan, as well as two summaries weekly, and two other ENGO summaries weekly, too. In other words, I am up on the global news - every day.

You go look at this post and see if you are not shocked by the illegal, fraudulent, boom/bust industry activities that the fish farm and seafood industry has around the world. My list is only  five months of 2015, but go look and scan a list of almost 200 articles I give you links to.

To give you an example, the CEO of Fredriksen, the company that owns Marine Harvest, was sentenced to six months in jail recently for fraud/corruption. This is item 129, the CEO is: Jo Lunder.

I am not making this up. Just go look at the list, and reach your own conclusions about fish farms. I think you will be shocked and start thinking that the Monsanto connection and its 'crimes against humanity' isn't such a stretch. See: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2015/07/key-document-fish-farm-news-bites.html.


Just in, an article that claims there is much in error in the case against Monsanto. You may want to read it too: http://www.forbes.com/sites/kavinsenapathy/2015/12/07/no-monsanto-is-not-going-on-trial-for-crimes-against-humanity/.

Also just in, an article on using peroxide to kill lice in Norway, is far more damaging to the environment than keeping fish on land and that the government has known about this for 30 years. You can have Google translate it for you: https://www.dn.no/nyheter/naringsliv/2015/12/06/2052/Havbruk/dumper-kjemikalier-uten-tillatelse. A Norwegian lawyer thinks fishermen can sue for loss of shrimp and fisheries.

Wednesday 2 December 2015

Nordlaks - Fish Farm Ship Mega-Sewage Problem - Norway, Updated Dec 5, 2015

There is something odd about Norwegians. They can divest from oil, but they can't seem to understand that polluting the ocean with fish farm sewage is not on for the rest of the world.

The rest of the world is in Paris trying to come to some agreement on solving climate change for the entire planet because our lives depend upon it. But Norway just keeps on pumping out more and more sewage into the world's oceans, reducing our ocean's ability to deal with methane, carbon, greater eutrophication, nitrogen and phosphorous, among other pollutants.

Nordlaks is bringing on stream a ship to ride the open sea, releasing 330% more pollution than the typical in-ocean farm of 600,000 fish - Nordlaks ship will hold 2 Million fish - and it thinks this is sustainability. Their plan should be on the negotiation table in Paris, and eliminated before they get finished building the ships.

Instead of closed containment on land, they propose more than tripling the sewage load from fish farms. Hard to understand. Here is a link: https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1880129387856188740#editor/target=post;postID=4171086541691897566;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=0;src=postname.

And here is a quote from the article:

"One Havfarm will be able to contain 10,000 tons of salmon – over 2 million fish. For comparison, the Nordlaks salmon slaughterhouse at Børøya produces 70,000 tons a year. The facilities will be able to withstand a significant wave height of ten metres, and can be raised by four metres during inclement weather. The ocean farm itself will extend ten metres below sea level. The farm will be constructed as a steel frame for six “cages” measuring 50 by 50 metres on the surface, with aquaculture nets going to a depth of 60 metres."

And:
"Because steel louse skirts at a depth of ten metres will make sea lice history. When the Havfarm lays at anchor, the spreading area for waste products will be 27 times larger than it would be for ordinary pens, a massive 472,000 square metres. To the extent lice may appear on the salmon, the farm can facilitate the manual removal of sea lice. This also provides a totally chemical-free production. The use of chemicals to remove lice has been a much-debated environmental issue, and has been a major expense for the industry as well. This will change the direction of the aquaculture industry, which has been struggling due to such issues."
For those who want to look at what the rest of the world is doing, this link has 122 on-land fish farm systems on it, comprising more than 10,000 actual farms on land around the world: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2012/01/key-document-34-mostly-on-land-closed.html.
Norway is now the old-tech dinosaur, and sadly for the rest of the planet, is watching the rest of the world move on while it ramps up its climate change fish farms. This should not happen.


Finally, each ship will cost 600 - 700 Million NOK, at Dec 4 exchange rate of .16 K/$,  is $96- to $112-million Canadian. When you consider that the Kuterra, BC on-land plant cost $7.6 Million, that means each ship that could be avoided, would result in 12.6 to 14.7 on-land fish farms in BC, Canada, or for the three almost half of the entire operating in-ocean fish farms in BC, i.e., 37.8 to 44.1, but on-land where the world wants sewage dealt with, not adding to climate change.

We need Norwegians on the side of getting rid of climate change, not making it worse. 

This just in from Huffington Post: 'While marches in the rest of the world largely targeted the fossil fuel industry, in B.C., salmon farming is viewed as our own version of the tar sands, as despised as big oil.'


As despised as big oil, says it all. Norway needs to wake up and get the climate change fish farms out of the water.

This just in: Monasanto is being taken to court for crimes against humanity for its role in climate change. I wonder whether fish farms will be charged during the Paris climate change negotiations for their role in polluting the ocean?. See: http://sustainablepulse.com/2015/12/03/monsanto-put-on-trial-for-crimes-against-humanity-in-the-hague/#.VmP_friDGkr.






Wednesday 25 November 2015

Minister Tootoo - Bob Chamberlin - Get Fish Frms out of the Pristine BC Ocean, Updated Dec 27, 2015

Read it for yourself, Bob Chamberlin, a spokesman for BC First Nations, telling Minister Tootoo that fish farms have to be taken out of the ocean that they use as a free, open sewer and be put on land. See: http://www.northeastnews.ca/open-letter-to-minister-tootoo/
Dear Minister Tootoo,
The First Nations Wild Salmon Alliance is writing to request an urgent meeting between the DFO and the First Nations Wild Salmon Alliance (FNWSA) regarding the minimal returns of this year’s wild salmon runs in BC, the proposed and existing risks to wild salmon habitat, and the implementation of the Cohen Commission recommendations.
By way of background, the FNWSA seeks to bring First Nations together to speak with a common voice for the protection and conservation and enhancement of wild salmon throughout British Columbia. The FNWSA will work to conserve wild salmon, and advocate and support recovery and restoration.
The FNWSA is extremely disappointed and frustrated by the state of BC’s wild salmon stocks and the inaction of federal and provincial authorities to enact the recommendations and Calls-to-Action of the Cohen Commission of Inquiry into the Decline of Sockeye Salmon in the Fraser River.
Wild salmon are integral to many First Nations’ cultures, well being and livelihood, and the protection of our wild salmon stocks is equally integral to the economic and environmental sustainability of the province and country as a whole.
This year, only an estimated two million sockeye have returned to the Fraser River, far short of the more than six million predicted in preseason forecasts. There is an even further dramatic collapse of the pink salmon fishery, with only an estimated five million fish returning when more than 14 million had been forecast.
These drastic shortfalls are even more alarming given that the BC Ministry of Environment recently provided Taseko with permission to increase its discharge of tailings into the Fraser River by more than 50 per cent at the Gibraltar Mine near Williams Lake, which could lead to even further shortfalls in coming years.
Further to the increase of industrial effluents into critical wild salmon habitat we are also baring witness to the BC Ministry of Agriculture’s approval of four new fish farm tenures, despite the Cohen Commission’s recommendation to develop new citing criteria and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans continual promotion of the open- pen fish farm operations of BC’s coastline, including the proposed expansion of the Maude Island site, facility number 869, from 860 t to 2640 t. These operations have determined negative consequences on wild salmon.
It is clear to the FNWSA that immediate action must be taken to protect our wild salmon for the benefit of all British Columbians and Canadians. A moratorium on the expansion of all finfish aquaculture ventures along the BC coast needs to be implemented until further evidence is gathered on the negative impacts these installations have on our wild salmon. This year’s runs have made it abundantly clear that our wild salmon stocks are in grave danger, and require immediate action to preserve their habitat.
The First Nations Wild Salmon Alliance is calling on the federal government and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, to meet with the FNWSA to discuss the current state of wild salmon stocks, and to discuss the enactment of the Cohen Commission recommendations to safeguard our wild salmon.
Given the urgency of this issue, we look forward to your prompt response.
Sincerely,
Chief Bob Chamberlin, Chair
The First Nations Wild salmon Alliance

Friday 20 November 2015

KEY Document - Fish Feed Sustainability - Check Back - Fish Gut Bacteria

One of the finite parameters of fish farm sustainability has always been the amount of forage, feed fish in the oceans. There hasn't been enough to sustain supplies, and fish farms have contributed to fishing down stocks of fish such as menhaden, mackerel, anchovy and so on around the world.

Then there is the real issue that forage fish should be made into human food, for third world countries, not ground up to feed carnivores sold to first world customers who can afford this wasteful process of using fish protein to make fish protein. Tut, tut.

The reality is that fish feed made of fish is dramatically on the decline. For example, the jack mackerel stocks off Chile and Peru have been decimated so much by Norwegian fish farms and other companies that stocks have collapsed. While there was only one Norwegian ship in the past year fishing there, the rest of the boats were catching what remained to feed to shrimp in Asian countries.

Not sustainable, and not for human consumption.

By the way, there is so much disease and other issues in tropical fish farms, I would not eat the shrimp and so on and suggest you do the same. One practice has chickens raised in cages above the fish. Their sewage drops into the fish ponds as food.

Here is a good current article on the issues: http://impactalpha.com/what-to-feed-the-fish/.

There are issues with plant based feed like soy, such as GMO problems, deforestation and throwing of indigenous people off their land, and so on.

I will shortly be reviewing the scientific research into gut bacteria of Atlantic salmon. The purpose is to make them able to digest vegetarian diets and thus move to a non-fish diet that has much more scope for greater amount of cheaper feed. A good idea.

Scotland researchers published their work in a recent issue of Nature: http://www.nature.com/ismej/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ismej2015189a.html.

It is important work and I suggest you read it. I will tell you more shortly.

"This week, researcher Dr. Martin Llewellyn (Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow) and co-workers in Ireland, Scotland, Canada, USA and Wales took a first step towards understanding the role of salmon gut bacteria in salmon health."



Wednesday 18 November 2015

Indigenous People Unite to get Fish Farms Out of Their and Our Oceans, Updated Jan 15, 2016

First Nation's members, in a growing movement of international aboriginals, aim to get fish farms out of the pristine oceans they use as free, open sewers.

Clayoquot Sound Ahousaht First Nation is taking its petition to Norway to link up with the Sami, Norway's indigenous people to stand together to make Marine Harvest, Cermaq, Grieg Seafood and other Norwegian fish farms to get out of the ocean and farm on land, or in closed containment.

Take a look at this long blog post on the Clayoquot Action site: http://clayoquotaction.org/category/salmon-farming-2/.

The BC group could use your help in funding their historic, January trip to Norway, to meet at the Sami summit and then on to Bergen to present their petition to the government to divest from 'dirty' salmon feedlots, just as Norwegians did with oil.

This is the beginning of a global movement by indigenous people to get fish farms out of the ocean. There are indigenous people in Finland, Chile and other countries.

You may know that Norwegian fish farms companies forever changed the aboriginal people of Chile, by bringing in employment, then ISA that destroyed a quarter of a billion farmed salmon and threw all these people out of jobs, 13,000 to 26,000 of them.

Now, Chile is the acknowledged dirtiest country for fish farms in the world - diseases, lice, escapes, sewage damage, excessive antibiotics. Just a few months ago, in Torbel, a fish farm was not allowed in the water, to save tourism. The pristine Patagonia is being filled with fish farm sewage. And now, the Chilean fish farms, to address Costco's refusal to sell their product, are now manufacturing the advertising spin of: from Patagonia to your plate.

I think that consumers in the developed world will find this a most unappealing concept: that fish farms are busily destroying one of the most revered, pristine areas left in the world.

Friday 13 November 2015

Nova Scotia Public Rejects In-ocean Fish Farms, Updated Dec 24, 2015


As I have said before, people who have to live with fish farms come to overwhelmingly reject them. In BC, 110,000 people have signed a petition for the BC Government not to issue licences and to get fish farms out of the water: https://www.change.org/p/restore-wild-salmon-ban-salmon-feedlots-in-bc.

Now it's the public of Nova Scotia that rejects fish farms. They are particularly unhappy with the new weaker laws governing fish farms. See: http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/1322086-open-process-sought-in-aquaculture-rules.

My list of on-land fish farms systems now stand at 122, comprising more than 10,000 actual farms, so fish farms claiming it won't work are disingenuous. We need our governments, like what is done in Denmark and Finland, to put fish farms on land, so they don't use our pristine ocean as free, open sewers. See: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2012/01/key-document-34-mostly-on-land-closed.html

In Nova Scotia, it wasn't long ago that fish farms were crowing about transparency in the new laws that in essence put all the decision-making in their hands.See the Chronicle Herald newspaper: http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/1322086-open-process-sought-in-aquaculture-rules

But non-transparency is precisely the issue: East Coast Environmmental Law in Halifax says that 'openness and transparency are staples missing from the Nova Scotia government's new aquaculture regulations.' These come after the federal government severely relaxed its own regulations of Aquaculture.

And the law charity points out: "One of the main conclusions the panel made [an independent panel] that reported on the over all issue, was you either implement it all or you're not going to get social licence from the people of Nova Scotia."

Aaron Ward went on to say that: "many groups have agreed to put aside their continued calls for such a moratorium if the panel recommendations are implemented in full." As this is not happening, the NS public wants them out of the water.

Ward said a problem is that "industry members are only required to provide basic information through what the province refers to as proactive disclosure. He said the province also fails to provide an instrument to request the revocation of a licence from repeat offenders

When a fish farm company like Marine Harvest, Cermaq and Grieg Seafood, trumpets their transparency, say no, and refer them to this story, and my posts on the Cohen Commission. See the index for this site in October of 2014: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2014/10/key-document-index-to.html






Wednesday 11 November 2015

On land Fish Farm Costs - $1.56 Billion Subsidy to Use BC as a Free Open Sewer - Updated, Dec 4, 2015

You'll love the first paragraph of the Aquabest analysis of on-land fish farm costs. It looked at the Danish Model Trout Farm model, adapted to the Baltic region of Finland.

 "Environmental policy goals to decrease nutrient emissions have led to stagnated fish production in the Baltic Sea Region (BSR). Fish products are imported into BSR to meet the demand, while environmental consequences are externalized to those regions that produce the fish consumed in the BSR. To switch this trend, BSR aquaculture must adopt new sustainable practices and technologies, and introduce regulation that encourages the development and use of abatement measures."

The PDF is: http://www.aquabestproject.eu/media/14594/aquabest_24_2014_report.pdf.

In otherwords, Finland is not going to allow fish farm sewage in its waters. 'Nutrient emissions' is the amusing euphemism for fish sewage. So they imported product from Norway et al instead. In another euphemism, the sewage load is 'externalized to those regions that produce fish' meaning Finland was going to make Norway ruin its pristine ocean waters with sewage because it wasn't going to do the same stupid thing in Finland.

'Abatement measures' for the sewage means on-land fish farms. In other words, it was not going to let fish farms use its ocean as a free, open sewer, just as I have been saying is the biggest reason that fish farms aren't going to come out of the ocean without our governments pulling them out. They just let their sewage float away.

But not in Finland. Not any more at any rate. Fish farms are going to be RAS - recirculating aquaculture systems, on land, and deal with their sewage.

The strength of this paper, which I suggest you do read, is that it has the nitty gritty costs all laid out and added up for you. It compares in-ocean, part in- and out-, and fully on-land, for raising rainbow trout for market, at a size of 500 grams, and comments on 1 kg. And also suggests application to salmon - while costs rise, larger fish produce more revenue.

Most of the time when fish farm companies say it is too costly, they don't tell you what costs they are talking about. They say land and hydro and salaries. But they are talking about Norway, where there is no land. BC has plenty of dirt-cheap land to pick up, Canada being the country with great big land in this world. Norway is tiny and 44% mountains and 1190 fjords as much as 4000 metres deep.

And in BC, hydro costs are low. And when Marine Harvest, or Cermaq or Grieg Seafood tells you that salaries are high, they seldom point out that Norway is 30% higher than nearby UK. The latter they readily admit, but ignore these differences when talking about Canada, they just roll the Norwegian figures out and say it is too expensive.

The other thing is that the government of Norway has started is making companies bid in auctions for licences -because they are so unhappy with lice counts primarily. Well there is so much money in fish farming that licences are going for 60- to 80-million Krone each (Formerly, the government price was $1.69M). That is $9 to $12 million on Nov 13 exchange rate of 1K to .15 CDN$.

In BC because the licence fee is a measly $5000, that means we are subsidizing fish farms to the tune of, get this, $1.56 Billion, to use our oceans as a free open sewer. The calculation is $12M X 130 farm licences = $1.56 Billion. The figure is stunning.

Monday 9 November 2015

Kristi Miller, DFO Scientists Allowed to Speak Under Trudeau Government

During the Cohen Commission on collapse of the Fraser River sockeye run, the Harper, Conservative Government muzzled government scientists, including Kristi Miller at the biological station in Nanaimo, BC.

She was told her paper on her viral signature work - phenotype work, rather than genotype, meaning what the fish looked like, its symptoms and which disease that that represented - could not be spoken about. Many scientists quit, and she considered it.

On the stand, if you read the third section, on disease, she is quoted as saying she found HSMI and ISA in Clayoquot Sound chinook farms. And the Sound, a Unesco Biosphere no less, wild salmon are pretty much extinct since 22 fish farms are in operation in a non-flushing sound. There are only 501 chinook in six streams. The Kennedy Lake sockeye run, once the second largest on Vancouver Island, was fished down and has never recovered during the period that fish farms have been in Clayoquot.

Little wonder.

The Trudeau government has opened the door and Miller, along with other scientists are now allowed to speak independently of the government. Here is an article that notes her response to the new freedom that she and others find themselves in: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/krist-miller-scientist-dfo-muzzled-1.3308549.

That means her new genomic work on wild and farmed salmon that Miller is the lead scientist in will allow her to speak, in a process that is stacked against wild Pacific salmon by having fish farm representatives on the committee to parse news releases, and DFO, which continues in a conflict of interest with fish farms. They won't have the last word. Thank you Justin Trudeau.

Thank you for putting an aboriginal in as the new Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Canada.Now, let's follow the Cohen recommendation that DFO be stripped of its role of supporting fish farms and simply get on with protecting wild Pacific salmon.

Friday 6 November 2015

Fish Farm Sewage - More than the Entire Human Population of Norway, Updated Jan 17, 2017

The sewage on the bottom of the ocean in Norway from fish farms is the equivalent of 17 million people: http://www.nrk.no/trondelag/far-torsk-som-har-beitet-pa-avforing-1.12638144.

As the population of Norway is only 8 Million people, that means fish farms put more sewage on the bottom of the ocean than 213% of the people in Norway, more than twice as much.

Looked at another way, Norway's human population would have to grow 9 million people more to equal the sewage under the fish farms.

But there is another way of looking at this. Sewage includes all the sewage released into the water column plus the remainder that ends up on the bottom. A way to calculate a conservative estimate is, at the accepted equivalent of 10 fish equal the sewage of 1 human, a conservative 1000 farms, and a conservative 500,000 fish per farm. The calculation is: 1000 X 500,000/10 = 50,000,000 humans.

In other words, the conservative estimate of the total sewage load from all the fish farms in Norway, is the equivalent of 50 million people, some 625% more than there are right now.

Note the article references 'researchers' who are not concerned. My response is: are they conflicted with fish farms? The fishermen say that fish eat the sewage and are so foul they would not eat them, or catch them to sell at market to humans.

Little wonder why those citizens who have to live with fish farms overwhelmingly reject them. You will recall the 110,000 British Columbians who signed a petition to stop expansion of fish farms in BC and get the farms out of the water. See: http://alexandramorton.typepad.com/alexandra_morton/2015/05/on-may-8-2010-i-helped-lead-the-final-steps-of-the-get-out-migration-a-6-day-walk-down-vancouver-island-to-victoria-th.html.

Thursday 5 November 2015

Alexandra Morton - Summary Video of Fish Farm Companies Problems, Mostly Norweigian

For a good, quick summary of current fish farm issues, watch this video by Alexandra Monton. It is good and covers a lot of different problems: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFyehEwSZ8k&feature=youtu.be.

Then go and look at my News Bits and Bites. I read four fish farm global newsletters every day, and decided to do a post of quick links to problems. I am very taken aback by the many issues that happen around the world every day - a lot of carnivorous and illegal activities. See: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2015/07/key-document-fish-farm-news-bites.html.

As of November 5, 2015, there are more than 129 quick links, from the past several months.

Here is a new one: http://www.dn.no/nyheter/naringsliv/2015/10/23/1140/lakselus/tidenes-strengeste-laksedom#. A fish farm CEO was sentenced to six months in jail in Norway for illegally reporting false lice numbers. Former CEO Egil Johansen of farming company Nord Senja Laks.

And then a Nov 5 post shows that Jo Lunder, CEO of Fredrikson Group was just charged with corruption. Fredriksen Group CEO Arrested, Charged with Corruption - FG Owns Marine Harvest. See: http://splash247.com/fredriksen-group-ceo-held-by-police-in-norway/.

So, on the one hand we have a long list of illegal activities, boom bust cycles and so on. And on the other, we have DFO's take on current lice reporting. Does this make DFO sound naive? See: http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/aquaculture/reporting-rapports/lice-pou-eng.html. It should do independent audits, but it really doesn't have enough Conservation and Protection staff to do the job.

Tuesday 27 October 2015

Are Any Aquaculture Awards/Benchmarks Valid? - Updated July 1, 2018

There are a proliferation of award and certification schemes in the world: the BAPs, GSSI, MSC, ASC, Greenpeace, Seafood Watch, WWF and the rest.

For a good high level look at the differences, in purposes, stock abundance, funding and so on, take a look at this discussion by Ray Hillborn from U of Washington:

Comment by Ray Hilborn, University of Washington (@hilbornr)

Where is the science in seafood sustainability and certification? 
It is about money and values – science has been largely lost
Date Oct 22, 2015, and the site is: http://cfooduw.org/
***********
Here is an update to 2018 on problems with the MSC, the best of the bunch:  https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2018/06/managing-steelhead-into-extinction-bob.html.

Friday 23 October 2015

The Environmental Promises of the Government of Canada

West Coast Environmental Law has summarized the buchering of environmental laws in the past decade by the Conservative government in Ottawa, and given the platforms of the major parties: http://wcel.org/resources/environmental-law-alert/what-canadas-new-government-means?utm_source=LEB.

If you look to the index to this site in October 2014 as well as the 2015 documents on legal changes to weaken environmental law you will find many of the same topics: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2014/10/index-to-wwwfishfarmnewsblogspotcom.html.

Go read the Context part of the summary if you don't have time for the entire article. I would like you to hear their take, as lawyers, and environmental lawyers, in their own words.

After the economy, the environment was the most important issue to Canadians in this recent election. That's how much Canadians care.

Here is what our new PM, needs to do first:

Justin Trudeau

It is important to make the next Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Canada be from BC.

Gail Shea and eastern ministers do not get the importance of salmon to BC.  You have lived here, so you know.

The numbers are staggering: only 170,000 second winter Atlantic salmon in six provinces versus 73,000,000 of five Pacific salmons species in BC.

99.8% of all salmon are from BC. In the half of the country with Atlantic Salmon there are only .2% of all the salmon

Please appoint the Minister of FOC from BC.

Thank you.

DC Reid

Friday 16 October 2015

KEY Document - Eliminating Fish Farms from Our Pristine Oceans, Now

Some milestone information has fallen into place regarding getting fish farms out of our pristine ocean in BC:

1. The public overwhelmingly rejects in-ocean fish farms.

In BC more than 110,000 people have signed a petition to get fish farms out of the ocean: See: https://www.change.org/p/restore-wild-salmon-ban-salmon-feedlots-in-bc.

2. There are more than 100 on-land fish farm systems operating around the world, comprising more than 10,000 actual fish farms on land.

Hence, there is no more reason for in-ocean fish farms to damage our pristine oceans that they use as free, open sewers. The sewage cost in BC, I estimate at $10.4 Billion. The public doesn't want to pay.

See: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2012/01/key-document-34-mostly-on-land-closed.html.

3. The fish seafood industry is a boom bust, multi-billion dollar, unsustainable form of business, characterized by cartel formation, disease propagation, many illegal activities and, most importantly, sewage production.

Cruise this list of more than 175 problems that I have put together in less than 3 months. These are news stories that appear in the global press every day. I think you will be taken aback by this list. I am.

See: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2015/07/key-document-fish-farm-news-bites.html.

Now:

Okay, politicians, where is the Beef on getting fish farms out of the ocean and put on land, or they can go back to Norway? After all, there are only 800 actual jobs in the BC industry, and only a $61.9 Million contribution to the BC economy, while sport, commercial and processing are 10 times larger at over $600 Million contribution to GPP.

Of the following list only Elizabeth May has a policy to get fish farms out of the ocean. Shame on the rest of the politicians:

Christy Clark, Premier of BC, Canada
Stephen Harper, federal Conservative leader.
Thomas Mulcair, federal NDP leader
Justin Trudeau, federal Liberal leader.
Elizabeth May, federal Green Party leader.

Monday 21 September 2015

Fish Farms Negative to BC Economy - Updated Sept 27, 2015

I have pointed out for years, that when sewage and other costs are taken into account, that fish farms are a negative on the economy. My estimate, for sewage in BC, is $10.4 Billion that we, taxpayers, absorb.

I did a lot of research into sewage around the world before being willing to believe my own estimate. Here is one of my articles that details the negative effects on BC's economy from fish farms: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2014/03/fish-farm-sewage-dfo-expansions-cost.html.

Look at the Index in October 2014 for past articles on sewage, or cruise 2015 for my articles on sewage cost in BC, as well as low or negative job effects and so on. For an article of mine that details the lopsided revenue picture, with wild fish revenue towering over farmed fish: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2015/05/salmonfishing-revenue-towers-over.html.

Here is an article that gives you more references to follow up on the negative costs of fish farming on the economy. It is vastly negative in BC, on sewage cost alone. And the BC Stats article that compares the fishing sectors, noted that all of aquaculture is worth only $61.9 M to the economy while the commercial, processing and sport sector are more than $600 M economic effect, fully 90% of all activity surrounding the fish resource. (For the BC Stats Report: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2013/02/sport-fishing-how-we-tack-up-feb-6-2013.html).

When the heavy environmental damage they cause is taken into account, fish farming operations often are found to generate more costs than revenues.
One study found that aquaculture in Sweden’s coastal waters “is not only ecologically but also economically unsustainable.” Another report concluded that fish farming in a Chinese lake is an “economically irrational choice from the perspective of the whole society, with an unequal tradeoff between environmental costs and economic benefits.” Simply put, aquaculture drives heavy ecological harms and these cost society money. In the U.S., fish farming drives hidden costs of roughly $700 million each year – or half the annual production value of fish farming operations.

Farmed Atlantic Salmon Should Not be Eaten - Norwegian Scientists, Doctors Say - Updated Oct 14, 2015

The following article link is a a really good one and I think that anyone who has eaten or is considering eating farmed fish should reconsider, and not buy it.

The health problems with eating farmed salmon started in 2004 with a Science article Jan 9, 2004 by the Hites group from Albany University. The fish farm industry literally went after the group to neutralize the article. I read the Spinwatch article on what they did and it was the beginning of my not believing anything a fish farm company says without ground proofing it myself. Look in the index for this site in October 2014. It will lead you to the Hites article and the Spinwatch piece by David Miller, UK.

The Hites group has published several articles in the past ten years on the organic and cancer-causing chemicals in farmed salmon.

In 2014, Norwegian scientists and doctors warned Norwegians not to eat farmed salmon, particularly women and children.

Go read for yourself: http://worldtruth.tv/norwegian-scientists-warn-against-eating-farmed-salmon-everything-you-need-to-know-about-farmed-fish/.

Despite this, Stephen Harper, Justin Trudeau and Thomas Mulcair will not take fish farms out of the ocean and put them on land. Elizabeth May will take fish farms out of the water.

Friday 18 September 2015

Cermaq Site in Clayoquot Sound Closed by Ahousaht Protest

Fantastic news. The Yaakswiis fish farm slated for Clayoquot Sound has to be removed because of the Ahousaht First Nation protest at the site. (See Lennie John video below).

This is a first in Canada: a site closed. It is hard not to say WOW when you have been following global news on fish farms daily for many years. I also read four newsletters daily and thousands of pages of science every year on fish farm environmental damage.

This is the fist time I have ever heard of a site being closed! Fish farms would eat their arms off before giving up a site. And several weeks ago in Chile, the Tortel region, also had a fish farm turned down. Perhaps, finally, the people have done what politicians can’t bring themselves to do: side with the people, who, where they have to live with fish farms, overwhelmingly reject them.

And to the 110,000 British Columbians who signed a petition to get fish farms out of the water (and that Christy Clark originally ignored), thank you. See: https://www.change.org/p/restore-wild-salmon-ban-salmon-feedlots-in-bc.

Now the Green Party will get fish farms out of the water. The Conservatives won’t and they are losing votes over this, along with the Liberals and NDP who have refused to answer the call. You are losing votes.

This is a big victory, and it’s now time to get the other 21 fish farms out of the non-flushing Clayoquot Sound, and put them on land. The Sound is a UN Biosphere no less.

Here is the video of Lennie John describing the end of Yaakswiis fish farm site: https://vimeo.com/139758043.

Here is the link to a letter to the Norwegian people asking them to divest of fish farms: https://www.change.org/p/to-the-citizens-of-norway-divest-from-dirty-salmon.

Thursday 17 September 2015

Russia: Fish Farm Pollution in Russia, Kills Wild Salmon, Pollutes Ocean, Company Denies Everything

A news update on the dumping of rotten salmon in Murmansk, Russia. This includes infected wild salmon in local rivers. Russian Aquaculture denies this. See: http://barentsobserver.com/en/business/2015/09/dumped-salmon-points-perverted-industry-08-09?utm_source=Watershed+Watch+Email+List&utm_campaign=350cc33fca-Salmon_News_Sept_16_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_405944b1b5-350cc33fca-166907249 .

The disease is: lethal fungal infection Saprolegnia.  “The proportions of this outbreak can only be called an ecological catastophe”, a news report from the Murmansk-based Arctic TV says. And: "The company, which over the last years has massively developed fish farming in regional fjords, among them the Pechenga Bay near the border to Norway, has far too much fish in their cages, the website reports."

"In early summer, a major number of fish escaped from a facility operated by the company. The infection could now pose a serious threat also to salmon in neighboring Norway."

And what does the company say?  “With full certainty, I can say that we have never registered a single case of this kind of infection in our facilities”, spokesperson Ilya Bereznyuk underlines to newspaper Gazeta.ru."

Fish farm companies always deny a problem, but disease, for instance, is reported everywhere fish farms set up shop, for example, Norway, Russia, Scotland, Atlantic Canada, BC Canada, Chile and others. Chile is widely seen as the most polluted fish farm country in the world, but my estimate is that in BC the sewage cost is $10.4 Billion, just like in other countries where fish farm sewage exceeds the sewage load of all the humans in the country, for example, Scotland and Norway, itself.

The index to this site in October 2014 gives you the references to check for yourself::  http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2014/10/key-document-index-to.html. And I will post an updated index for this site in December for 2015.


Tuesday 15 September 2015

BC First Nations Take on the Court Battle to get Cermaq, Marine Harvest and Grieg Seafood Fish Farms out of Ocean

The Ahousaht First Nation has stood up and refused to allow another Cermaq fish farm in the poorly flushing sound of Clayoquot, as has the residents of Tortel, Chile, along with Nova Scotians demanding that fish farms be taken out of the ocean:  http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2015/09/ahousaht-first-nation-stands-up-to.html.

Now, the aboriginal chiefs of BC are taking action in court with the goal of taking all fish farms out of the ocean in BC for good. Link to come:

As mentioned previously, people who have to live with fish farms overwhelmingly reject them.

Friday 11 September 2015

Ahousaht First Nation Stands Up to Foreign Multinational Cermaq, and Stephen Harper, Chilean Residents Take on Cermaq and Win, Nova Scotians Boycott Farmed Fish In Stores, Updated Sep 14, 2015

Well, finally, someone has said no to more fish farms in Clayoquot Sound, BC. The Ahousaht First Nation has blockaded the site - the 22nd  fish farm in a non-flushing Sound. If you have been to Ahousaht, it is clear that it needs major support from our BC and federal government, not fish farms that destroy their food resources.

Clayoquot Sound has only 501 wild chinook left in six rivers. There should be no fish farms here. During Cohen Commission hearings, Dr. Kristi Miller said 25% of farmed fish, in this case chinook, had diseases. Some 125,000 per farm. With 65 billion viruses being released per hour during an infection at each infection site, it is not hard to see why local wild BC salmon can't survive with fry having to swim through disease at an early stage in their lives.

The Kennedy Lake sockeye run, decimated by DFO commercial authorized fishing, was wiped out in the 1990s and has never returned during the time that fish farms have been in Clayoquot Sound. This is not right.

Good luck Ahousaht for standing up on behalf of all British Columbians and for all wild Pacific salmon. I hope this becomes an election issue, which it should have been in the last election.

Here is a news report from CTV: http://vancouverisland.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=701676.

And here is some breaking news from Chile: http://oceana.org/blog/ceo-note-expansion-harmful-salmon-farms-stopped-chilean-patagonia-community.

The problems they note are the same ones in BC, Scotland, Ireland, Tasmania, Norway, around the world really:

"Current practices employed in Chile’s salmon farms pollute the environment, destabilize traditional fisheries and harm populations of native species. Aquaculture facilities can be significant sources of pollution with excess feed, fish waste and dead fish dispersing into the surrounding environment. Captive salmon also often escape into the environment, where they can spread disease and prey on native populations.  The process of feeding farmed salmon is highly problematic. According to most estimates, it takes between three to five pounds of wild-caught Chilean Jack Mackerel, anchoveta, sardines, and other smaller species or forage fish ground into fish meal to produce one pound of farmed salmon. This practice wastes countless healthy seafood meals (which could be eaten directly in the form of these smaller fish) and has led to the overfishing of forage fish. 
Chile’s salmon industry is notorious for its increasingly excessive use of antibiotics to fight off bacteria and disease that threaten the stock. Antibiotic use rose 25 percent from 2013 to 2014 alone, according to government data, reaching a world record of 536,200 kg of antibiotics by the whole industry only in 2014. Norway, the main producer of farmed salmon in the world uses less than 1,000 kg a year. While Chilean officials maintain that quantities of antibiotics used are safe for human consumption, there’s widespread concern that overuse may cause human antibiotic resistance and harm marine environments.  Such concern has prompted several prominent companies in the U.S. food industry, including Costco Wholesale Corp., Whole Foods Market Inc. and Trader Joe’s, to partially or entirely phase out Chilean farm salmon, according to Reuters."
Here is my comment for the Chileans: Thank you for having the fortitude to take on the Norwegian multinationals, and the Chilean authorities. The problems you note are the same ones around the world and here in BC Canada. The same movement is happening today in BC, with the Ahousaht First Nations blocking Cermaq (from Norway) from opening the 22nd farm in their territory. See: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2015/09/ahousaht-first-nation-stands-up-to.html

September 14, Nova Scotians Boycott Fish Farm Fish

Now, at the same time there are significant protests and progress eliminating in-ocean fish farms in BC and Chile, Nova Scotians are darn mad, too.

See:http://www.thechronicleherald.ca/letters/1310567-reader%E2%80%99s-corner-boycott-open-pen-fish-farming-products#.VfbNqaalmvg.facebook

" What is being done about the Doelle-Lahey report? Two lawyers pocketed a significant amount of taxpayers’ dollars to relay what every coastal resident already knew about the disastrous pollution, disease and poisons of ocean-based fish farms, seemingly to have their findings shelved by the Liberals. Doelle-Lahey insisted that all of the recommendations must be adopted to make the industry environmentally sustainable."