If anyone bothers to read that 4 year old link they will see that for so many reasons already discussed here, it's irrelevant to BC salmon farming and the issues surrounding it.
You know, this response has come up a number of times recently whenever someone new enters the debate (I myself was met with the same response a year to two ago), that "this has all been discussed before" and so is "irrelevant." On the contrary, while this HAS indeed all been "discussed" before, nothing has been
resolved. In fact, after being told that same line months ago, I was treated with the patience for a noob to the debate, and was allowed to engage at length. However, nothing that came out of that debate served to ease my worry or convince me that my worries were "irrelevant." At best, I was left with the following arguments for the continuation of open net salmon farming in BC:
1. The environmental factors are different in BC than in all the other parts of the world where open net salmon farming has had a negative impact on the local ecosystems, so we have nothing to worry about here.
2. The "old" studies are no longer relevant because the industry in BC has learned from those mistakes and has cleaned up their act here.
3. The ocean is very large so salmon farms (which are very small) cannot possibly have a significant impact on the local ecosystems.
4. The decline of wild salmon in BC cannot be attributed
solely to open net salmon farming, so leave the farms alone until you deal with all the other factors that may be affecting the salmon.
Even the sea lice study that Steve posted conclude that the sea lice infections of migrating pink salmon were ultimately reduced by fallowing the farms during their out migration. Brauner et al. also ended their study with the suggestion that the sea lice infections at these critical life stages, while perhaps harmful, may not be as significant as other factors (as though having to dodge one bullet is not as significant as having to run through a mine field). You know, I
get that open net salmon farming may not be the
only factor contributing to the decline of wild salmon, but no one has convinced me they have
no impact, and while many here may be willing to accept the impacts they do have as "insignificant" or "irrelevant," I am not one of them. Salmon farms are symptomatic of our failure as a species to manage our ecosystems responsibly; they are a sign that we are resigned to accept the destructive force that is human "progress," just as Dave, champion of wild salmon and steelhead, is willing to accept them as a necessary part of our future.