The rising tide against fish farms in B.C.

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      Editor's note: B.C. biologist and environmentalist Alexandra Morton shared this post with us. It originally appeared on her blog.

      The news about the salmon farming industry suggests the world is becoming aware of how big a problem salmon farming is.

      A remarkable new farmed salmon documentary ("Farmed and Dangerous?") has just come out. It will be online for just 30 days. These two young men really went the extra mile swimming inside a salmon farm, visiting a processing plant and the farmed salmon feed manufacturing plants. I highly recommend watching it. They are under attack by the industry and I hope they can take the pressure.

      Norway just ordered the slaughter of two million farmed salmon, including some owned by their minister of fisheries, because the sea lice on these fish have become resistant to drugs. They have lost control; the industry has lost its arms race with the sea louse.

      Also in Norway the people have had it with the pollution and are protesting (this is a Google translation).

      Ted Danson came out in a big way to say "farmed salmon is a terrible choice for our oceans".

      In New Brunswick, farmed salmon in the rivers of the Bay of Fundy are seen as a threat to the wild salmon.

      My crew that visited the north coast of B.C. Jody Erickson, Farlyn Campbell, and Tavish Campbell did an incredible job covering the Skeena and Fraser watersheds.

      Courtesy Alexandra Morton

      What they documented really scared me: the sockeye of the Skeena are dying by the thousands before spawningjust like the Fraser sockeye.

      In 2010, tons of Fraser sockeye were taken north to Prince Rupert for processing just as wild salmon were passing through this effluent and entering the Skeena. The generation of juvenile sockeye that were in the system rearing are the generation that crashed this year and are now dying before spawning in unprecedented numbers.

      Please consider helping me pay the lab bills to process these samples and communicate the results. Thank you to all who have stepped up and realize that if we want wild salmon it is up to us, and that is the way it should be. We are the ones that want these fish and know them. It would be careless of us to expect governments negotiating international trade deals can do a better job than we can.

      You can donate online at: GoFundMe. Or by mail: Pacific Coast Wild Salmon Society, Box 399, Sointula, B.C. V0N 3E0. If you need a tax-receipt you can donate to Raincoast Research Society, where the funds will go solely to the science: Raincoast Research Society, Box 399, Sointula, B.C. V0N 3E0.

      Comments

      21 Comments

      Carston Brokenshire

      Oct 17, 2013 at 4:23pm

      "GoFundMe"? No thanks. This silly American has already cost Canadian taxpayers millions chasing around her red herrings (literally, red herrings).

      Mike

      Oct 17, 2013 at 5:00pm

      Great work Dr. Morton. Dr. Gupta is an intelligent man and I expect he'll have some interesting findings. Already this year we've heard from Dr. Mercola on the health effects from farmed salmon, and it was a scathing report on the industry.

      Step up friends, let's help fund this project. The government is in bed with the industry and isn't helping.

      Brian Hollingsworth

      Oct 18, 2013 at 7:48am

      No one even questions two americans bashing Canadian companies? Am I the only one who sees the glaring problem with this? Alexandra Morton who is a guest in our country is speaking to another American about issues that she is unqualified to speak about. Also for the record she is not a biologist, she is a eco activist. At least get that fact right.

      Twyla

      Oct 18, 2013 at 1:09pm

      actually she is a biologist Brian Hollingsworth. You count on people not fact checking your statements. Alex has done more for this coast than perhaps any other Canadian in her 30+ years here. It is unfortunate that people like you attack someone who has dedicated her life to saving a public resource for Canadians

      Dawn McCormick

      Oct 18, 2013 at 2:20pm

      thank you for replying to Brian Hollingsworth, Twyla, and please rest assured that not all Canadians feel the way he does. I for one have been happy to donate to this worthy cause and have written two letters to DFO asking that they take action before it is too late. My first letter received a template answer telling me that DFO is monitoring our fish, wild and farmed, to which I wrote the second one saying that I need a real response, not a template, and that a trite response was not acceptable. We pay their salaries and they do nothing. Not impressed with DFO, but very impressed with you Twyla, and with Alexandra. Whether she is Canadian or not (which should not matter one bit) she is doing way more than most Canadians are doing.

      lyle

      Oct 18, 2013 at 2:40pm

      Brian not sure if your not just fishing for an argument Its about HEALTH to us the oceans the planet and all that lives on it even the water is living if we kill it ? That wouldn,t be good. Is that right or do you have a problem with that ideaology crossing the border. I am a commercial fisherman that watched the farms come here in B.C. One farm was in a bay where the water would come in one way and out one way. There use to be lots of fish in there, not anymore the ocean floor is dead all is dead on the floor the little fry coming out of streams swim into the oens getting eaten up. SEEN it Lots is wrong with fishfaming just admit it there is way better ideas This has been a negative constant in my life, shoppping ? seeing people buying it Sushi resturants serving it as health premium food. We all learn something everyday, today we learn together threw the electric voice about what we can do tomorrow.Make better choices where we put our energy

      Ross Munro

      Oct 18, 2013 at 3:01pm

      The name callers are not addressing the issues. I suspect their motives in slinging mud at a dedicated researcher.

      alexandra morton

      Oct 18, 2013 at 10:53pm

      For the record I am Canadian

      Len Fraser

      Oct 19, 2013 at 9:54am

      Don't need to attack the person, but the facts are up for challenge. And the facts are:
      - fish professionals in USA and Canada confirm no exotic fish diseases in Pacific Northwest
      - 26$ million science inquiry into Fraser sockeye found no evidence that fish farms have had any negative impact
      - millions of pink salmon (records broken) returning to Pacific Northwest this year

      So when someone, being more and more isolated by fact, refuses to acknowledge these facts and continues to misrepresent her credentials (still calls herself a doctor...laughable), you would expect smart people like Gupta to recognize her lack of credibility.

      Even her weak attempt to manipulate Gupta by posting this blog is so obvious it's laughable.