Comox Valley Echo April 29, 2010 Comments (1)
Blaming salmon farms for the decline in wild salmon stocks is risking an industry that employs thousands of Vancouver Island residents, while avoiding the real issues around conservation, the B.C. Salmon Farmers Association warned this week.
"We agree that wild salmon are very important and need to be protected - but there are a multitude of factors that are contributing to their struggle," said Mary Ellen Walling, Executive Director of the BC Salmon Farmers Association.
"Focusing on the removal of salmon farms is shortsighted and misguided."
She was speaking out as Alexandra Morton continued her 'get out migration' anti-fish farm walk down Vancouver Island, which passed through Courtenay yesterday (Thursday),
Walling claimed misinformation was being spread about the effect of salmon farms on wild salmon stocks.
Studies showed that Pacific salmon had developed a natural ability to resist sea lice damage and even shed them once they reached a certain size, she argued.
Reports also showed that sea lice numbers on wild salmon in areas away from farms were about the same, and sometimes more, than on wild fish in areas with farms, she noted.
There were no signs that sea lice were becoming resistant to treatment - in fact, over the past five years, treatment levels had gone down, as had lice counts.
While the industry was involved in research for the development of closed containment systems, currently no commercially-viable method had been found, said Walling.
Companies would continue to work with environmental groups and researchers to find a solution.
"This is a highly regulated industry that is continually improving," she added.
"B.C.'s salmon farmers are coastal residents who want to see wild salmon protected. To be truly successful, industry has to be accountable to the environment, economy and communities."
The B.C. salmon farming industry employed roughly 6,000 people directly and indirectly, contributing $800-million to the provincial economy.
Farmed salmon, Walling noted, was the province's largest agricultural export - and B.C.'s fish farms were the world's most highly-regulated aquaculture operations.
To support the principle of protecting salmon stocks for the long-term health of the environment and citizens, B.C. Salmon Farmers were making a donation to the Heart and Stroke Foundation "in honour of the committed people participating in the down-Island walk."
- In a separate and highly-detailed report published on Friday, the federal government's department of fisheries and oceans said there were 2,200 people directly employed in aquaculture industries in the Comox Valley and Campbell River areas alone, with a further 1,650 indirectly employed and another 700 having some role in the industry. The report stated: "With the decline in forestry and the commercial fisheries, salmon and shellfish aquaculture occupy an increasingly important place in the economies of Campbell River and Comox."
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