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U.S. court rules salmon farms pollute the oceanJune 2, 2003 - VANCOUVER - A U.S. federal court decision confirming that net-cage salmon farms do pollute the marine environment and damage the ocean floor is further evidence that the industry on Canada’s East and West coasts must be converted to safe, closed-containment systems, says the David Suzuki Foundation. Stolt Sea Farms, one of the companies fined $50,000 in Maine and ordered to halt operations for up to three years, is one of the major salmon farming companies operating in BC and Atlantic Canada. If a U.S. judge has found their floating net cages – or feedlots – have damaged the marine environment and ocean bottom in Maine then obviously they do the same in Canadian waters, said Otto Langer, director of the Suzuki Foundation’s marine conservation program. "This judge has ordered Stolt and Atlantic Salmon of Maine to empty their fish pens so that bays polluted by them and endangered wild Atlantic salmon have a chance to recover," said Mr. Langer. "He was unequivocal in his decision that these salmon farms are polluting the marine environment and damaging the ocean bottom. How long will it take for our federal and provincial governments to heed such evidence and act to protect Canada’s marine heritage?" Judge Gene Carter said the companies must stop discharging pollutants into the Atlantic ocean and he criticized the U.S. government for not properly regulating the industry. He barred the companies from growing non-North Atlantic salmon stocks to prevent fish that escape from interbreeding with the endangered wild stocks. While it is highly unlikely that escaped Atlantic salmon from BC farms would breed with Pacific stocks, it will happen on Canada’s East coast, Mr. Langer said. Many stocks of Pacific salmon are threatened and competition for habitat and food with escaped Atlantics in BC waters is a reality here as is the possibility of farmed Pacific salmon breeding with wild Pacific stocks, he added. "This industry has been operating in Canadian waters for over two decades and there is irrefutable evidence that it damages the marine environment. What is incomprehensible is that our governments refuse to act in the face of sound scientific evidence," said Mr. Langer. Just last week, a federal scientist confirmed that researchers currently sampling salmon for sea lice off the northeast coast of Vancouver Island are finding the incidence is much lower in areas without salmon farms. "We issued a report earlier this year that showed the same results," said Mr. Langer. "It is well beyond time that our governments acted before it is too late." For more information, please contact Otto Langer or Jean Kavanagh
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