Scientists call for closed containment fish farms
Most of these scientists have a long history of being opposed to salmon farming in British Columbia as currently practiced. Stating that "there is now extensive peer-reviewed science that sea lice spread from farm to wild salmon and kill juvenile wild salmon", the group suggested that "the fish farms in B.C. will soon push many wild salmon populations to extinction".
One of the signatories to the letter, anti-salmon farming activist Alexandra Morton was quoted saying that the weight of evidence linking heavy concentrations of sea lice at farms to wild salmon mortality is "enormous". Meanwhile, the aquaculture industry in B.C. continues to experience very low levels of sea lice on their fish. Most of the treatments carried out for lice infestations are done to conform with regulatory requirements, designed to minimize the transfer of juvenile sea lice to passing wild salmon.
Ms. Morton, a Registered Professional Biologist, made headlines some years ago when she asserted that a dead killer whale found in B.C. was "full of antibiotic-resistant bacteria from farmed salmon", according to the "doctor who performed the autopsy". The Chief Veterinarian for the Province subsequently issued a statement explaining that he was the one who did the autopsy of the whale, and that its death had nothing to do with antibiotic-resistant bacteria or bacteria from salmon farms. One week later, on a Vancouver radio station, Ms. Morton once again claimed that the killer whale had been killed by fish farms.
