Trudeau Government in Court over Fish Farm Diseases - Updated Jan 18, 2017

Things are not going well for Justin Trudeau, Dominic LeBlanc and the Trudeau government, being taken to court by Ecojustice.

"Canada's minister of fisheries and oceans is breaking the law by not testing BC farmed salmon for a virus before allowing them to be transferred into ocean pens alongside wild fish, according to environmental NGO Ecojustice"

Do look back at my post on PRV and GD Marty's disease testing text: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2016/10/prv-present-in-80.html.

LeBlanc, as DFO minister, is required to ensure that farmed fish are not put in the ocean carrying disease, and that 80% of farmed fish have PRV makes it next to impossible to ensure disease that wild salmon can catch is not put in the ocean.

Ecojustice states that Leblanc refuses to test farmed fish for piscine reovirus (PRV) the likely cause of HSMI (heart and skeletal muscle inflammation).

"In my opinion, this course of action is illegal and could lead to irreparable damage to British Columbia’s wild salmon stocks," says Ecojustice, on behalf of Alex Morton. The lawsuit seeks a court order "to force the minister to comply with fishery regulations, and apply the precautionary principle when approving fish transfer licences."

You will recall that this is pretty close to the Coehn recommendation that unless there is clear proof to the contrary, that fish farms in the Discovery Islands should come out of the water by 2020. And in May of 2016, the Trudeau government revealed that HSMI had been found on BC fish farms.

See: https://www.undercurrentnews.com/2016/10/13/ecojustice-files-lawsuit-against-canadian-fisheries-minister-over-salmon-farms/?utm_source=Undercurrent+News+Alerts&utm_campaign=0c9827f231-Americas_briefing_Oct_13_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_feb55e2e23-0c9827f231-92426209.

Wild salmon with PRV/HSMI would find it extremely difficult to capture prey, swim upstream and spawn or escape predators. Not to mention Kristi Miller's viral signature work: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2016/10/viral-signature-fraser-sockeye-dr.html.


Last year, Ecojustice was successful in a case that prevented DFO from delegating transfer of diseased farmed fish to fish farms.

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Here is new information added Jan 18, 2017 on the court cases:

"Salmon farms are starring in four lawsuits distributed across federal and BC provincial courts and these are exposing the ribs, backbone and sheer size of the thing that has been crawling around out of sight under government protection. Now we are getting a glimpse of what has been loosed onto this coast. 

Lawsuit #1 - In 2015, DFO was found in violation of the Fisheries Act for permitting transfer of farm salmon that could be carrying diseases into sea pens.  In a 2015 ruling - DFO was ordered to test for disease.

Lawsuit #2 - DFO and Marine Harvest joined forces to appeal lawsuit #1, presumably so the industry could continue transferring disease-carrying farm fish into wild fish habitat, this appeal stands in a state of limbo as DFO paused it back in May, but now refuses to bring it to trial or drop it.

Lawsuit #3 I sued the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans for ignoring lawsuit #1, thus breaking the law and putting wild salmon at risk. Not testing for disease benefits the three Norwegians who are the salmon farming industry in BC, and is not in public interest.

Lawsuit #4 Marine Harvest sues me, John and Jane Doe and all other persons unknown to the plaintiff occupying, obstructing, blocking, or physically impeding the plaintiff’s aquaculture sites for trespass and nuisance.

Apparently Lawsuit #1 is a showstopper for the salmon farming industry. By all accounts most of their fish are infected with piscine reovirus and thus if they can't put them into sea pens on the BC coast, they really can not farm salmon legally in BC."

See:  http://alexandramorton.typepad.com/alexandra_morton/2016/11/response-to-marine-harvest-slapp.html.