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 nowhttps://alexandramorton.typepad.com/alexandra_morton/2020/01/the-virus-prv-brings-out-the-worst-in-dfo.html?fbclid=IwAR1RVl5HttXekuttvJChNOwu51SufY3oxLT3uc7hZ_TScKjBL5nyr0siMuE.

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