Aquaculture improving?..The Fish Farm Thread
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Aces
Well-Known Member
DiCaprio's take on open-net salmon farms met with disagreement
Several groups respond with dissatisfaction to Leonardo DiCaprio's take on 'open-net salmon farms' in B.C., on social media.
vancouver.citynews.ca
It's going the way I figured it'd go 4-5 years ago - politically. As I posted at: https://sportfishingbc.com/conversations/congratulations.96716/#convMessage-128178DiCaprio's take on open-net salmon farms met with disagreement
Several groups respond with dissatisfaction to Leonardo DiCaprio's take on 'open-net salmon farms' in B.C., on social media.
maybe. maybe ill live long enough to see a transition. maybe not. Sometimes things happen quicker than one ever thought possible. Sometimes it is all smoke and mirrors. Politics is a funny monster. That's why I see how democracy, or consensus-based governance - as opposed to our current form of corruption that we like to pretend is democracy - is the only sustainable way forward. This clip reminds me of politician decisions:
Politicians - they are at least predictable.
Someone had to post this ...
https://seawestnews.com/mega-science-review-showcases-the-realities-of-salmon-farming-in-bc/
https://seawestnews.com/mega-science-review-showcases-the-realities-of-salmon-farming-in-bc/
Paid off by govt or paid off by fish farms. Pick your poison.
Some rather obvious disingenuous half-truths & misdirection in that document in just a cursory look and critique:
P.1-10 Fig. 5: "Prior to transfer fish are screened for potential diseases". Prior to transfer fish are screened for some CFIA-acknowledged reportable diseases, but not PRv & Tenacibaculum & other disease vectors; and even the presence of PRv doesn't disqualify from stocking them out in the very open net-pens, neither. That was the basis of these court actions:
P.1-11 Fig. 6, Seawater Pens Points 8 thru 13. They only look after FARMED fish health not the adjacent WILD salmon; and all those wonderful records are protected by the Privacy Act, apparently - as far as DFO is concerned.
P.1-12: "Very little is known about the mechanisms that control Pacific salmon abundances in the ocean". OMFG! Maybe the BCSFA doesn't know much - doesn't mean the rest of us are as disinterested and uninformed. No talk about Ocean Survival Rates and how the ONP industry affects this neither.
P.1-17: "It takes about 1.15 to 1.2 kilograms of feed to produce 1 kilogram of farm-raised salmon". It takes about 1.15 to 1.2 kilograms of DRY feed made up of ~4.5 kg of WET feed products to produce 1 kilogram of WET farm-raised salmon.
P.1-18: "Once operational, farms must follow all laws to protect fish, fish habitat and wildlife.". Except of course DFO doesn't force them to protect critical nearshore rearing habitat for juvenile salmon - something that Cohen forced on them in the Discovery Islands.
Only 18 pages in and I've had enuff of this PR piece. You get the idea, anyways.
You never even mention the 51 million per year that these five nations are getting, where is that evident? Would that not be like a million or more per family after 20 years? There is no money trail at all.
Is there any evidence of these kinds of fish farms 100 years ago? There were a couple of smaller operations around for quite awhile, family operations but when corporate greed MOWI gets involved the only share holders count, they are not beholding to anything but making the buck.
Was there any mention of antibiotics? My brother worked in a fish feed plant, they added antibiotics in massive amounts, tons and giga litres. They also had to wear special protection.
Now the FF will prey on "we are feeding the world" and expect all the good Canadians to sacrifice the wild stocks for the greater good.
It guess you could argue that they, the Icelandic, have been the stewards of the salmon there, even if only for just over 1000 years.
Has anyone ever tested salmon from the store for toxins? Or other impurities that would not be found in wild salmon?
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Bit of a Pandora's box there, as well. Short version: Yes and yes. Roughly double or more the contaminants in farmed fish on average:
Risk-Based Consumption Advice for Farmed Atlantic and Wild Pacific Salmon Contaminated with Dioxins and Dioxin-like Compounds
We reported recently that several organic contaminants occurred at elevated concentrations in farmed Atlantic salmon compared with concentrations of the same contaminants in wild Pacific salmon [Hites et al. Science 303:226–229 (2004)]. We also ...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
I read the contamination report.Bit of a Pandora's box there, as well. Short version: Yes and yes. Roughly double or more the contaminants in farmed fish on average:
Risk-Based Consumption Advice for Farmed Atlantic and Wild Pacific Salmon Contaminated with Dioxins and Dioxin-like Compounds
We reported recently that several organic contaminants occurred at elevated concentrations in farmed Atlantic salmon compared with concentrations of the same contaminants in wild Pacific salmon [Hites et al. Science 303:226–229 (2004)]. We also ...
Have there been any others?
I also saw that the tests were skin on. Now Atlantic salmon are sold skinless. I wonder if that was an attempt to lower levels of contamination.
But it does point to a potential increase of cancer risk. Certainly for people that salmon is a regular meal
wildmanyeah
Crew Member
As open-net farming ban looms, B.C. salmon farmers ask federal government to release transition plans
JAMIE MAHVANCOUVFER
PUBLISHED 7 HOURS AGO
Open this photo in gallery:
The Okisollo fish farm near Campbell River, B.C. on Oct. 31, 2018.JONATHAN HAYWARD/THE CANADIAN PRESS
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Fish farmers in British Columbia are asking the federal government to either extend a deadline that will end the practice of open-net salmon farming, forcing their businesses to close, or to release a transition plan to ensure operators know what their future holds.
Open-net farms, in which salmon are raised in nets or cages that are placed in offshore waters, were due to be phased out by next year, in keeping with a promise Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made during the 2019 election campaign over concerns the farms were hazardous to the health of wild fish stocks.
But last June, Ottawa shelved the release of a draft transition plan toward land-based production. Then last month Fisheries Minister Diane Lebouthillier said her government is “not shutting down any more farms” for now. Environmentalists have been critical about the government’s delay, and the mixed messages have left fish-farm operators unsure about whether their businesses can continue to operate.
Of 85 salmon farms operating along B.C.’s west coast, 66 of them are seeking renewals of licences that expire June 30, industry representatives say.
“It’s a foundation of my community,” said Isaiah Robinson, deputy chief of the Kitasoo Xai’xias Nation and a member of the Coalition of First Nations for Finfish Stewardship. Shutting down the fish farms “would completely cause major destruction.”
In the early 1970s, his community had an employment rate of 5 per cent, Mr. Robinson said. That’s now at 99 per cent, with more than half of that based on the farm operated by the Kitasoo Development Corporation on behalf of Mowi, a Norwegian company. “This has taken us out of poverty.”
In a statement, Athina Vazeos, a spokesperson for DFO, said consultations wrapped up a month ago, but no decisions have been made about the 66 licences.
Brian Kingzett, executive director of the BC Salmon Farmers Association, said he would like to see an extension and/or a defined transition plan from the DFO.
His organization has partnered with the Coalition of First Nations for Finfish Stewardship to compile a 500-page report to bolster their argument that fish farms are a vital employer of Indigenous and rural British Columbians and that the decision to shut the farms down is based on outdated information.
“Some of our communities have noticed knowledge or information gaps regarding modern salmon farming,” said Dallas Smith, a spokesman for the coalition and a member of the Tlowitsis Nation.
For example, the farms have been blamed for enabling the proliferation of sea lice on wild salmon, endangering the Pacific species. But, the report states, there has been significant advances in understanding and managing sea lice and tens of millions of dollars has been poured into research, leading to changed practices.
One recent survey of data compiled from DFO and university researchers, salmon farmers and several non-governmental organizations found that 86 per cent of all sampled salmon had none or just one sea louse.
“This is a new sector, and it is changing rapidly. It is innovating rapidly. And some of the arguments that we see in the press, we see activists using on their social media, are things that have been corrected, both in regulation and innovation and progress,” Mr. Kingzett said.
However, opponents of fish farming in British Columbia say the report, entitled Modern Salmon Farming in B.C.: A Review, lacks credibility.
First Nations chiefs urge Trudeau to step in to phase out salmon farms
Bob Chamberlin, chairman of the First Nation Wild Salmon Alliance, said the review is another example of fish farmers marking their own homework.
“To me, it’s just another obfuscation that everything’s okay. We need independent review, we need independent analysis,” he said.
Mr. Chamberlin worries pro-farming reviews such as the recent report could sway the Department of Fisheries and Oceans into granting licence extensions past 2025.
“It’s really troubling to see that a small group of First Nations with the backing of an international company are going to be listened to more than the aboriginal rights and the majority of First Nations in B.C.”
In 2018, Mr. Chamberlin led a group opposing open-net fish farms and won an agreement with the B.C. government and the aquaculture industry to remove 10 of 17 fish farms in the Broughton Archipelago off the north coast of Vancouver Island. They were closed by 2022. Then, on March 7, 2023, the ‘Namgis, Kwikwasut’inuxw Haxwa’mis and Mamalilikulla First Nations (the Broughton First Nations), decided they wanted the remaining seven farms, of which they retained occupational control, closed as well.
According to the fish farmers’ report, as of February 2022 the sector directly or indirectly employs 700 Indigenous workers and has provided $42-million to Indigenous communities every year.
“For most of these communities, those benefits cannot be replaced, and the threat of losing them via government closures is a real threat to their social safety,” the report states.
Aces
Well-Known Member
Barf!As open-net farming ban looms, B.C. salmon farmers ask federal government to release transition plans
JAMIE MAH
VANCOUVFER
PUBLISHED 7 HOURS AGO
Open this photo in gallery:
The Okisollo fish farm near Campbell River, B.C. on Oct. 31, 2018.JONATHAN HAYWARD/THE CANADIAN PRESS
COMMENTS
SHARE
BOOKMARK
Fish farmers in British Columbia are asking the federal government to either extend a deadline that will end the practice of open-net salmon farming, forcing their businesses to close, or to release a transition plan to ensure operators know what their future holds.
Open-net farms, in which salmon are raised in nets or cages that are placed in offshore waters, were due to be phased out by next year, in keeping with a promise Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made during the 2019 election campaign over concerns the farms were hazardous to the health of wild fish stocks.
But last June, Ottawa shelved the release of a draft transition plan toward land-based production. Then last month Fisheries Minister Diane Lebouthillier said her government is “not shutting down any more farms” for now. Environmentalists have been critical about the government’s delay, and the mixed messages have left fish-farm operators unsure about whether their businesses can continue to operate.
Of 85 salmon farms operating along B.C.’s west coast, 66 of them are seeking renewals of licences that expire June 30, industry representatives say.
“It’s a foundation of my community,” said Isaiah Robinson, deputy chief of the Kitasoo Xai’xias Nation and a member of the Coalition of First Nations for Finfish Stewardship. Shutting down the fish farms “would completely cause major destruction.”
In the early 1970s, his community had an employment rate of 5 per cent, Mr. Robinson said. That’s now at 99 per cent, with more than half of that based on the farm operated by the Kitasoo Development Corporation on behalf of Mowi, a Norwegian company. “This has taken us out of poverty.”
In a statement, Athina Vazeos, a spokesperson for DFO, said consultations wrapped up a month ago, but no decisions have been made about the 66 licences.
Brian Kingzett, executive director of the BC Salmon Farmers Association, said he would like to see an extension and/or a defined transition plan from the DFO.
His organization has partnered with the Coalition of First Nations for Finfish Stewardship to compile a 500-page report to bolster their argument that fish farms are a vital employer of Indigenous and rural British Columbians and that the decision to shut the farms down is based on outdated information.
“Some of our communities have noticed knowledge or information gaps regarding modern salmon farming,” said Dallas Smith, a spokesman for the coalition and a member of the Tlowitsis Nation.
For example, the farms have been blamed for enabling the proliferation of sea lice on wild salmon, endangering the Pacific species. But, the report states, there has been significant advances in understanding and managing sea lice and tens of millions of dollars has been poured into research, leading to changed practices.
One recent survey of data compiled from DFO and university researchers, salmon farmers and several non-governmental organizations found that 86 per cent of all sampled salmon had none or just one sea louse.
“This is a new sector, and it is changing rapidly. It is innovating rapidly. And some of the arguments that we see in the press, we see activists using on their social media, are things that have been corrected, both in regulation and innovation and progress,” Mr. Kingzett said.
However, opponents of fish farming in British Columbia say the report, entitled Modern Salmon Farming in B.C.: A Review, lacks credibility.
First Nations chiefs urge Trudeau to step in to phase out salmon farms
Bob Chamberlin, chairman of the First Nation Wild Salmon Alliance, said the review is another example of fish farmers marking their own homework.
“To me, it’s just another obfuscation that everything’s okay. We need independent review, we need independent analysis,” he said.
Mr. Chamberlin worries pro-farming reviews such as the recent report could sway the Department of Fisheries and Oceans into granting licence extensions past 2025.
“It’s really troubling to see that a small group of First Nations with the backing of an international company are going to be listened to more than the aboriginal rights and the majority of First Nations in B.C.”
In 2018, Mr. Chamberlin led a group opposing open-net fish farms and won an agreement with the B.C. government and the aquaculture industry to remove 10 of 17 fish farms in the Broughton Archipelago off the north coast of Vancouver Island. They were closed by 2022. Then, on March 7, 2023, the ‘Namgis, Kwikwasut’inuxw Haxwa’mis and Mamalilikulla First Nations (the Broughton First Nations), decided they wanted the remaining seven farms, of which they retained occupational control, closed as well.
According to the fish farmers’ report, as of February 2022 the sector directly or indirectly employs 700 Indigenous workers and has provided $42-million to Indigenous communities every year.
“For most of these communities, those benefits cannot be replaced, and the threat of losing them via government closures is a real threat to their social safety,” the report states.
salmonkiller01
Well-Known Member
The plan is either go 100% closed containment or leave! That should help them
rockdog
Well-Known Member
Listen to the clip if you are interested, it's about 12 minutes but its quite interesting.
DFO study shows interbreeding between wild and farmed salmon on the East coast as a major reason for decline, along with sea lice and pathogens such as ISA. He says that "it's not really IF there is an impact, I think we are well beyond that now. The impact is very hard to quantify."
Here we are here about to renew licenses. DFO needs to be better.
Whole in the Water
Well-Known Member
Despite all the evidence against net pen fish farms, the govt' lies about getting rid of them, the endless incompetence and corruption of DFO hiding information, and silencing their own scientists when they have evidence against net pen fish farms - and yet their are still people that support them - mind boggling it is!
From the Front Page of this morning's Globe and Mail
IAN BAILEY
OTTAWA
PUBLISHED 3 HOURS AGO
The Public Sector Integrity Commissioner is launching an investigation into allegations that senior federal fisheries officials attempted to silence scientists involved in research related to the threat of open-net fish farms to Pacific salmon.
In a letter obtained by The Globe and Mail, Harriet Solloway says she has determined a probe into the conduct of Department of Fisheries and Oceans officials is warranted. She was responding to concerns raised by Tony Allard, chair of Wild Salmon Forever, a B.C.-based conservation group that wants to move fish farms out of the Pacific Ocean.
Such fish farms are controversial because of the dangers they can pose to wild salmon, including through disease and parasitic sea lice that can attach to young fish as they make their way to the ocean from the lakes and streams where they were born.
Ms. Solloway writes in the April 23 letter that department officials may have seriously breached the Values and Ethics Code for the Public Sector and policy “by attempting to silence scientists through reprimands, to dissuade them from communicating with the media and the public about their research.”
She also writes that she is looking into whether the officials under review attempted to obstruct or influence the testimony of department scientists before the House of Commons standing committee on fisheries and oceans.
The letter says that officials under investigation include Lesley MacDougall, science adviser and division manager at the Aquaculture Management Directorate, and Arran McPherson, assistant deputy minister of ecosystems and oceans science.
Ms. MacDougall and Ms. McPherson did not respond to requests for comment from The Globe.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a 2019 commitment to phase out B.C. ocean-pen farms by 2025 over concerns about risks they present to wild salmon owing to the transmission of diseases and sea lice to the wild fish.
A transition report on the policy expected last summer was delayed, though the department says it remains committed to the policy. Still, conservationists and Indigenous groups are concerned that the Liberal government is backing off its commitment to phase out the open-net farms. As of last November, there were 57 salmon farms on the Pacific coast.
Mr. Allard welcomed the commissioner’s probe.
“We are extremely pleased the Commissioner is investigating those responsible for the crisis of trust in DFO’s science. We’re disheartened her investigation is necessary,” he said in a statement, referring to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
“We hope the Commissioner’s investigation will prompt government to the important work of restoring public trust in DFO science.”
Vancouver lawyer Sean Jones, speaking for Mr. Allard, said his client had expressed concerns to the commissioner about DFO managers consistently interfering with attempts by department scientists to communicate the results of their research when that research showed that open net-pen feedlots cause harm to populations of wild Pacific salmon.
Mr. Jones said that Mr. Allard made the case that the managers, among other allegations, prevented scientists from publishing their findings, refused to disclose information when requested under the Access to Information Act and reprimanded scientists for speaking to reporters.
But the Fisheries Department defended its approach to issues, even though it declined comment on the specifics of the investigation.
“The department continues to take concrete steps to ensure transparent, impartial and evidence-based peer review and scientific advice for decision-makers,” Kathryn Hallett, a department spokesperson, said in a statement.
“We take any instance where allegations of misconduct are received seriously, including from outside parties. However, it would be inappropriate for DFO to comment on individual cases.”
Meanwhile, another DFO spokesperson said the department remains committed to the 2025 deadline for transitioning from open net-pen salmon farming in coastal British Columbia waters.
“We know that Pacific salmon stocks are fragile, and that protecting them will have long-term benefits for the entire West Coast. We continue to work on a responsible transition plan that protects Pacific salmon, while supporting workers and their communities,” Jérémy Collard said in a statement.
He said that federal Fisheries Minister Diane Lebouthillier and her office continue to have meaningful conversations with all stakeholders involved, including the B.C. government and Indigenous communities, “about the next steps in this important file.”
In her April letter, Ms. Solloway promised an investigation conducted “as informally and expeditiously as possible,” and noted her office is compelled to protect the identity of all parties involved in the probe.
Bronwyn Johns-O’Hara, communications manager for the Integrity Commissioner, declined to comment on the decision to proceed with an investigation or any other aspect of the matter, citing office policies.
From the Front Page of this morning's Globe and Mail
IAN BAILEY
OTTAWA
PUBLISHED 3 HOURS AGO
The Public Sector Integrity Commissioner is launching an investigation into allegations that senior federal fisheries officials attempted to silence scientists involved in research related to the threat of open-net fish farms to Pacific salmon.
In a letter obtained by The Globe and Mail, Harriet Solloway says she has determined a probe into the conduct of Department of Fisheries and Oceans officials is warranted. She was responding to concerns raised by Tony Allard, chair of Wild Salmon Forever, a B.C.-based conservation group that wants to move fish farms out of the Pacific Ocean.
Such fish farms are controversial because of the dangers they can pose to wild salmon, including through disease and parasitic sea lice that can attach to young fish as they make their way to the ocean from the lakes and streams where they were born.
Ms. Solloway writes in the April 23 letter that department officials may have seriously breached the Values and Ethics Code for the Public Sector and policy “by attempting to silence scientists through reprimands, to dissuade them from communicating with the media and the public about their research.”
She also writes that she is looking into whether the officials under review attempted to obstruct or influence the testimony of department scientists before the House of Commons standing committee on fisheries and oceans.
The letter says that officials under investigation include Lesley MacDougall, science adviser and division manager at the Aquaculture Management Directorate, and Arran McPherson, assistant deputy minister of ecosystems and oceans science.
Ms. MacDougall and Ms. McPherson did not respond to requests for comment from The Globe.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a 2019 commitment to phase out B.C. ocean-pen farms by 2025 over concerns about risks they present to wild salmon owing to the transmission of diseases and sea lice to the wild fish.
A transition report on the policy expected last summer was delayed, though the department says it remains committed to the policy. Still, conservationists and Indigenous groups are concerned that the Liberal government is backing off its commitment to phase out the open-net farms. As of last November, there were 57 salmon farms on the Pacific coast.
Mr. Allard welcomed the commissioner’s probe.
“We are extremely pleased the Commissioner is investigating those responsible for the crisis of trust in DFO’s science. We’re disheartened her investigation is necessary,” he said in a statement, referring to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
“We hope the Commissioner’s investigation will prompt government to the important work of restoring public trust in DFO science.”
Vancouver lawyer Sean Jones, speaking for Mr. Allard, said his client had expressed concerns to the commissioner about DFO managers consistently interfering with attempts by department scientists to communicate the results of their research when that research showed that open net-pen feedlots cause harm to populations of wild Pacific salmon.
Mr. Jones said that Mr. Allard made the case that the managers, among other allegations, prevented scientists from publishing their findings, refused to disclose information when requested under the Access to Information Act and reprimanded scientists for speaking to reporters.
But the Fisheries Department defended its approach to issues, even though it declined comment on the specifics of the investigation.
“The department continues to take concrete steps to ensure transparent, impartial and evidence-based peer review and scientific advice for decision-makers,” Kathryn Hallett, a department spokesperson, said in a statement.
“We take any instance where allegations of misconduct are received seriously, including from outside parties. However, it would be inappropriate for DFO to comment on individual cases.”
Meanwhile, another DFO spokesperson said the department remains committed to the 2025 deadline for transitioning from open net-pen salmon farming in coastal British Columbia waters.
“We know that Pacific salmon stocks are fragile, and that protecting them will have long-term benefits for the entire West Coast. We continue to work on a responsible transition plan that protects Pacific salmon, while supporting workers and their communities,” Jérémy Collard said in a statement.
He said that federal Fisheries Minister Diane Lebouthillier and her office continue to have meaningful conversations with all stakeholders involved, including the B.C. government and Indigenous communities, “about the next steps in this important file.”
In her April letter, Ms. Solloway promised an investigation conducted “as informally and expeditiously as possible,” and noted her office is compelled to protect the identity of all parties involved in the probe.
Bronwyn Johns-O’Hara, communications manager for the Integrity Commissioner, declined to comment on the decision to proceed with an investigation or any other aspect of the matter, citing office policies.
ship happens
Crew Member
Just ran across this stuff that's from a FF that is being shut down. 50gal drums of this beautiful stuff. Yum yum dimsum
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