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[chris gadsden]

56 million for Aquaculture a couple of million for wild salmon.?

http://www.courierislander.com/in-letter-to-campbell-river-newspaper-shea-says-dfo-supports-wild-and-farmed-fish-1.826730

[Fish Assassin]

Not unexpected from the Harper government

[santefe]

There is a lot of moaning and complaining here but how many of us have taken the time to send a message to the PM or Ms. Shea.
You may just get the standard reply, but not always.  It is better to try and fail than not to try at all.
Just my 2 cents. 

[Quinsam_Lose_Some]

I guess when our knee jerks so fast some may have trouble maintaining and presenting a balanced perspective.

A little further down the Courier article:

"All of these initiatives are in addition to our government's annual investments related to Pacific salmon. Currently we invest more than $65 million per year, of which about $20 million is directly related to Fraser River sockeye."

Seems to me the insinuation of 'a couple of million for wild salmon.' is more than a little disingenuous.

Now let me state that I'm unequivocally against Atlantic Salmon farms on the west Coast And I have little knowledge of just what; 'our government's annual investments related to Pacific salmon.' really means. 

However, such biased and trite statements such as ; '56 million for Aquaculture a couple of million for wild salmon.' I find an affront to those trying to properly understand and participate in a helpful dialog that will produce an informed constructive critical atmosphere that lends credence to this discussion.

Such selective and fragmented 'expository fact' dissemination as I've seen on this thread by both opposing sides of this debate combined with some of the ad-hominem attacks for me detracts from the legitimacy of this venue.

Regardless, I shall continue to follow this thread and will continue to educate myself via other more comprehensive avenues in an effort to attain a more clear understanding and ensure that if it is the case that;

'Canada has a transparent regulatory system - one of the most rigorous in the world - to ensure that the industry is ecologically sustainable and protects our marine resources.'

Then ensure it remains so.

And if this isn't currently the case, then I will do what I can with my vote to make it come about.

[VAGAbond]

From the article:   

In response to a letter from the Campbell River Fishing Guides about DFO giving millions of dollars to fish farms as compensation for culled stocks, Minister Gail Shea said

What the...?  The government is providing free (?) crop insurance for these large international corporations?    There are a lot of small farmers across the  country that would like (need) the same but don't get any.

[Quinsam_Lose_Some]

Letter "DFO needs funding, not fish farms."

Harry MacDonald / Campbell River Courier-Islander
February 5, 2014 12:00 AM

(An open letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper published here by request.) The Campbell River Guides Association was formed in 1968 and since then has been an advocate for the recreational fishery in the north-centre Vancouver Island area and the fisheries resource upon which it depends.

Our association has been increasingly concerned in recent years at the steady reduction in the financial resources allocated by your government to Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) and the increasing inability of this department to undertake its core responsibilities. Sock assessment, habitat protection, enforcement, enhancement and research are now not conducted at anything like the level that is necessary to properly sustain both the resource and the fisheries for which Canada is known. Departmental staff always have too much to do and not enough resources to enable them to properly undertake that which is expected of them by Canadians.

It is against that background that our association's membership is outraged to learn that in the past year and a half your government has paid $46 million in compensation to aquaculture companies in Atlantic Canada which have been ordered by a federal agency to destroy farmed salmon.

Your choice to compensate private aquaculture companies with tens of millions of taxpayers dollars against the consequences of unwise decisions related to site location and stocking densities while at the same time constantly reducing funding to the department tasked with managing the wild fishery resource and the many fisheries it can sustain is not one that the Canadian public can support. These spending priorities need to be reversed immediately, with compensation for disease outbreaks on salmon farms ended and funding adequate to allow DFO to do its job properly being restored quickly.

Harry Macdonald,

President,

Campbell River Guides Association

[Quinsam_Lose_Some]

Tax Bill For Fish Kills Rapped

Chronicle Herald

May 7, 2013 - 8:12pm
BRUCE ERSKINE Business Reporter

Compensation for destroyed salmon over $100 million, federation says

The Atlantic Salmon Federation stands by its allegation that taxpayers have paid the regional salmon farming industry more than $100 million in compensation for having to destroy diseased fish.

“We think it’s an underestimate,” association vice-president Sue Scott said Tuesday in an interview from Saint Andrews, N.B.

The federation has launched a media campaign, including full-page newspaper ads, which allege the federal government and the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador have paid open-pen salmon farmers at least $100 million in compensation between 1996 and 2012 for having to destroy more than 10 million fish infected with infectious salmon anemia.

Scott said the federation, which sees open-pen salmon farms as a threat to the revival of regional wild salmon stocks and to the marine environment in general, had a difficult time compiling its compensation figures.

“It was very hard to get,” she said, while suggesting that the compensation numbers aren’t something governments want the public to know.

“We spent time going through (federal) government and provincial records,” she said.

The federation said in 1996-1997 the aquaculture industry received $40.5 million in federal and New Brunswick government compensation following the first government-ordered kill of disease-infected salmon.

It said Ottawa and New Brunswick paid another $25 million to the salmon farming industry in 1999 under disaster financial assistance arrangements.

In 2006, the federation said the federal fisheries department, after two years of negotiations, contributed another $10 million to cover losses from the disease.

It estimated that governments paid $7 million in compensation to the salmon farming industry in 2007 and $26 million in 2012, when New Brunswick’s Cooke Aquaculture was recompensed for infectious salmon anemia-related kills at its Nova Scotia operations.

Scott said government compensation for destroying diseased fish doesn’t encourage good animal husbandry.

And she thought the recent Canadian Food Inspection Agency decision to allow salmon farmers to process and market infectious salmon anemia-infected salmon, which aren’t considered a threat to human health, might be part of an effort to avoid paying compensation to the industry.

Scott said the federation’s public awareness campaign has received a lot of feedback on Facebook and Twitter.

And while it hasn’t all been supportive, she said no one, including government and farmed salmon officials, has questioned the federation’s compensation numbers.

“We’ve never had any reaction from industry saying it’s wrong,” Scott said.

Pam Parker, executive director of the Atlantic Canada Fish Farmers Association, said she didn’t know where the federation got its numbers.

“I don’t have that information,” she said Tuesday.

Parker said government compensation for fish kills is similar to that given to beef and chicken farmers for animal culls.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada referred questions on the issue to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

Agency spokeswoman Elena Koutsavakis said it had no information about compensation paid to fish farms prior to January 2011, when it became responsible for responding to federally reportable aquatic animal diseases.

“Prior to that, the responsibility rested with either the province or the private sector,” she said.

Scott said the federation, which advocates land-based fish farms, was encouraged by the Nova Scotia government’s decision to review fish farm regulations.

[troutbreath]

Wednesday, Feb. 12: Federal government supports B.C. salmon
 Aquaculture moratorium continues; investments made in fishery: minister
 February 11, 2014
 
 Salmon on sale at The Salmon Shop inside the Granville Island Public Market in Vancouver Tuesday Aug. 13, 2013.
Photograph by: Ric Ernst, VANCOUVER SUNAquaculture is the fastest growing food production sector worldwide, now supplying over 50 per cent of the global demand for fish and seafood. In Canada, aquaculture is worth over $2 billion annually and employs more than 14,000 Canadians.

With the global demand for seafood expected to increase by seven per cent every year, it’s clear that aquaculture has great economic potential. The federal government supports aquaculture development that is both economically sound and environmentally responsible. Canada has a transparent regulatory system — one of the most rigorous in the world — to ensure that the industry is ecologically sustainable and protects our marine resources.

In 2011, our government made the decision not to allow expansion of aquaculture production until the Cohen Commission had reported its findings. What we are doing now is consistent with Justice Cohen’s recommendations on aquaculture: We are maintaining the moratorium on new developments in the Discovery Islands area, and are further investing in science.

Economic Action Plan 2013 included three major measures that directly respond to Justice Cohen’s recommendations. We committed $54 million that will help bolster our environmental protection in the aquaculture sector through science, an enhanced regulatory regime, and improved reporting.

We also introduced a new program to support recreational fisheries conservation activities through partnerships with community groups. Twenty-eight projects related to Pacific salmon in B.C., totalling $1.8 million, were approved in the first round of the program.

In addition, we are dedicating all revenue collected from the Salmon Conservation Stamp to the Pacific Salmon Foundation, which will mean approximately $1 million more every year to support the foundation’s work. All of these initiatives are in addition to our annual investments related to Pacific salmon. We invest more than $65 million per year, of which about $20 million is directly related to Fraser River sockeye.

After very low returns in 2009, more than 30 million sockeye returned to the Fraser River in 2010 — the most in almost a century. In 2013, the sockeye runs were above average and 26 million pink salmon returned, more than double what was expected. Other rivers saw similarly encouraging results.

Our government has recently decided to resume the review of applications for new aquaculture sites and amendments to existing sites in British Columbia, outside of the Discovery Islands area. I want to stress, however, that all applications that are received will continue to be carefully evaluated through the lens of environmental sustainability.

We are committed to protecting Pacific salmon, including Fraser River sockeye, and are confident that we can achieve that while allowing the aquaculture industry to thrive and create much needed jobs in rural areas and Aboriginal communities.

GAIL SHEA, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans

RANDY KAMP, MP for Pitt Meadows — Maple Ridge — Mission and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans.




Not sure how the $20 million for Sockeye fits in? The Cohen commision? Also the compensation for diseased farmed fish $100 million?

[dnibbles]

$65M is what DFO spends on salmon management each year. I'm not sure how they came to $20M for Fraser sockeye however, seems overly generous.