Furor in Newfoundland - Grieg Seafood Mega Farm

The Newfoundland public is overwhelmingly against in-ocean fish farms, and it looks like, again, in NL as in BC, Minister Hunter Tootoo, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are standing around doing nothing as citizens try to reduce damage to the Canadian environment on their own. Not good.

Take a look at this strongly worded article:  http://www.nationalobserver.com/2016/03/16/news/fish-farm-proposal-sparks-furor-newfoundland.

And remember that those who love Canada's wilderness and wild fish go to the e-270 Petition on the Federal Government's site to sign against in-ocean fish farms and for on-land fish farms - this is a Liberal MP sponsored petition. As of April 22, almost 6500 Canadians have signed against fish farms: https://petitions.parl.gc.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-270.Stand up for wild fish, the ocean and the environment.

That is what is needed in NL Not mega farms. Here is an updated article from Ap 22, 2016:

April 20, 2016, 10:22 pm 

Undercurrent News

 

Norway-based Grieg Group and Canada's Ocean Choice International have signed a memorandum of understanding with the government of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador to establish a salmon farm in the province.

The salmon farm, the plan for which was first announced in October 2015, will be established in the Placentia Bay and Burin Peninsula area of Newfoundland and will be the "world's largest land-based fish farm" and will produce over 7,000 metric tons of medium-sized salmon annually, according to a letter from Per Grieg, Jr.

After the fish are grown to full size in the sea cages in Placentia Bay, the total production is planned to reach 30,000t. The companies expect to deliver the first fish to market in 2019, according to the letter from Grieg, who's family is also the main shareholder in salmon farming group Grieg Seafood.
The company admitted that establishing a salmon farm in the area has been a controversial topic, but said that the project will follow the Norwegian model where "the industry uses large resources to avoid negative incidences".

Comment: It is surprising that Grieg says what it knows to be untrue. The recent book by Kjersti Sanvik details the drastic environmental damage caused by it and other companies in Norway, and the conflict of interest between private and public and science in the country.

It is quite shocking. The several decade long experience is that once the companies become listed on stock exchanges and thus responsible to shareholders, they argue again and again against government attempts to get them to do the right thing.

In fact, right now the same companies, including Grieg Seafood, are being offered free licenses to set up on land in Norway, a $9- to $12-million subsidy per license, based on the in-ocean price, because Norway is fed up with the in-ocean degradation. And the companies are trying to snap up offshore licenses because there isn't much the public can do about a 'farm' they can't see. In other words, they don't want to come out of the water.

There are several posts from Sandvik's book on this site. Here is one to get you going: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2016/04/under-surface-kjersti-sandvik-6.html. I will do more. Glydendal is the publisher and if you speak Norwegian, and stand for wild fish and the environment, buy it.

Here is the litany of problems with Canadian Cooke Aquaculture that operates in NL and other places: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2016/04/cooke-aquaculture-typical.html.

And go look at my News Bites article that documents the problems with fish farms/seafood industry around the globe, some 410 problems so far this year, including Grief Seafood: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2015/07/key-document-fish-farm-news-bites.html.