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[chris gadsden]

November 30, 2009
 
Minister Gail Shea
Ottawa, Canada
 
Dear Minister Shea:
 
Twenty thousand, two hundred forty-three (20,243) people have now signed the letter on my website www.adopt-a-fry.org <http://www.adopt-a-fry.org>  insisting that you apply the Fisheries Act to “farming” salmon.
 
But the Norwegian salmon farming industry is now so far out of alignment with common sense and the spirit of Canadian law that the road to compliance is not simple.  As you prepare to assume control of this industry as per the BC Supreme Court decision we, the public, are doing your job in your absence laying charges against this industry and removing the firewalls to protect our fish.
 
Twenty years ago the business of raising salmon was wrongly categorized as “farming” and assigned to the Province to manage. The Province is not responsible for wild fish and the feds were not responsible for fish farms, so no one has been responsible for impact of salmon “farms” on wild fish.
 
This Provincial regulatory scheme was recognized as unlawful and struck down by Judge Hinkson, February 2009. He gave government 1 year to sort this out and it remains uncertain if ownership of salmon (farmed or not) is even legal in the ocean.
 
At first it was assumed the Provincial government would somehow continue to run the industry, but shortly after the August 2009 sockeye crash, the Province backed away leaving Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) scrambling to design a regulatory regime.  As a result a delay is being negotiated during which the Province expects to continue expanding the industry!
 
Expansion is crucial to Norwegian fish farmers because they have lost money for 3 years now and their share prices can only rise if they put more fish in the water. However, we just lost 10 million sockeye that passed through heavily fish farmed waters and Judge Cohen has “aquaculture” 3rd on his list to investigate with his Judicial Inquiry.  It would be immoral to expand the industry during this moment of regulatory restructuring and investigation.
 
When you peel back the layers of the Fisheries Act the conflicting rules make no sense, except as firewalls.  On the one hand the Pacific (Fishery) Regulations (1993) exempts Provincially licenced aquaculture from all fishing regulations appearing to give them unrestricted access to all the wild fish drawn into their pens by the lights and food.  These fish are Atlantic salmon fodder and highly valuable sablefish, salmon and herring. 
 
Then as if someone recognized the preposterous enormity of this the Access to Wild Aquatic Resources 2004 was produced to licence fish farmers for by-catch, if the amount was deemed insignificant to wild stocks.
 
This was a good idea, but no one seems to have these licences. And how could they? The wild pink salmon Marine Harvest admitted to having in their boat last June 16 were from an age-class and stock so endangered millions of public dollars were spent to protect them.  However, this is lost in DFO’s regulatory labyrinth. If Marine Harvest has no licence to possess by-catch, does that mean that the 1993 regulations come into effect to exempt them from all fishing rules including possession of an endangered wild fish stock? I hope we get to find out. Judge Saunderson issued a summons to Marine Harvest to appear in court for possessing these pink salmon. The Department of Justice could halt this case, but it would seem in the public interest for a court to hear this.
 
In October 2009 Marine Harvest also admitted to catching herring in the Broughton Archipelago and composting them with no reporting or licence. Was this legal or illegal? Does anyone know?  If they had no licence for tons of herring by-catch are they exempt?
 
Herring fishing has been closed in Broughton for twenty years because the stocks are not rebuilding. Now we find out Norwegian “farmers” are killing them despite the closure with no apparent ramifications, no quota nor reporting. These fish farmers are out-fishing BC fishermen!  Over-fishing is a global scourge. Minister Shea this is not right.
 
Nothing is straightforward. When 40,000 Atlantics escaped from Marine Harvest’s farm October 21, 2009, we were told they were worth a million dollars and everything had been done to recover them. But now we hear farm fish are worthless once they escape and only 1,200 were recovered because Marine Harvest was “confused” about the licence DFO granted them specifically for this situation. Does profit - starved Marine Harvest really want the expense of disposing of 40,000 fish? They did not do everything they could have to recapture their fish and section 55 of the Fishery (General Regulations) states no person shall release live fish into fish habitat. They must be charged and heavily fined to inspire compliance. This is the tool your Ministry uses on other fishermen.
 
It is disturbing that someone lobbied Parliament to disguise the industry as Provincial farms even though this must have raised legal red flags and then someone specifically exempted “provincial aquaculture” from the fishing regulations.  This is Salmongate.
 
We are hosting guests who are pulling the tablecloth into their laps dragging the silverware, the food, the water everything out of our reach. Thankfully, Judges Hinkson, Slade, Cohen and Saunderson have nailed the tablecloth to the table. 
 
However it is not up to the courts to manage fish. Fisheries and Oceans Canada is touring the National Aquaculture Strategic Action Plan Initiative to get feedback, calling aquaculture a legitimate user of Canadian marine waters.
http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/aquaculture/lib-bib/nasapi-insapa/nasapi-inpasa-eng.htm#intro
 
It is indeed time the fish farmers became “legitimate.” It is time to remove their regulatory firewalls, open the farms to public scrutiny and silence decades of political interference that have given foreign corporations greater access to Canadian fish than Canadians.  All this and these corporations are still loosing money.
 
Minister Shea there is one job we cannot do for you. You must close the border to import of salmon eggs from the Atlantic to prevent introduction of ISA virus to the eastern Pacific.  If you don’t you will see this issue go before the courts. ISAV strains are highly traceable. You say there is no “strong evidence” that it travels in eggs (3-11-2009) scientists say we are “guaranteed” to get the virus if we keep importing eggs.
 
Others and myself will continue to lay charges under the Fisheries Act with the help of lawyers who are working Pro Bono, and at reduced rates and thousands of people whose small donations are making this possible. The Fisheries Act specifically encourages the public to lay charges in the face of government “inertia.”
 
At the very least I ask that you do not stand in our way.
 

[chris gadsden]

Hello

You have an opportunity to tell DFO how you want fish farms to be run.  As a result of our win in BC Supreme Court  DFO has been given an official mandate to develop new regulations for aquaculture in BC. A series of meetings are being planned to discuss and gather input from all
potentially impacted stakeholders, which is lives in Canada or comes here to see salmon and their predators.

The next meeting is December 10th and 11th, 2009 in Campbell River, BC at the Campbell River Lodge. You can confirm your attendance by responding to Mandy Mielke (amanda.mielke@dfo-mpo.gc.ca or (613-949-3129) by Friday November 27th, 2009 or contact  Trevor Swerdfager Director General, Aquaculture Management trevor.swerdfager@dfo-mpo.gc.ca  613-949-4919. Cc your MP on any emails to Swerdfager.

Also I have been receiving the updates below from Norway the past few days.  First the ISA epidemic killing 70% of their fish in Chile, now the Norwegian government threatening to slaughter entire fish farms.

This is your opportunity to be heard.


Alexandra Morton
Www.adopt-a-fry.org




Sea lice are out of control in Norway
 
Norway's state broadcaster NRK reported on Monday:
 
"In the past year, the amount of sea lice in Norwegian fish farms exploded. The industry has been on the hump of the environmental movement in the wake of illness boom. This is because the salmon lice infect the wild salmon, and thereby threaten wild salmon stocks.": http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/distrikt/hordaland/1.6888215

The Green Warriors of Norway said in a press release - "Sea Lice Situation is Out of Control" - issued yesterday:
 
"The sea lice situation is now out of control along the entire coast of Nordland and south. Green Warriors of Norway requires complete slaughter of all salmon biomass with multi-resistance against lice medicines": http://www.nmf.no/default.aspx?pageId=121&articleId=2354&news=1 <http://www.nmf.no/default.aspx?pageId=121&amp;articleId=2354&amp;news=1>
 
The Norwegian Hunters and Fishers (NJFF), Norwegian Salmon Rivers Owners (Norsk Lakseelver) and WWF Norway called on the Fisheries Minister to take the sea lice problem more seriously.  NJFF reported yesterday under the headline "A Lot of Talk - Little Action":
 
"......life-threatening situation for our wild salmon along the coast is informed by a disaster.  The trend of increasing resistance to the main treatment methods are cause for great concern. The organizations ask that the Minister immediately initiated after a standstill for further growth in the industry......We will increase the pressure in this case. The battle is now": http://www.njff.no/portal/page/portal/njff/nyhet?element_id=57753689&displaypage=TRUE <http://www.njff.no/portal/page/portal/njff/nyhet?element_id=57753689&amp;displaypage=TRUE>
 
The Norwegian Salmon Association reported last week under the headline "Norway is managing the extinction of wild salmon!":
 
"The Director of The Directorate for Nature Management, Janne Sollie, says today that Norway is not managing the farmed salmon business, but the extinction of wild salmon!  She says this due to the fact of record high and disastrous levels of sea-lice in the farmed salmon farms. If this is allowed to keep on, all wild salmon will be history!

The Directorate for Nature Management is the national governmental body for preserving Norway's natural environment. The directorate serves as an advisory and executive agency under the Norwegian Ministry of Environment. The Government do not listen to their warning! It's shameful how Norway's officials are promoting and protecting the business of farmed salmon! An unsustainable business ruining wild life!": http://norwegian-salmon.com/salmon/extended-en.php?recID=262
 
[Sea lice data for Norwegian salmon farms can be accessed online via: www.lusedata.no <http://www.lusedata.no> ]
 
 
3)  The Green Warriors of Norway (led by Kurt Oddekalv) revealed that "Norwegian commercial fish farms are once more using these [diflubenzuron and teflubenzuron] controversial chemicals to get rid of salmon lice".  NMF reported today:
 
"The use of these chemicals was stopped after the agreement was signed in February 1999, and fish farmers have used other drugs instead. However, since the salmon louse has developed resistance against the drugs used, these controversial chemicals are again being thrown into Norwegian salmon cages. The industry respected the agreement until now, and we claim the minister of fisheries to be responsible for breaking the agreement": http://nmf.no/default.aspx?pageId=42&articleId=2361&news=1 <http://nmf.no/default.aspx?pageId=42&amp;articleId=2361&amp;news=1> 
 
The Norwegian media reported this extensively today via NRK, Dagbladet, Adresseavisen and other media outlets: 
 
"Truer med å sverte norsk laks: Miljøkriger Kurt Oddekalv mener regjeringen har brutt avtale, og vurderer derfor internasjonal aksjon" (NRK, 2nd December): http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/distrikt/hordaland/1.6891582 <http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/distrikt/hordaland/1.6891582>
 
"Slik presset Oddekalv regjeringen - Miljøaktivisten truet Bondevik-regjeringen til å minimalisere bruken av to omstridte lusemiddel. Nå er avtalen brutt, mener Oddekalv, som på nytt truer med internasjonal kampanjer mot norsk laks i utlandet" (Adresseavisen, 2nd December): http://www.adressa.no/nyheter/innenriks/article1417790.ece

"Regjeringen inngikk avtale med Kurt Oddekalv: Hvis laksenæringen kuttet på bruken av to omstridte lusemidler, skulle Miljøvernforbundet avstå fra planlagte aksjoner" (Dagbladet, 2nd December): http://www.dagbladet.no/2009/12/02/nyheter/innenriks/miljo/politikk/regjeringen/9303659/

 
Details in English via: "The deal is broken by the Minister" (NMF, 2nd December): http://nmf.no/default.aspx?pageId=42&articleId=2361&news=1 <http://nmf.no/default.aspx?pageId=42&amp;articleId=2361&amp;news=1> 

[chris gadsden]

From Alexandra today.

Hello

Last week I attended two meetings that taught me a great deal.

At the Fraser Sockeye Simon Fraser University Think Tank we recommended experimentally removing farmed salmon from sockeye migration routes. I heard that Ottawa is abandoning wild Pacific salmon because they don’t see their value.

At the National Aquaculture Strategic Action Plan Initiative meeting in Campbell River to write the DFO regulations required in the wake of our BC Supreme Court win I learned that fish farmers are reluctant to release disease information because it could lower the value of their stock market shares.

I also learned that the Canadian land-based salmon farmers, in operation for 60 years, cannot even get a meeting with the provincial government.  Could this be because they are a threat to the Norwegian fish farmers?

For details:  http://alexandramorton.typepad.com/

[gordc]

Don't forget that salmon farms were supposed to cause the extiction of our pink salmon run according to Morton?  What happened?  There were record amounts of pinks. 

[Eagleye]

Don't forget that salmon farms were supposed to cause the extiction of our pink salmon run according to Morton?  What happened?  There were record amounts of pinks. 

What happened was that Alexandra Morton had them delouse the fish farms with chemicals so that when the Pink fry swam by there was no lice.  From my understanding the lice were still present when the sockeye swam by.

[skaha]

Don't forget that salmon farms were supposed to cause the extiction of our pink salmon run according to Morton?  What happened?  There were record amounts of pinks. 

--this is an example of the kind of research that is required.... why did the pink's make it? did they pass at a different time, take a different route etc.
--study of things that appear to work can help pinpoint other problems.

--my opinion is the fish farms had an effect on some runs, however I would be very happy if they did not have an affect or that they could be managed to prevent unacceptable results. I am not philosophically against aquaculture, farming, or forestry as I live in a wood house and eat fish and vegetables. 
--I may even be convinced that by-catch of steelhead in a poorly managed gill net fishery may be worse than a well run closed containment fish farm. 
 

[gordc]

agreed