I have just sent this note to DFO minister Dominic LeBlanc. When he responds, I'll let you know what he says, and then pick that response apart. I have been putting the stats together for a long time, and as below, in-ocean fish farms make no environmental nor economic sense.
This email was sent to LeBlanc, Justin Trudeau, Elizabeth May, Todd Doherty, Fin Donnelly, Andrew Weaver, the CBC and Alex Morton who is suing DFO on behalf of BC:
Hi Dominic LeBlanc/Justin Trudeau
Why are you allowing Marine Harvest/Cermaq/Grieg Seafood to
put diseased (PRV/HSMI) farmed fish in BC waters? Why do you have to be sued to
make you protect Pacific salmon? See: http://alexandramorton.typepad.com/alexandra_morton/2017/07/fighting-to-stop-infected-farm-salmon.html.
Global citizens stand against in-ocean fish farms; they are
a dinosaur technology and need to be on land. See: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2017/05/global-citizens-call-for-on-land-fish.html.
I have a list of 189 on-land fish farm systems around the
world, comprising almost 20,000 actual on-land farms. Why are you fighting
against BC wild salmon and our ocean?. Even Norway no longer allows new fish
farms in the ocean. See: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2016/05/152-different-on-land-fish-farm-systems.html.
One recent, on-land farm, Atlantic Sapphire in Florida, at
90,000 tonnes, is going to wipe out Canadian industry sales to the USA. See: http://www.atlanticsapphire.com/.
And, it is item 166 on my BAD NEWS BITES post: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2017/05/bad-news-bites-fifth-post.html.
Yes, I have found more than 1,800 bad news stories about the fish farm/seafood
industry.
I want you to answer: why do you have to be sued to stop
diseased Atlantic Salmon being released into the Pacific Ocean?
Please be specific in your response. Don’t come back with
the jobs and revenue spin. I have the numbers on those, too, and it is clear
that in-ocean fish farms make neither environmental nor economic sense.
Thanks
DC Reid
www.saanichinletangling.blogspot.ca
Just in a response by Eco-justice to Dominic Leblanc on PRV:
Go look at it: https://www.support.ecojustice.ca/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1943&ea.campaign.id=65485&ea.tracking.id=FacebookAd.
Just in a response by Eco-justice to Dominic Leblanc on PRV:
Go look at it: https://www.support.ecojustice.ca/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1943&ea.campaign.id=65485&ea.tracking.id=FacebookAd.
B.C.’s wild salmon need your help.
The federal government has long dismissed concerns about piscine reovirus
(PRV) — a highly-contagious virus that has infected 80 per cent of B.C.
farm salmon — insisting it will not harm wild salmon. But recent
research suggests otherwise.
In March 2017, a federal scientist
confirmed that the virus appears to cause the disease heart and skeletal
muscle inflammation (HSMI)1.
The heart damage caused by HSMI would be a death sentence to wild
salmon – as they must be supreme athletes to catch prey, escape
predators, and swim upstream to spawn.
Despite this alarming discovery, Minister
of Fisheries and Oceans Dominic LeBlanc outright refuses to test farm
fish for PRV before allowing them to be transferred into ocean pens
where they are infecting wild salmon.
This puts wild salmon at enormous risk.
Not too long ago, the Cohen Commission, the $36-million federal inquiry
into the 2009 collapse of Fraser sockeye, concluded that farm fish can
spread infectious disease to wild fish2.
Not only does Minister LeBlanc’s refusal to test farm fish for PRV run
counter to government’s promises to act on Cohen Commission’s
recommendations to protect wild salmon, it undermines this government's
commitments to:
• Take a precautionary approach to managing wild fish stocks 3
• Use scientific evidence 4
• Respect Indigenous rights and culture 5
• Use scientific evidence 4
• Respect Indigenous rights and culture 5
Last fall’s wild sockeye salmon run was the lowest in recorded history. Now is the time for action.
Tell Minister LeBlanc to step up and protect wild salmon today!
***
See also, in the BAD NEWS BITES: 249. DFO Sued - BC, for allowing diseased fish in the ocean: https://www.ecojustice.ca/case/government-oversight-of-fish-farms/. "On May 6, 2015, the Federal Court struck down the aquaculture licence conditions that allowed Marine Harvest to decide whether to transfer fish infected with viruses into open pens in the ocean. The Court rejected DFO’s argument that its licence conditions were based on sound science about HSMI or other fish diseases, finding there was no evidence that DFO relies on science in issuing aquaculture licences. Instead, after noting that “the weight of the expert evidence before this Court supports the view that PRV is the viral precursor to HSMI,” the Court accepted that transfers of farmed salmon infected with viruses like PRV may be harmful to the protection and conservation of fish – and thus contrary to the law. DFO and Marine Harvest have since appealed the decision.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans and Marine Harvest appealed the 2015 decision, but adjourned the appeal days before the hearing, in May 2016, when a federal scientist announced that HSMI had been detected on a fish farm in B.C. Despite this recently published research, the Minister refuses to enforce testing for farm salmon prior to transfer into sea pens on wild salmon migration routes." The DFO scientist is Kristi Miller. The quote is from an Ecojustice post.
***
See also, in the BAD NEWS BITES: 249. DFO Sued - BC, for allowing diseased fish in the ocean: https://www.ecojustice.ca/case/government-oversight-of-fish-farms/. "On May 6, 2015, the Federal Court struck down the aquaculture licence conditions that allowed Marine Harvest to decide whether to transfer fish infected with viruses into open pens in the ocean. The Court rejected DFO’s argument that its licence conditions were based on sound science about HSMI or other fish diseases, finding there was no evidence that DFO relies on science in issuing aquaculture licences. Instead, after noting that “the weight of the expert evidence before this Court supports the view that PRV is the viral precursor to HSMI,” the Court accepted that transfers of farmed salmon infected with viruses like PRV may be harmful to the protection and conservation of fish – and thus contrary to the law. DFO and Marine Harvest have since appealed the decision.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans and Marine Harvest appealed the 2015 decision, but adjourned the appeal days before the hearing, in May 2016, when a federal scientist announced that HSMI had been detected on a fish farm in B.C. Despite this recently published research, the Minister refuses to enforce testing for farm salmon prior to transfer into sea pens on wild salmon migration routes." The DFO scientist is Kristi Miller. The quote is from an Ecojustice post.
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