Fish Farm trouble in BC.

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agentaqua said:
Horgan's tone on salmon farming 'unsettling': Marine Harvest
Marine Harvest put on notice it could lose one of its tenures, due to First Nation opposition
By Nelson Bennett | Oct. 18
https://www.biv.com/article/2017/10/horgans-tone-salmon-farming-unsettling-marine-harv/2017,
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You really gotta wonder about this Ian Roberts as Marine Harvests puppet. Does he actually believe what he says? I had a little disagreement with him about the product he was promoting at a 'health show' a few years back. I told him it was ironic that Atlantic salmon were at the show being promoted as healthy...good times.

I don't really feel sorry for the farms. Keeping status quo is totally unacceptable, and if Ian Roberts feels closed containment isn't an option, then pack up and leave...really, it's that simple.
 
rockdog said:
I'm no thanks sure if this study has been posted yet. It gives a great time line and contains very good information. After reading, it would convince a person undecided on what the issues are and why farms are bad.

https://thetyee.ca/News/2017/03/04/Norwegian-Disease-BC-Fish-Farm/
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Hello forum Fish Farm Supporters above is a very interesting article that raises some serious concerns about net pen salmon farms. To better understand both side of the debate it would be helpful if fish farm supporters on this forum were to please provide some reasoned critique, backed up with data for the following statements (article highlights) made in this article listed below:

Please inform forum members of what you understand to be the truth around these issues listed below.
  • New research http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/related?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0171471 by an international group of fishery scientists has detected a nasty heart disease, first identified in Norway, on a British Columbia fish farm in the Discovery Islands. And the study revealed that dying fish with similar heart lesions had been retrieved from other farms in the same region between 2011 and 2013
  • Second, the study not only confirmed the presence of HSMI in B.C. coastal waters — something industry and government have long denied — but showed a clear link between piscine reovirus (PRV) and the disease. “PRV was the only agent detected in heart tissue that was correlated with HSMI lesions in the heart,” the study found. And that’s a problem because the PRV has been present in B.C.’s industrial fish farms and hatcheries for years. Industry has long maintained not only that HSMI is not present in B.C., but that piscine reovirus behaves differently here and has not been established as a cause of the disease.
  • But the paper reports there have been numerous cases of HSMI-like lesions in farmed fish since 2002, and most were likely HSMI. And the study revealed that dying fish with similar heart lesions had been retrieved from other farms in the same region between 2011 and 2013
  • The study also explained why the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), the industry regulator, probably failed to detect the disease: it didn’t sample enough fish or at the right time.
  • In addition, B.C. doesn’t use the international standard definition of HSMI for diagnosis, the study noted, instead using its own unique definition.
  • In 2013, provincial government fish pathologist Gary Marty stated in an affidavit used by Marine Harvest that “PRV is common in farmed Atlantic salmon and farmed Pacific salmon, but HSMI does not occur in B.C.”
  • But the study, which examined healthy, sick and dead fish from one farm over an 18-month period, confirmed that HSMI and PRV travel together even in B.C.
  • And in a 2016 presentation to a parliamentary committee, Kristi Miller, a respected DFO fish pathologist and one of the authors of the new study, noted that until recently, the DFO has shown little interest in researching impacts on wild fish while industry has often prevented access to farmed fish for disease studies. “At present, the department relies heavily on information that the industry provides to determine, for example, what pathogens and diseases to focus risk assessments on,” she told the committee. “There are not, to date, any provisions to enable scientists to conduct risk assessments to sample fish on farms unless the industry agrees to provide them.”
    Under Canadian law, it is illegal to transfer diseased or infected fish from holding pens or hatcheries into ocean waters in Canada — yet that’s now a daily reality in B.C.’s farmed fish industry.
  • In 2015 a federal judge ruled that DFO couldn’t download its responsibilities for fish health to the industry, letting corporations decide when and how to transfer diseased fish. In addition, the judge said the government must respect the precautionary principle and test all farmed fish prior to being transferred to ocean pens for the PRV virus.
  • Marine Harvest and the federal government appealed — the government later dropped its effort — and the practice continues.
  • About 80 per cent of farmed fish test positive for PRV, and that inconvenient reality is now the subject of another lawsuit launched last year by biologist and wild salmon advocate Alexandra Morton against the minister of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Given the clarity of the law and the 2015 ruling, Morton wants the DFO to test farmed smolts for PRV before they are introduced to the ocean. Despite the 2015 federal court ruling, the DFO has refused to do so.
Looking forward to some thoughtful replies back up with research and data and some interesting debates on this.
 
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bigdogeh said:
Something tells me they'll be back...
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Yup..when the weather breaks;)

What happens when "they" target the next businesses ,whatever those may be? that "they" dont like?
This is a very slippery slope people..
Ya this is a sportfishing forum and most against ff but,
Be careful what you wish for

As for ff they are easily moved to the next bay in a "native territory?" that welcomes them..and to hell with the governments that may or may not ok the permits to operate..
most here are in agreement with them doing what they want in their territory...no?
All bs if you ask me

Hell the "bands" cant even agree with each other regarding overlapping "territorys"
for crying out loud..

Rant over
 
SpringFever552 said:
Yup..when the weather breaks;)

What happens when "they" target the next businesses ,whatever those may be? that "they" dont like?
This is a very slippery slope people..
Ya this is a sportfishing forum and most against ff but,
Be careful what you wish for

As for ff they are easily moved to the next bay in a "native territory?" that welcomes them..and to hell with the governments that may or may not ok the permits to operate..
most here are in agreement with them doing what they want in their territory...no?
All bs if you ask me

Hell the "bands" cant even agree with each other regarding overlapping "territorys"
for crying out loud..

Rant over
Click to expand...

Yup, its a slippery slope for sport fishers:

http://blog.farmfreshsalmon.org/?p=815
 
Its funny we are sitting here aligning with anti-fish farm guys like Georgia straight alliance and watershed watch. Then same day they post up recommendation to shut Chinook fishing down in separate articles about whales. mmmmmm. They all coordinate it at the same time. Have to be careful of these groups. We are playing with fire.
 
It sure would be nice if we could address the issues and not the latest shiny object on the scene.
 
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