Fisheries Minister wrong to recommend expansion of salmon farming in BC

January 8, 2002 - VANCOUVER - Fisheries Minister John van Dongen’s recommendation that salmon farming in BC should be expanded at the same time that he confirmed more escapes from farms in Clayoquot Sound is incredulous and short-sighted, the David Suzuki Foundation said today.

“In the same breath that Mr. van Dongen told the media that yet more escapes have occurred, he asserted that he intends to lift the moratorium on salmon farm expansion. From an ecological perspective, this is unbelievable,” said Lynn Hunter, the Suzuki Foundation’s fisheries and aquaculture specialist.

While the BC government and salmon farmers continue to claim that a 1997 provincial report, the Salmon Aquaculture Review , advocates industry expansion, many people including the federal Auditor General, leading fisheries scientists and a former judge who studied the industry have challenged this interpretation.

“It is beyond time that the public and the media challenge industry advocates on this issue,” said Ms. Hunter. “Since the Salmon Aquaculture Review was published, production at BC salmon farms has more than doubled. This is how industry has gotten around the moratorium, and as we can see from these continuous escapes it is having serious environmental consequences.”

In the past week, at least two salmon farms in Clayoquot Sound have reported significant escapes. The federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans allowed a special opening for fishermen to try and catch the escaped fish which has proved fruitless, a DFO official confirmed.

"Most of these fish will never be seen from again. That tends to be our experience," federal fisheries spokesman Andy Thomson, who heads the department's Atlantic Salmon Watch program told reporters.

“Here we have a DFO official responsible for monitoring Atlantic salmon confirming that these fish will now enter local ecosystems but our provincial fisheries minister is not at all concerned and assures us that soon he will lift the five-year moratorium.

“Well this is cold comfort for those of us concerned about the impact of this introduced species in our waters,” said Ms. Hunter.

In October, many scientists and professors told the Leggatt Inquiry into Salmon Farming in BC that the provincial and federal governments’ approach to salmon aquaculture is seriously flawed yet both ministers choose to ignore these professional opinions, Ms. Hunter added.

“We call on concerned citizens to contact their elected representatives to tell them that this industry must not expand until it can operate in an ecologically responsible manner, which includes containment of an introduced, exotic species,” she said.

For more information, please contact Lynn Hunter at 250-479-0937 or Jean Kavanagh at 604-732-4228.