Executive Summary

Salmon aquaculture in British Columbia follows an intensive, industrial model, with detrimental effects on the pristine environment in which it is situated. This stands in sharp contrast to the way fish farming is practiced in most of the world. Eighty-five percent of global aquaculture production involves non-carnivorous species produced in land-based ponds for domestic markets. Most ponds are ecologically integrated into the agricultural, industrial, and community fabric; wastes, for instance, become fertilizers rather than pollutants.

The infant B.C. salmon netcage industry is part of a much smaller and more lucrative component of aquaculture, where publicly owned fresh and saltwater environments are used to subsidize intensive private feedlot operations that raise carnivorous species for export. The industry has been encouraged by governments because it provides new economic opportunities in coastal areas. However, these benefits are more than offset by a wide array of environmental and social costs. The costs include:

Risks of disease transfer from netcage fish to wild stocks, such as black cod, herring, and salmon, and in particular to large numbers of migrating Fraser River salmon

Risks of introduction of exotic diseases from the continued importation of Atlantic salmon

Pollution from fish sewage, similar in magnitude to the sewage from a city of about half a million people, with associated disease risks, contamination of shellfish, and loss of habitat

Death, wounding, and harassment of mammal and bird populations due to shootings, net entanglements, and acoustic deterrent devices

Loss of access to traditional fisheries for First Nations people, with increased risks to their health from exposure to drug residues from food collected near netcage operations

Competition for spawning beds and genetic interaction between wild and escaped salmon in fresh and salt water

Lost access to anchorages and pristine scenery for sportfishing, recreation, and tourism

Loss of revenue for commercial fishermen due to lower salmon prices, and risks to future revenue for commercial and sportfisheries because of potential declines in wild stocks

Potential health problems for fish farm workers from the handling of drugs
Losses in quality of access for foreshore users from odours, visual pollution, and danger from gunfire

Costs to taxpayers from government regulatory costs and an array of cash subsidies to the industry

Losses of wild fish, such as herring and juvenile salmon, consumed by netcage fish

Endangered human health from the increased use of antibiotics and other drugs, which have already led to the spread of fish diseases that are fully resistant to three types of antibiotics

The net loss of food (four pounds of fish protein are consumed for every pound of netcage salmon produced)

The combination of public subsidies, human health issues, pollution, threats to native stocks from disease and habitat damage, and net consumption rather than production of protein demonstrates that the existing salmon netcage industry in B.C. is not sustainable. The David Suzuki Foundation therefore recommends the following policy changes:

Replace open cages with closed containment systems.

Use native salmon only; prohibit the use of exotic species.

Eliminate discharge of fish sewage (zero discharge).

Fully monitor drug use and the spread of drug-resistant diseases.

Require systematic testing by communities for diseases among farmed and wild fish, to be fully funded by industry.

Institute mandatory insurance for operators to cover full ecological restoration costs of disease epidemics, escapes, genetic pollution, and other catastrophic events.

Require industry-developed and funded site reclamation plans.

Introduce a resource-use rent (royalty) for salmon farmers.

Introduce single-window access to public funds, which will be audited and made public.

Develop and use a process for gaining the agreement of coastal communities and First Nations regarding the siting of all existing or proposed aquaculture operations.

Prohibit the use of firearms and acoustic deterrent devices that harass marine mammals, and require the use of technologies that safely separate local wildlife from salmon farming operations.

Eliminate the use of fish that could be used as human food as the primary feed for farmed salmon.

The David Suzuki Foundation Recommendations

British Columbia's salmon farming industry has grown rapidly. It generates value for investors and economic activity that is needed in coastal areas of the province hurt by declines in employment in the fishing and forest industries. However, the specific form of aquaculture practiced in B.C. - the high-density rearing of carnivorous fish in netcages suspended in highly productive public waters - means that benefits are offset by high current and future costs to a much broader population.

Economic gains for some have been achieved at the expense of other users of the coastal marine environment, who receive no compensation for their losses. Of even greater significance are the potential for catastrophic damage to the health and vitality of B.C.'s wild fisheries and the risks to human health.

This industry has grown with little public information or input, and scant consideration for current public costs and the potential for massive losses that would be borne by the biophysical environment and the community as a whole. This outdated model - the use of common property for industrial growth, with narrow private benefit at the expense of society - is unacceptable in British Columbia and Canada today. For these reasons, The David Suzuki Foundation recommends the following policy changes to provide a safe and equitable operating framework for the B.C. salmon aquaculture industry.

Replace open cages with a closed containment system for the farmed salmon no later than December 31, 1999. This could involve the use of multiple impermeable membranes with controlled flows between the farm and its external environment, or a land-based approach, such as that used in most of the world's aquaculture. Appropriate fail-safe and safe-fail technology must be applied to prevent the escape of farmed salmon and the transmission of diseases between farmed and wild fish. This requirement would apply to all the freshwater and saltwater stages of the aquaculture process.
Immediately prohibit the importation of Atlantic salmon eggs. After the current crop of Atlantic salmon is harvested, replacement stocks must come only from native species.

Eliminate the discharge of fish sewage into water through the mandatory use of waste management systems with secondary and tertiary treatment. Treated waste should be used in agriculture if possible, provided that levels of drugs and chemicals are acceptable.

Protect public health through full monitoring of the use of drugs and the spread of diseases resistant to medications. These data must be provided to the public.

Institute cradle-to-cradle testing by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for disease among farmed and wild populations.

Institute mandatory insurance carried by the industry to cover full ecological restoration for damages resulting from disease transfer, escapes, genetic pollution, or other catastrophic events. The burden of risk must be carried by the developer, rather than the public.

Require operators to prepare, at their expense, reclamation plans designed to return each site to its original condition. The work should be conducted by an independent contractor drawn from an approved list. The projected restoration cost should be paid in escrow by the operator and backed up by an industry revolving fund.

Require operators to pay a royalty, or resource-use rent, to the Crown that fully covers Crown monitoring and regulation costs and reflects the opportunity cost borne by potential alternative users of the coastal environment.

This "finnage" fee would be analogous to the stumpage fee paid by the forest industry.

Make public funding of the industry available only through a "single window"; funding should be audited quarterly and made public.

Develop and utilize a process to gain the agreement of B.C. coastal communities and First Nations regarding the siting of all existing and proposed aquaculture operations. The objective would be to reduce conflicts with other users of the coast, both human and wildlife, and to maximize local opportunities and integration with the regional economy.

Prohibit the possession and discharge of firearms, ban the use of acoustic deterrent devices that harass marine mammals, and require the use of technologies that safely separate local wildlife from salmon farm operations.

Eliminate the use of fish suitable for human consumption as the primary food for farmed salmon. In Canada it is illegal to produce meal from fish that can be used for human food. B.C.'s salmon farming industry skirts Canadian law by importing meal derived from Third World fish that could instead be used for human consumption.