We are now at a point that I thought was only a matter of time to get to: once fish farms have killed off all the fish in the ocean, what do we do then? The ramifications are very broad - and we are now there. This is bad.
You will remember that The Sea Around Us group at UBC did the most fundamental, 60 year, global study on ocean forage fish killed to feed farmed fish: http://www.seaaroundus.org/doc/publications/books-and-reports/2016/End_Use_Reconstruction_Report.pdf.
What they found was that: '19 of 20 global forage fish stocks are either collapsing, poorly managed or both.'
The Sea Around Us singled out Norway for having destroyed the Jack Mackerel off Chile. Now, the industry is destroying the anchovetta off Peru.
And remember that those 19 fed the entire ocean food web, as well as Asia where they don't do reduction fisheries (or didn't, as they are now mopping up the anchovetta off Peru) for non-human consumption. Mostly humans eat them, the only real use for killing fish needed by the ocean food networks.
But fish farms have depleted those 19 stocks in less than 50 years to provide farmed salmon for first world mouths. That is reprehensible, and the 20th stock, Antarctica krill, isn't even a fish, and they are being ripped from the sea right now.
So, we are now at the penultimate moment in the non-sustainability of the fish farm industry's fish feed industry. At this point, past the tipping point, the California conference on seafood had some working sessions of industry people.
The fish farm/seafood industry's take on the problems they caused reads like Armageddon of the Sea. From Intrafish: https://www.intrafish.com/events/1705513/f3-what-happens-to-aquaculture-if-we-run-out-of-forage-fish?utm_source=IntraFish+Aquaculture+Newsletter&utm_campaign=d4f2e9028f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_02_20_12_00&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_ec4b681694-d4f2e9028f-244877629.
Here is what industry management has to say about killing off all the fish:
War: Countries facing food security issues as a result of the
disappearance of forage fish sources would seek to protect the resources
they have. Other countries presumably could battle for access to other
nation’s resources. [Yes, global warfare is one possible outcome. Do remember we are talking about farmed fish feed that fish farms have killed off all those global stocks - that should have been for people, if they were caught at all.]
Increase in use of agricultural raw materials: Efforts could focus on ways to use trimming and other resources from agriculture animals. [Trimming is communications speak for fish guts, offal, brains, fish skins, scales, chicken feathers, yes, chicken feathers, and so on, maybe cow guts, brains, chicken guts, lambs wool... ]
Ecosystem imbalance or collapse: Without feeder fish in the marine ecosystem, a massive collapse of the environment could result, affecting all fish. [Yes, the fish farms are saying they have caused a 'massive collapse'. This collapse will have been caused by the Norwegian-style fish farm industry, having killed off all those stocks in less than 50 years.]
Genetics: The loss of forage fish could lead to a massive investment in genetics to solve the problem.[Sure, get back to me when you have invested trillions to 'solve genetics' rather than raising vegetarians.]
Farming forage fish: Can we figure out a way to farm forage fish, many of the groups asked. [So after you killed them all off to feed farmed fish, you want to farm all the forage fish you killed off? I don't think so.]
Prices: Increase in seafood prices for both farmed and wild fish. [Duhh, and what about all those billions of third world humans who don't have food anymore and can't afford farmed fish?]
Regulations: New regulations affecting capture fisheries and aquaculture could evolve. [After fish farms killed off all the fish. Disgraceful.]
Should we eat fish at all: There could be a change in the perspective of all fish as a food source. [Really, I'd say that on-land fish farming of vegetarians and Alaska ocean-ranching of wild salmon may be the outcome, even though Alaska has chosen to push out billions of pink and sockeye fry and accept the pollution to wild salmon genetics. Or do we not want any kind of salmon anymore?]
This is where we are today: less 50 years after the Norwegians had their 'Blue Revolution' the whole experiment ends up on the rubbish tip as the English say.
It didn't have to come to this. Herbivores, like tilapia, have always been the answer to this rapacious industry. And there are chickens, cows, sheep... .
***
And the news today? That fish farms are being investigated for price
fixing and cartel formation. These Norwegian companies operate in
Canada, in BC. Why are they here? Go to my current BAD NEWS BITES post
for the items around number 200: https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2018/12/bad-news-bites-global-problems-in-fish.html.
They left Norway looking for lower legal standards. And ended up in Chile, Scotland, England, Shetlands, Ireland, west coast Canana, east coast Canada, WA, USA where they are being closed. Disgraceful. Disgraceful.
Wednesday 20 February 2019
Thursday 14 February 2019
BC Says NO to In-ocean Fish Farms - Can You Hear Us In Ottawa?? - Updated March 24, 2019
Hi Jonathan Wilkinson (min@dfo-mpo.gc.ca)
You liberals need to wake up.
BC residents value wild salmon as highly as Quebec does
French. How come, as a BC resident, you don’t know this?
I have a new post on the avalanche of global news on on-land
fish farm development around the world – almost 100 entries so far: https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2018/11/links-to-on-land-closed-containment.html.
In-ocean is old tech, and the US market is going to be taken over by its
upcoming on-land farms: Atlantic Sapphire, Nordic Aquafarms, Whole Oceans and
Aquabanc - 218,000mt more than double the BC industry. Then there is the PE group aiming for 260,000mt around the world, starting in China, Italy, France and the USA. And
my list has all these and far more, now 271 on land fish farms systems around the
world: https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2016/05/152-different-on-land-fish-farm-systems.html.
Yet, you are so clued out, based in Ottawa, that you have
forgotten how much BC hates in-ocean fish farms:
https://www.undercurrentnews.com/2019/02/14/canadas-wilkinson-eager-for-study-to-help-direct-british-columbias-aquaculture-path/?utm_source=Undercurrent+News+Alerts&utm_campaign=500e18cd0a-Americas_briefing_Feb_14_2019&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_feb55e2e23-500e18cd0a-92426209.
There is no such thing as closed containment in the ocean, and off shore just
causes massive eutrophication of the entire world’s oceans, farms tripling in
size. My calculation is that the BC industry has cost us taxpayers $10.4
Billion already in sewage cost. Wake up.
Put a fish farm in the Rideau Canal in Ottawa and see how long it is until you hate it. Wake up.
Put a fish farm in the Rideau Canal in Ottawa and see how long it is until you hate it. Wake up.
Remember that you bought the KM pipeline with our billions
of dollars, something you will get badly dinged for in the upcoming election.
No wonder Justin is holding off on this one until afterwards.
You also fired Jody Wilson-Reybould, which is just as bad.
Now Justin is wearing the issue having stated she had an obligation to tell
him. Talk about trying to turn the situation on its head.
You need a good news story: Wilkinson Backs On-land Fish
Farms in BC, why you can even write it based on the 60 posts in the first link
above. You may even save your bacon, er, fillet.
And you blew the announcement with Horgan of $143M for wild salmon, saying, vaguely, that you support science, for continuing fish farms, but no specific amount of $$ for wild salmon habitat restoration. Why not?
And you blew the announcement with Horgan of $143M for wild salmon, saying, vaguely, that you support science, for continuing fish farms, but no specific amount of $$ for wild salmon habitat restoration. Why not?
DC Reid
***
Take a look at Alex Morton summing up the court decision against DFO in the PRV situation, even though Jon says PRV ain't a problem: https://www.facebook.com/alexandra.morton.1671/videos/2398538087041405/.
***
Take a look at Alex Morton summing up the court decision against DFO in the PRV situation, even though Jon says PRV ain't a problem: https://www.facebook.com/alexandra.morton.1671/videos/2398538087041405/.
Thursday 7 February 2019
Fish Farms Spread Viruses Around the World - Kibenge, Di Cicco, Miller
Fish farms don't seem to think there are any diseases that they have had a hand in infecting the world's oceans with. They look at disease as something bad that nature does to them, and the viruses have no relation to them and their spread around the world.
That, of course, is the communication's spin they have been using for 50 years. And, of course, the obvious rejoinder is that if you are complaining about nature doing something to you, you have the situation backwards. You need to make a change, not argue against nature. And the obvious solution - wait for it, you'll never guess - is: put fish farms on land.
Now, Kibenge, at PEI, who used to be the OIE's accredited lab for aquaculture diseases has come up with a review paper that brings together the viruses that the industry, typified by Mowi (Marine Harvest), Cermaq and Grieg, along with some others like Aquagen who took ISA to Chile, and the rest, like PRV to BC, has spread. There are a whole lot of new ones.
Kibenge is the poor chap who the DFO and CFIA went after and lobbied the OIE to take away his accreditation for being only one of two labs in the entire world to assess diseases in fish farms. Note that I have made numerous posts in the past month where I challenge DFO's claim that it follows 'evidence and science' in decision making. Well, this is another: going after Kibenge DFO wanted to control the narrative after it didn't like his Cohen Commission testimony. Science was completely disregarded.
Kibenge did a cut to the chase PowerPoint presentation some years ago that pointed out that one third to one half of the world's aqua crops [as in fish farms] are lost to disease. Here is a post I did on that which gives you a link to his document: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2012/12/key-document-global-fish-farm-diseases.html. It also has a list of more than 30 disease events around the world in fish farms.
This is a link to the post I discuss his presentation: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2011/10/isa-infections-world-wide-sine-1984.html. See under the table for link.
And this is the link directly to his PowerPoint presentation: http://www.oie.int/eng/A_aquatic/Docs/Presentations/1.11Kibenge.ppt.
Now, Kibenge has a new paper out on the global fish farm diseases: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1879625718301780?via%3Dihub. Do go and read it.
Here are the Highlights and abstract:
***
Here is the Di Cicco et al paper on PRV in BC farmed/wild fish: http://www.facetsjournal.com/doi/full/10.1139/facets-2018-0008.
Here is the Miller et al paper on viral diseases in wild salmon: https://academic.oup.com/conphys/article/5/1/cox036/3896048.
And... "Here in BC, DFO has refused scientific evidence on harm and killing of wild salmon by PRV four times now: https://alexandramorton.typepad.com/alexandra_morton/2020/01/the-virus-prv-brings-out-the-worst-in-dfo.html?fbclid=IwAR1RVl5HttXekuttvJChNOwu51SufY3oxLT3uc7hZ_TScKjBL5nyr0siMuE.
That, of course, is the communication's spin they have been using for 50 years. And, of course, the obvious rejoinder is that if you are complaining about nature doing something to you, you have the situation backwards. You need to make a change, not argue against nature. And the obvious solution - wait for it, you'll never guess - is: put fish farms on land.
Now, Kibenge, at PEI, who used to be the OIE's accredited lab for aquaculture diseases has come up with a review paper that brings together the viruses that the industry, typified by Mowi (Marine Harvest), Cermaq and Grieg, along with some others like Aquagen who took ISA to Chile, and the rest, like PRV to BC, has spread. There are a whole lot of new ones.
Kibenge is the poor chap who the DFO and CFIA went after and lobbied the OIE to take away his accreditation for being only one of two labs in the entire world to assess diseases in fish farms. Note that I have made numerous posts in the past month where I challenge DFO's claim that it follows 'evidence and science' in decision making. Well, this is another: going after Kibenge DFO wanted to control the narrative after it didn't like his Cohen Commission testimony. Science was completely disregarded.
Kibenge did a cut to the chase PowerPoint presentation some years ago that pointed out that one third to one half of the world's aqua crops [as in fish farms] are lost to disease. Here is a post I did on that which gives you a link to his document: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2012/12/key-document-global-fish-farm-diseases.html. It also has a list of more than 30 disease events around the world in fish farms.
This is a link to the post I discuss his presentation: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2011/10/isa-infections-world-wide-sine-1984.html. See under the table for link.
And this is the link directly to his PowerPoint presentation: http://www.oie.int/eng/A_aquatic/Docs/Presentations/1.11Kibenge.ppt.
Now, Kibenge has a new paper out on the global fish farm diseases: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1879625718301780?via%3Dihub. Do go and read it.
Here are the Highlights and abstract:
***
Here is the Di Cicco et al paper on PRV in BC farmed/wild fish: http://www.facetsjournal.com/doi/full/10.1139/facets-2018-0008.
Here is the Miller et al paper on viral diseases in wild salmon: https://academic.oup.com/conphys/article/5/1/cox036/3896048.
And... "Here in BC, DFO has refused scientific evidence on harm and killing of wild salmon by PRV four times now: https://alexandramorton.typepad.com/alexandra_morton/2020/01/the-virus-prv-brings-out-the-worst-in-dfo.html?fbclid=IwAR1RVl5HttXekuttvJChNOwu51SufY3oxLT3uc7hZ_TScKjBL5nyr0siMuE.
Monday 4 February 2019
Evidence and Science Based Decisions? At DFO? Well, NO - Updated Feb 11, 2020
Hi Jonathan Wilkinson
Here is a post I did on how Atlantic Canada governments deliberately
refused to answer the important parts of a freedom of information request on
ISA, the worst fish farm disease: https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2019/02/transparency-in-fish-farming-well-no.html.
Your DFO people are fond of saying that you make all your
decisions on ‘evidence and science.’ The problem is that you don’t do this. I
list several cases at the bottom of the post where DFO deliberately evaded
science to come up with the conclusion that it wanted.
There are many more examples. Right now, you and DFO are
appealing the court ruling that PRV farmed fish should not be put in the BC
ocean. This is against the science. Your own Dr. Kristi Miller showed that PRV
causes HSMI in Canada and also jaundice/anemia in wild chinook salmon.
DFO is not using this evidence and science to make the decision
to put fish farms on land.
The case I mention in the above post of DFO/CFIA finding a
lab that would give a negative response to disease in BC, is not scientific, in
fact, it is best described as fraud.
Citizens will not stop complaining about your ruining our
oceans with fish farms, until those farms are on land. Why don’t you just give
this up now, and move them to land? You will recall that Marine Harvest and
Cermaq are moving 10 farms out of the Broughton Archipelago in the next two
years.
The problem in this one is: DFO refuses to let the Indigenous
peoples - Musgamagw Dzawada'enuxw - use its lab to process samples of farmed
fish. That isn’t science either, and there won’t be any evidence unless you
allow the science.
Let me repeat the other argument: asking for science is: naive, hubris or a manipulation. You are the naive. DFO has the hubris. Fish farms manipulate the situation with science, er, fake science.
DC Reid
Jonathan Wilkinson: Jonathan Wilkinson (min@dfo-mpo.gc.ca)
Lana Popham: Lana Popham, Minister (AGR.Minister@gov.bc.ca)
Adam Olsen: Olsen.MLA, Adam <Adam.Olsen.MLA@leg.bc.ca>
Andrew Weaver: Andrew Weaver (andrew.weaver.mla@leg.bc.ca)
And, updating to Feb 5, 2019, DFO loses case on PRV: PRV - DFO Minister loses case, must test farmed fish for PRV. Thank you Alex Morton and Ecojustice: https://salmonbusiness.com/federal-court-strikes-down-policy-not-to-test-smolt-for-prv-before-being-transported/.
***
And, refusing to use the science to save Interior BC steelhead. See my BAD NEWS POST: 254. No Science for Steelhead - DFO whitewashes research, no evidence and science based decision: https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/dfo-buried-scientists-concerns-about-endangered-steelhead-b-c-deputy-minister-says?utm_source=Watershed+Watch+Email+List&utm_campaign=fc32b4f789-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_02_27_10_02&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_405944b1b5-fc32b4f789-166907249&mc_cid=fc32b4f789&mc_eid=5777c92bcd.
And skewing science, as in not evidence and science based, to spare a hydro plant: https://www.undercurrentnews.com/2019/02/22/former-canadian-fisheries-scientist-says-agency-skewed-research-to-spare-hydro-plant/?utm_source=Watershed+Watch+Email+List&utm_campaign=fc32b4f789-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_02_27_10_02&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_405944b1b5-fc32b4f789-166907249&mc_cid=fc32b4f789&mc_eid=5777c92bcd.
And, Fake Science - the Riddell Response: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2018/11/fake-science-by-dfo-riddell-response.html.
And another case, from my BAD NEWS BITES post: 368. DFO Not Managing Fish Farms - https://www.thetelegram.com/opinion/letter-to-the-editor/letter-aquaculture-piling-more-pressure-on-salmon-stocks-296199/?utm_source=Watershed+Watch+Email+List&utm_campaign=e72633df9d-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_04_03_11_24&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_405944b1b5-e72633df9d-166907249&mc_cid=e72633df9d&mc_eid=5777c92bcd. Quote: "A spring 2018 report on Canadian aquaculture, in both B.C. and Atlantic Canada, by the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development stated, “We concluded that Fisheries and Oceans Canada did not adequately manage the risks associated with salmon aquaculture consistent with its mandate to protect wild fish. Although the Department had some measures to control the spread of infectious diseases and parasites to wild fish in British Columbia, it had not made sufficient progress in completing the risk assessments for key diseases that were required to understand the effects of salmon aquaculture on wild fish. It also had not defined how it would manage aquaculture in a precautionary manner in the face of scientific uncertainty. Moreover, the Department did not adequately enforce compliance with aquaculture regulations to protect wild fish.”" This is the link to the 2018 report: http://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/English/parl_cesd_201804_01_e_42992.html.
And, a new report on fish farm diseases including ISA and HSMI, with DFO scientists from BC, though DFO doesn't seem to know about this science on emerging diseases: https://www.vetinst.no/rapporter-og-publikasjoner/rapporter/2019/an-overview-of-emerging-diseases-in-the-salmonid-farming-industry-technical-report. You can download a PDF of the report on this site.
And another article on the DFO controversy with respect to science: https://www.thestar.com/vancouver/2019/04/06/is-this-the-cod-collapse-all-over-again-bc-scientists-and-first-nation-fight-dfo-to-save-salmon.html?fbclid=IwAR3loOEFTdGuL5T-Y6Fw9a2MTI1MljkX2JesdeV6wyFlgjAKuYcE8Fp4tWM.
And yet another: DFO can't fix a fishway problem, and this isn't even science, which it seems to have ignored: https://www.barrierestarjournal.com/sports/last-of-interior-fraser-steelhead-imperiled-by-dfo-inaction/?utm_source=Watershed+Watch+Email+List&utm_campaign=18bd495df8-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_04_10_10_22&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_405944b1b5-18bd495df8-166907249&mc_cid=18bd495df8&mc_eid=5777c92bcd.
And yet another, this time a bunch of cases where DFO has not used science whcn it didn't suit its purposes; https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2018/05/conflict-of-interest-will-dfo-ever.html. There are many cases to follow up on in this post.
And, yet another, this time DFO refused to admit that lice in BC had resistance to the only chemical for killing them, SLICE. In fact, it knew that in 2013 in Klemtu, there was evidence of this, even though it maintained, into 2018, that resistance was false and it knew of no such cases. Read the Living Oceans paper on it: https://livingoceans.org/sites/default/files/Lice%20report%20final_0.pdf. Note that DFO continued, along with the fish farm industry, on the BC Minister of Agriculture committee on finfish acquaculture, and failed to come forward while that committee put out its report on fish farms in early 2018.
And I have done a post on this issue in Clayoquot Sound, how the lice levels are as much as 18 times above the limit set by DFO: https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2019/05/cermaq-lice-peroxide-slice-paramove-50.html.
And yet another: actually several more: this time DFO has changed science after the documents were signed off! Can you believe that? Well there is more: https://www.citynews1130.com/2019/09/29/critics-say-federal-government-is-wiping-out-commercial-pink-salmon-fisheries/.
Here is one: "The email chain shows the DFO changed the wording of a public scientific document that is based on peer reviewed science." Here is the BC side: "B.C. scientists concluded that gillnetting on the Fraser during the return of steelhead is killing too many fish."
Here is what DFO did: "In emails obtained by the BC Wildlife Federation, British Columbia government staff and scientists say Fisheries and Oceans Canada is burying science and misrepresenting a crisis situation to the public, risking extinction of Thompson-Chilcotin steelhead trout."
And: "The wording used by the federal ministry says removing gill nets will not significantly benefit steelhead recovery. However, B.C. scientists concluded that gillnetting on the Fraser during the return of steelhead is killing too many fish in a joint report with the DFO just last year."
And: "“The decline of mature [steelhead] in the Thompson River over the last [15 years] is 79 per cent, and the decline of the Chilcotin River Steelhead Trout over [18 years] is 81 per cent.”
Against COSEWIC recommendations, the Fraser River steelhead never made it onto the endangered species list." There is more than this in this article, including the BC govt being cagey.
And: DFO Blamed for Loss of MSC on wild salmon fishing. This is more than a science and evidence issue, and has a long history: https://www.mypowellrivernow.com/25275/dfo-criticized-after-pacific-salmon-fishery-loses-msc-eco-certification/?utm_source=Watershed+Watch+Email+List&utm_campaign=ca899b6bf5-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_10_10_12_24&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_405944b1b5-ca899b6bf5-166907249&mc_cid=ca899b6bf5&mc_eid=5777c92bcd.
"Greg Taylor, a fisheries consultant and former industry executive said the inability to meet even minimum standards for sustainability is an indictment of Ottawa’s management of B.C.’s salmon." And if you don't collect stats, as in scientific evidence, you don't know how many fish there are.
And: "“The loss of MSC certification will be particularly noted in major European markets where many retailers require it. It will also mean programs like Ocean Wise, SeaChoice and Seafood Watch will no longer be able to recommend B.C. as a sustainable source of wild-caught salmon.”" Remember, this is about lack of basic stats, as in science.
And, Greg Knox: "“The only real surprise is it took MSC this long to determine DFO’s management system did not meet its requirements for a sustainable fishery.”"
And, Feb 2020: Here in BC, DFO has refused scientific evidence on harm and killing of wild salmon by PRV four times now: https://alexandramorton.typepad.com/alexandra_morton/2020/01/the-virus-prv-brings-out-the-worst-in-dfo.html?fbclid=IwAR1RVl5HttXekuttvJChNOwu51SufY3oxLT3uc7hZ_TScKjBL5nyr0siMuE.
Jonathan Wilkinson: Jonathan Wilkinson (min@dfo-mpo.gc.ca)
Lana Popham: Lana Popham, Minister (AGR.Minister@gov.bc.ca)
Adam Olsen: Olsen.MLA, Adam <Adam.Olsen.MLA@leg.bc.ca>
Andrew Weaver: Andrew Weaver (andrew.weaver.mla@leg.bc.ca)
And, updating to Feb 5, 2019, DFO loses case on PRV: PRV - DFO Minister loses case, must test farmed fish for PRV. Thank you Alex Morton and Ecojustice: https://salmonbusiness.com/federal-court-strikes-down-policy-not-to-test-smolt-for-prv-before-being-transported/.
***
And, refusing to use the science to save Interior BC steelhead. See my BAD NEWS POST: 254. No Science for Steelhead - DFO whitewashes research, no evidence and science based decision: https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/dfo-buried-scientists-concerns-about-endangered-steelhead-b-c-deputy-minister-says?utm_source=Watershed+Watch+Email+List&utm_campaign=fc32b4f789-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_02_27_10_02&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_405944b1b5-fc32b4f789-166907249&mc_cid=fc32b4f789&mc_eid=5777c92bcd.
And skewing science, as in not evidence and science based, to spare a hydro plant: https://www.undercurrentnews.com/2019/02/22/former-canadian-fisheries-scientist-says-agency-skewed-research-to-spare-hydro-plant/?utm_source=Watershed+Watch+Email+List&utm_campaign=fc32b4f789-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_02_27_10_02&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_405944b1b5-fc32b4f789-166907249&mc_cid=fc32b4f789&mc_eid=5777c92bcd.
And, Fake Science - the Riddell Response: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2018/11/fake-science-by-dfo-riddell-response.html.
And another case, from my BAD NEWS BITES post: 368. DFO Not Managing Fish Farms - https://www.thetelegram.com/opinion/letter-to-the-editor/letter-aquaculture-piling-more-pressure-on-salmon-stocks-296199/?utm_source=Watershed+Watch+Email+List&utm_campaign=e72633df9d-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_04_03_11_24&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_405944b1b5-e72633df9d-166907249&mc_cid=e72633df9d&mc_eid=5777c92bcd. Quote: "A spring 2018 report on Canadian aquaculture, in both B.C. and Atlantic Canada, by the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development stated, “We concluded that Fisheries and Oceans Canada did not adequately manage the risks associated with salmon aquaculture consistent with its mandate to protect wild fish. Although the Department had some measures to control the spread of infectious diseases and parasites to wild fish in British Columbia, it had not made sufficient progress in completing the risk assessments for key diseases that were required to understand the effects of salmon aquaculture on wild fish. It also had not defined how it would manage aquaculture in a precautionary manner in the face of scientific uncertainty. Moreover, the Department did not adequately enforce compliance with aquaculture regulations to protect wild fish.”" This is the link to the 2018 report: http://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/English/parl_cesd_201804_01_e_42992.html.
And, a new report on fish farm diseases including ISA and HSMI, with DFO scientists from BC, though DFO doesn't seem to know about this science on emerging diseases: https://www.vetinst.no/rapporter-og-publikasjoner/rapporter/2019/an-overview-of-emerging-diseases-in-the-salmonid-farming-industry-technical-report. You can download a PDF of the report on this site.
And another article on the DFO controversy with respect to science: https://www.thestar.com/vancouver/2019/04/06/is-this-the-cod-collapse-all-over-again-bc-scientists-and-first-nation-fight-dfo-to-save-salmon.html?fbclid=IwAR3loOEFTdGuL5T-Y6Fw9a2MTI1MljkX2JesdeV6wyFlgjAKuYcE8Fp4tWM.
And yet another: DFO can't fix a fishway problem, and this isn't even science, which it seems to have ignored: https://www.barrierestarjournal.com/sports/last-of-interior-fraser-steelhead-imperiled-by-dfo-inaction/?utm_source=Watershed+Watch+Email+List&utm_campaign=18bd495df8-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_04_10_10_22&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_405944b1b5-18bd495df8-166907249&mc_cid=18bd495df8&mc_eid=5777c92bcd.
And yet another, this time a bunch of cases where DFO has not used science whcn it didn't suit its purposes; https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2018/05/conflict-of-interest-will-dfo-ever.html. There are many cases to follow up on in this post.
And, yet another, this time DFO refused to admit that lice in BC had resistance to the only chemical for killing them, SLICE. In fact, it knew that in 2013 in Klemtu, there was evidence of this, even though it maintained, into 2018, that resistance was false and it knew of no such cases. Read the Living Oceans paper on it: https://livingoceans.org/sites/default/files/Lice%20report%20final_0.pdf. Note that DFO continued, along with the fish farm industry, on the BC Minister of Agriculture committee on finfish acquaculture, and failed to come forward while that committee put out its report on fish farms in early 2018.
And I have done a post on this issue in Clayoquot Sound, how the lice levels are as much as 18 times above the limit set by DFO: https://fishfarmnews.blogspot.com/2019/05/cermaq-lice-peroxide-slice-paramove-50.html.
And yet another: actually several more: this time DFO has changed science after the documents were signed off! Can you believe that? Well there is more: https://www.citynews1130.com/2019/09/29/critics-say-federal-government-is-wiping-out-commercial-pink-salmon-fisheries/.
Here is one: "The email chain shows the DFO changed the wording of a public scientific document that is based on peer reviewed science." Here is the BC side: "B.C. scientists concluded that gillnetting on the Fraser during the return of steelhead is killing too many fish."
Here is what DFO did: "In emails obtained by the BC Wildlife Federation, British Columbia government staff and scientists say Fisheries and Oceans Canada is burying science and misrepresenting a crisis situation to the public, risking extinction of Thompson-Chilcotin steelhead trout."
And: "The wording used by the federal ministry says removing gill nets will not significantly benefit steelhead recovery. However, B.C. scientists concluded that gillnetting on the Fraser during the return of steelhead is killing too many fish in a joint report with the DFO just last year."
And: "“The decline of mature [steelhead] in the Thompson River over the last [15 years] is 79 per cent, and the decline of the Chilcotin River Steelhead Trout over [18 years] is 81 per cent.”
Against COSEWIC recommendations, the Fraser River steelhead never made it onto the endangered species list." There is more than this in this article, including the BC govt being cagey.
And: DFO Blamed for Loss of MSC on wild salmon fishing. This is more than a science and evidence issue, and has a long history: https://www.mypowellrivernow.com/25275/dfo-criticized-after-pacific-salmon-fishery-loses-msc-eco-certification/?utm_source=Watershed+Watch+Email+List&utm_campaign=ca899b6bf5-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_10_10_12_24&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_405944b1b5-ca899b6bf5-166907249&mc_cid=ca899b6bf5&mc_eid=5777c92bcd.
"Greg Taylor, a fisheries consultant and former industry executive said the inability to meet even minimum standards for sustainability is an indictment of Ottawa’s management of B.C.’s salmon." And if you don't collect stats, as in scientific evidence, you don't know how many fish there are.
And: "“The loss of MSC certification will be particularly noted in major European markets where many retailers require it. It will also mean programs like Ocean Wise, SeaChoice and Seafood Watch will no longer be able to recommend B.C. as a sustainable source of wild-caught salmon.”" Remember, this is about lack of basic stats, as in science.
And, Greg Knox: "“The only real surprise is it took MSC this long to determine DFO’s management system did not meet its requirements for a sustainable fishery.”"
And, Feb 2020: Here in BC, DFO has refused scientific evidence on harm and killing of wild salmon by PRV four times now: https://alexandramorton.typepad.com/alexandra_morton/2020/01/the-virus-prv-brings-out-the-worst-in-dfo.html?fbclid=IwAR1RVl5HttXekuttvJChNOwu51SufY3oxLT3uc7hZ_TScKjBL5nyr0siMuE.
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