Monday 27 June 2016

Ottawa Fisheries Critic MPs - Mel Arnold, Elizabeth May, Fin Donnelly

Hi Mel, Elizabeth, Fin

Nice to meet you in Ottawa on the weekend.

[I met with them because I was the lucky recipient of the national, Roderick Haig-Brown Award for environmental writing, and my on-going work on analysis of fish farm problems. I was flown to Ottawa to receive it].

The four major problems with wild salmon are: DFO, habitat restoration, fish farms and climate change.

In BC, DFO – in Ottawa – is seen as perhaps the most important problem in dealing with BC wild salmon.

Here is a post on the Ottawa staff being the problem: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2016/06/dfo-is-problem-with-salmon-in-bc-dfo.html. You will note the unwillingness to do anything about Cohen, or make the legal changes. You might want to get on Watershed Watch’s email list, as well as West Coast Environmental Law.

Changing the laws back from what Harper did is the current issue. Here is a news article: http://www.nationalobserver.com/2016/06/20/news/liberal-ministers-announce-steps-fix-harpers-environmental-overhaul?utm_source=Watershed+Watch+Email+List&utm_campaign=b2c93002e2-Salmon_News_June_24_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_405944b1b5-b2c93002e2-214661381. You will note it says little about salmon – that’s a legitimate, major complaint.

Here is a post on the legal changes that are required: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2015/07/stephen-harper-government-eliminates.html. It gives a link to the Huffington Post’s list of 17. My list of 9 law changes that need rectifying is: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2014/12/summary-fish-farm-environmental-laws.html.

The most important thing is for DFO to be stripped of its conflict of interest of supporting fish farms as well as wild salmon. Cohen said it should only do the Wild Salmon Policy and wild salmon. Conflict goes back 40 years in Norway, as government and industry act together to make more fish farm money/business, but as I have said, Norway is so fed up with their sewage/pollution it is giving out free licences to set up on land, a $9- to $12-million subsidy representing the in-ocean, auction value of a licence. In BC, our licence cost is almost non-existent at $5,000.

In BC, the licence subsidy for Norwegian fish farms to use our ocean as a free open sewer is: $1.17- to $1.56-billion. And the sewage cost we bear is another $10.4-billion. The best stats, BC Stats, says that max revenue from fish farms is $469 million, and a small $61.9 Million contribution to GPP. I went out and found that actual employment is a very small 820 jobs. The multiplier figure for the rest of the fish sector is: 12,500 jobs. I also did major work to re-investigate the entire take from fish in fresh/salt. It is $2.52 Billion and the figure has already been published.


In other words, it makes no economic or environmental sense to leave fish farms in our water. They need to be on land or go back to Norway and set up on land because their own government is fed up with them. They also need to change fish to a vegetarian, so they are not liquidating the ocean’s small fish that Third World mouths should be eating, in order to feed fish only First World mouths can afford.

Let me know what other subjects you may have an interest in, or simply look at the blog: www.fishfarmnews.blogspot.com. There is an index in 2015: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2016/01/key-document-index-2015.html. It gives a link to a previous index of posts before 2014.

Dennis 

***
And check out the graphic on the chemicals in farmed salmon - only ten times the amounts found in other flesh-based food. I wouldn't eat one. And, yes, dioxins cause cancer.




Cohen Commission - BC Still Waiting for DFO to Wake Up - Post 3


These are the references for the previous portions of the Environmental Petition I lodged with the Auditor General for Canada.

This is the previous, second post: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2016/06/cohen-commission-bc-still-waiting-for_22.html.

This is the first post: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2016/06/cohen-commission-bc-still-waiting-for.html.
  1. References for the Times Colonist article:
DFO’s aquaculture initiative: The British Columbia Aquaculture Program: http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/rpp/2013-14/SO1/so-rs-1.3.2-eng.html.

Alex M`s blog: http://alexandramorton.typepad.com/alexandra_morton/2013/10/tracking-viruses-2013.html

Three volume Cohen report: http://www.cohencommission.ca/en/FinalReport/.

DFO regarding BC Aquaculture: http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/rpp/2013-14/SO1/so-rs-1.3.2-eng.html. Sub-program 1.3.2 - British Columbia Aquaculture Program
Performance Measure. By March 2014: A transparent regulatory regime for aquaculture in British Columbia and an Integrated Management Plan for finfish, and shellfish.

The PRV paper: http://www.virologyj.com/content/10/1/230.

Whole-genome analysis of piscine reovirus (PRV) shows PRV represents a new genus in family Reoviridae and its genome segment S1 sequences group it into two separate sub-genotypes
Molly JT Kibenge1†, Tokinori Iwamoto1†, Yingwei Wang2, Alexandra Morton3, Marcos G Godoy456 and Frederick SB Kibenge1*

Miller Summary on Watershed Watch: http://www.watershed-watch.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Exh-1523-CAN006145.pdf.
  1. Reference for BC Stats Report: BC Fisheries and Aquaculture Sector, 2012 Edition
Fish, Processing, Sport Fishing and Aquaculture Stats - Figures in Millions (and 2002 constant dollars, except for 2011 Revenue)

Commercial Processing Sport Aquaculture Total
Contribution to GDP, and % $102.3 (15.3%) $177.5 (26.6) $325.7 (48.8%) $61.9 (9.3%) $667.4
100%
% GDP 0.4%
Employment
(% of total)
1,400 (10.1%) 2,400 (17.3%) 8,400 (60.4%) 1,700 (12.2%) 13,900
100%
Wages and Salaries
% of Total
$78.4*
$8.4
2.2%
$105.3
$105.3
27.5%
$218.9
$218.9
57.1%
$55.7
$55.7
14.5%
 -
$383.3
100%
Total 2011 Revenue (increase/decrease) $344.8 (+4.1%) $427.5 (+2.1%) $936.5 (+0.8%) $469.0
(-12.2%)
$2,177.8
Revenue % of Total 15.8% 19.6% 43.0% 21.5% 100%
*Do note that Commercial employment and income is some $70 million higher than included in this table at $8.4 M because most fishermen are self-employed and technically this renders them not employees.
  1. Reference for fish farms reduce local wild fish stocks by 50%:
http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.0060033.



Thursday 23 June 2016

Fish Farm Sewage - Using the Ocean as a Free, Open Sewer - How bad is it?

Fish farms use the ocean as a free, open sewer. This is an externality in economics-speak. They get to pass their sewage out for free. If they were on land, they would have to find a way to use or dispose of their sewage. Since Canada is so dumb as to allow them to use our oceans for free, why would they ever move to closed containment?

Instead, we taxpayers shoulder/absorb their sewage cost - we pay the externality. In BC it is $10.4 Billion and their sewage is roughly the same as all the 4.6 million humans in BC produce in one year. (Look in the indexes on this site for links to my calculation). Fish farm sewage exceeds the population of most countries they operate in, for example, Scotland and Norway, the latter with 8 million people.

In Victoria, the same fish farm argument has been used to avoid treating sewage for far longer than should have been allowed. A Victoria Times Newspaper article by Ken Ashley of June 21, 2016 sheds light on the externality issue.



"...Victoria currently has only a rudimentary screening system in place. This would not be considered state-of-the-art, even in a developing country. The 1950s mantra of “the solution to pollution is dilution” would get you laughed out of any undergraduate civil-engineering classroom today. Today’s engineers are focused on resource recovery, zero sludge generation, cost recovery and reduced greenhouse-gas emissions."


In other words the fish farm waste released into the water column does not disappear, as fish farms claim, the pieces are just farther apart. 

Do they ever disappear? Ken says this: "This is also a false statement, as demonstrated by recent scientific publications from Washington state revealing that salmon populations are contaminated with a host of emerging and legacy contaminants, despite basic secondary sewage treatment at all nearby communities."

And what happens to those chemicals, antibiotics, PCBs, persistent organic pollutants? Well:

"Ecotoxicologists know that marine food-web biomagnification will reconcentrate legacy persistent organic pollutants such as PCBs and flame retardants to dangerous levels, thus invalidating the outdated “dilution-solution” mantra."

Farmed fish have all these chemicals in them. And the highest concentrations are around sewage treatment plants, for example, Iona, and, obviously, fish farms themselves.

Here are some of the new chemicals from sewage: ibuprofen, shampoos, fragrance compounds, anticoagulants, antidepressants, various endocrine-disrupting compounds, steroids, hormones, antimicrobial agents, veterinary and human antibiotics and, most recently, micro plastics. 

Yum. And that's why killer whales are so loaded with chemicals.

Are fish farm feces, food and chemicals dangerous? Well, recently it was pointed out that, well, yes wastewater is highly contaminated.

Ken: When Stanford University professor Perry McCarty, recipient of the prestigious 2007 Stockholm Water Prize, was asked: “What are the remaining challenges within wastewater and pollution to be tackled?” he replied: “Concerns with persistent organic pollutants, both in cleaning up the legacy problems with now banned chemicals and addressing the potential risk from new ones, is of ongoing and great concern.” 

And as we all know, sewage treatment plants are very expensive. We all know that the $783 million price tag for Victoria is likely to exceed $1B, so why do we want sewage in our ocean that costs megabucks to clean up?

The answer is: we don't. And why you might ask, are fish farm licenses only about $5,000 in BC, when in Norway, the same licenses for saltwater are $9- to $12-million at auction. This means we are subsidizing fish farms to the tune of $1.17- to $1.56-billion to enter our water for free, and then let their externality sewage, dead fish, viruses, and 'oils' just float away?

This doesn't make sense. So what is happening in Victoria, and BC? This: B.C.’s emerging tech sector is developing next-generation sewage treatment technologies, as evidenced by the rapid global growth of Vancouver’s Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies. 

And what is the solution, you ask? Well for fish farms to clean up their act. Ken says this about sewage: Wastewater is not a problem, it’s a resource, and the marine environment is not a waste dump.

Just as I have been saying for years. Thanks Ken, who is director of the Rivers Institute, British Columbia Institute of Technology.
Wastewater is not a problem, it’s a resource, and the marine environment is not a waste dump. - See more at: http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/op-ed/comment-science-flushes-away-sewage-dilution-theories-1.2283079#sthash.w64nY2GF.dpuf


These include ibuprofen, shampoos, fragrance compounds, anticoagulants, antidepressants, various endocrine-disrupting compounds, steroids, hormones, antimicrobial agents, veterinary and human antibiotics and, most recently, micro plastics. - See more at: http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/op-ed/comment-science-flushes-away-sewage-dilution-theories-1.2283079#sthash.w64nY2GF.dpuf





This is a false statement, as Victoria currently has only a rudimentary screening system in place. This would not be considered state-of-the-art, even in a developing country. The 1950s mantra of “the solution to pollution is dilution” would get you laughed out of any undergraduate civil-engineering classroom today. Today’s engineers are focused on resource recovery, zero sludge generation, cost recovery and reduced greenhouse-gas emissions. - See more at: http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/op-ed/comment-science-flushes-away-sewage-dilution-theories-1.2283079#sthash.w64nY2GF.dpuf
This is a false statement, as Victoria currently has only a rudimentary screening system in place. This would not be considered state-of-the-art, even in a developing country. The 1950s mantra of “the solution to pollution is dilution” would get you laughed out of any undergraduate civil-engineering classroom today. Today’s engineers are focused on resource recovery, zero sludge generation, cost recovery and reduced greenhouse-gas emissions. - See more at: http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/op-ed/comment-science-flushes-away-sewage-dilution-theories-1.2283079#sthash.w64nY2GF.dpuf