Conflict of Interest - Another Politician Seduced? - Dwight Ball, Premier, NL

Hi Premier Ball, Minister Byrne and Minister Joyce

The last thing that a government should do is give a multi-national, multi-billion dollar corporation money to set up shop in the province. It is an immediate conflict of interest for you.

Don’t fall for the jobs and revenue spin. In BC, where I am from, the actual number of jobs is 13.6% of what fish farms claim, and the revenue goes back to Norway for distribution to shareholders.

In Norway, the government no longer allows Grieg Seafood, Marine Harvest, Cermaq and the rest to set up in-ocean anymore. They give out free licences to set up on land, a $9- to $12-million subsidy, and have research development licences for true, industry-advancing steps to sequester fish farms from the environment. Marine Harvest is putting $100 million into closed containment. Did you know this? Did your staff know this? Get them to put some of it into NL.

Also, the on-land movement has been moving ahead for the last decade. It is quite likely that the Atlantic Sapphire plant coming on stream in Florida and producing 150,000 mt of salmon will largely destroy Canada’s in-ocean fish farm industry on both the east and west coasts. It will have transport cost advantages and consumer preference. I have a list of 201 on-land fish farm systems around the world, comprising some 20,000 actual on-land farms.

It makes no sense from an environmental or economic perspective to foster in-ocean fish farms anymore. Please don’t put a bean into the development. You will be immediately compromised. And the public, that on a global level comes to overwhelmingly reject in-ocean fish farms once they have had time to live with them, will turn their anger on you.

Around the world, the public is arguing for industry to be taken out of the ocean, they are so environmentally damaging. I am in touch with environmental organizations around the world.

My blog on the environmental and economic problems with global fish farms will exceed half a million page views this year: www.fishfarmnews.blogspot.com. I receive and plow through 30 global press fish farm/seafood industry newsletters every week. Can any of your staff say they do as much? And that is only one thing I do.

Does your staff know that Cooke Aqua has just had a licence in WA state terminated and has to dismantle the Ediz Hook site? And WA now has legislation in its House to remove all fish farms from the water because of the Cypress Is, Cooke Aqua, escape of 200,000 fish in August. Alaska and California forbid fish farms as well, and Oregon has none. Several countries around the world forbid in-ocean fish farms.

I have references to back up everything I say.

Please put more thought into this, and put them on land. Do your basic homework. Don’t give them any money.

DC (Dennis) Reid 

And, this is the letter that I was responding to from NL:



Minister Byrne, Joyce and Premier Ball;

Might I have a copy of the report that shows the " Evidence-Based Reporting and Decision Making" that surely government must have put together to support this Placentia Bay mutated foreign salmon project?

Why should you Premier Ball, Minister Byrne, and Minister Joyce ask us to prove our points via the public consult for the Reg #1834 Grieg scheme?

It is your responsibility to prove that you have fully analyzed this project- especially given $45 m of our money is being offered.

I demand you release the Evaluation of this project on which you are willing to go ahead and support this controversial and potentially catastrophic experiment 

Cheers;

Bill Bryden

 

Placentia Bay Fish Farm - Government Duped, Conflicted, Up dated April 2, 2017

Hi Justin/Dominic/Dwight 

I pass on to you the comments I made to Owen Myers, lawyer in the NL court case, Mark Quinn at CBC, writing on this subject  and Kenn Oliver of The Telegram: 

I send along a note that I put on Fishers Against Fish Farms, that I took from my own blog: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2017/01/bad-news-bites.html. My site has become a global portal for fish farm environmental science damage, and will exceed 300,000 page views in the next couple of weeks. 

You should know that there is more than simply environmental concerns with this mega-development. 

Here is the text: 

350. 'Conflict of Interest - NL, govt expenditure of $45m into Grieg, Placentia Bay dev is a conflict of interest by a government who has to regulate the industry.’ I should add that in Norway, the auction cost of the 11 in-ocean licences would be an $88- to $121-million outlay for Grieg, not 11 free licences plus $45 million. They know perfectly well that fish farms are a licence to print money and any government that would charge zero and add $45m, thus conflicting itself, is an idiot. See: https://www.undercurrentnews.com/2017/03/29/new-coalition-urges-nl-govt-not-to-buy-into-grieg-salmon-project/. “

Grieg Seafood, Marine Harvest and Cermaq have been part of the speculative licence situation in Norway for more than 30 years. Kjersti Sandvik’s book, Beneath The Surface, Glydendal, Norway, goes over this history, and the millions made by applicants who then sold the licences to others and made big bucks for doing nothing. At 23- to 25-% profit margin, it is a gold mine to have a licence.

The point is that the federal govt and NL government have not done their basic homework, and should be charging millions for each licence here, not falling for the disingenuous calling for funding because the development can’t go ahead without out it. That’s bull and Grieg knows it.

On the environmental side, two things: I have figured out that a fish farm kills 113 forage fish to bring one farmed salmon to harvest, in an industry the size of BC that means 5.76 billion killed fish for one harvest; also, the sewage cost is enormous. In BC, I estimate it is $10.4 billion that we taxpayers absorb. The same size of figure can be anticipated in NL. 

If you need more info or how to calculate the figures for NL, let me know.

DC (Dennis) Reid

***

Updated, April 2, 2017: The evidence suggests that the cost of an in-ocean licence in Norway is even higher than the earlier auction price above: https://www.undercurrentnews.com/2017/03/29/land-based-salmon-farming-the-numbers-now-make-sense/.

"No new licenses have been awarded since 2014 [in Norway], when SalMar bid NOK 66 million for a license [$10.56 million Canadian]. Since then, the Seafood Index (OSLSFX) has doubled, suggesting the market value of a license is also higher.”

This means for the 11 licences Grieg would have had to pay in Norway, if indeed any were allowed for in-ocean, would be $10.56M X 11 = $116.2 million. Why are they not charged in Canada? Why does anyone think charging zero is reasonable, and then adding an additional $45M to sweeten the already sweetened deal? This is a $161 million subsidy for Grieg. Does any taxpayer want this for an industry that uses the ocean as a free open sewer?