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/. 
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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.

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

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.