Hard to compare salmon ranching to salmon farming.
First off its a different species of salmon,Atlantic vs a resident,endemic species
Ranching is used to boost wild stocks, if you wanted to ,you could compare Alaska's Ranching to our hatchery production ,the difference being that they are raised in different locations.
Yes, a different salmon species is used, but they are not that different if you look into it. Ranching doesn't raise salmon to market size but the fish husbandry is not much different (i.e. fish food, medicine, chemicals, OCEAN NET PEN, etc.).
You could say our method is more hands off as the fry and smolts are not raised in net pens as they are in ranching.
I would not say that raising fish in a federal hatchery is any less "hands off". Go visit a federal hatchery in your area and see for yourself.
As for reading all the links, I agree with Tb I dont want to download 4 different links to 40 page documents .If you have something to say, just say it , if we need corrobaration we will ask.
I have said it, but some don't want to listen. That's fine...I expect it...lol. When asked for evidence I provided it. If you don't want to read it that's fine, but don't make excuses about not wanting to download 4 different links to read 40 page documents. Funny thing is that fish farm critics love to post multiple links which they use to bolster their argument but complain when I just post a few. I posted 3 links to studies done as a sample. If you can't read those then I can't help you. If you are genuinely interested in this you will take the time to read these unless you are afraid it might challenge your opinions and perceptions.
As for the cohen report, how can you use this as evidence for anything , you keep mentioning it like it should have more evidence ,it doesnt.
How do I use the Cohen Report as evidence for anything? Cohen looked at all possible factors and talked to a wide range of experts on that deal with each of those. Although Cohen didn't find a smoking gun it really didn't come as a big surprise as it is a little naïve to think that one factor is doing all the harm and works in isolation of others. I never said that Cohen had all the answers or the evidence; in fact, Cohen suggest that evidence is lacking in many areas. It doesn't answer all the questions but instead raises more which is a good thing also. It addressed data gaps that needed to be studied and some are. However, in respect to aquaculture, it was clear that Cohen didn't condemn aquaculture in BC and blame it solely for the declining Fraser Sockeye productivity. I use Cohen to show that what farm critics thought was damning evidence against the industry here is not necessarily so. There is more going on and the doom and gloom prophesies regarding fish farming are not panning out.
Salmon juveniles can suffer a lot of mortality, but that includes freshwater residency (egg, alevin, fry) - not just juveniles entering saltwater and swimming by fish farms. That is being studied currently as we speak. If you look at the PSF website you will see how they are involved with university academia and DFO looking at juvenile Fraser Sockeye survival.