Wild salmon inquiry releases report
Opinion
Supreme Court of British Columbia Justice Bruce Cohen issued his long-anticipated report today, and as anticipated, a great deal of media attention was paid to his dealing with topics related to the province’s salmon aquaculture industry. Fish farms have for a long time been the main culprit in the eyes of the huge, international environmentalist movement when it comes to anything that may have a negative impact on “wild” salmon stocks- many of which come from aquaculture facilities themselves. And due to the huge amount of material critical of salmon farming and produced for the Cohen Commission by these environmental groups and others, it was no surprise that the Judge spent a fair amount of his report addressing the issues raised in this material.
But to the undoubtedly disappointment of many, the report didn’t identify any one “smoking gun” as being responsible for the long-term decline of returning sockeye salmon to the Fraser River- a decline that has been mirrored in watersheds on the north coast of British Columbia and in Alaska, where no conventional commercial salmon farming is taking place. Judge Cohen said that issues like habitat degradation and climate change- with the accompanying increase in river water temperatures- must not be ignored as contributing factors in the survival of wild sockeye salmon.
Some of the recommendations made regarding salmon farming were;
- Special attention should be paid to the area immediately north of Georgia Strait, where Fraser River salmon must swim through a myriad of narrow channels on their way to the open ocean north of Vancouver Island, some of which contain a number of salmon farms;
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- No new salmon farms or increase in farmed salmon production for the next eight years
- If, during this period the Fisheries Department can demonstrate that there is little or no risk of disease transfer from farmed salmon to wild salmon, this prohibition would be removed
- If, during this period the Fisheries Department’s research shows that there could be a risk to wild salmon from pathogens from the farms, all salmon farms in the immediate area should be closed
- A recommendation was made regarding the suggested public disclosure of data contained in an industry-established Fish Health Database, although the Judge incorrectly stated that this database was created for the protection of wild fish. It was instead built as an industry fish health management tool- to be shared among participating companies for the improvement of fish health and survival. The voluntary reporting of aggregate data to regulatory agencies was always part of the plan, but confidentiality was always an important part of the program
- Pressured by environmental groups and others, the Cohen Commission recommended that the Fisheries Department should stop being an “advocate of the salmon farming industry and its products” and just focus on being a regulatory and enforcement agency. During an initial review by the author, there was no mention of the Department’s historical promotion of wild salmon while still being the regulator and enforcer of that industry. Marketing responsibility of seafood in Canada currently rests with the Department of Agriculture.
During an interview,- member of the Board of Directors of the B.C. Salmon Farmers Association Clare Backman told FishfarmingXpert that the industry appreciated the detailed attention paid by Judge Cohen to issues related to the industry, as many of them are poorly understood by the general public. He welcomed the opportunity to conduct more research in the area of concern north of Georgia Strait, as the industry is eager to demonstrate its environmental sustainability and eagerness to improve, where this is deemed necessary. With respect to the recommended restriction on expansion of farmed salmon production in the Discovery Island area, Mr. Backman said that this would not cause significant problems, as none of the salmon farming companies have plans for immediate increase in production there anyway.
Regarding the sharing of fish health data and other information, Mr. Backman stated that the industry is already providing a wealth of such information to regulatory agencies, and more so now that the Fisheries Department is in charge of regulatory management of the aquaculture industry in B.C. He also acknowledged the compliments provided by Judge Cohen with respect to the comprehensiveness of the level of details contained in the industry’s Fish Health Database. “Judge Cohen found that our fish are quite healthy, but that there is a lack of information about the health of wild salmon stocks”, Backman said, and he added that “the Discovery Islands is a logical place to conduct more research, which we are not opposed to”.
As far as the suggestion that the Fisheries Department is an “advocate” of the industry, Mr. Backman didn’t agree with this prolonged campaign statement by industry critics, but rather offered that the Department has moved into a conservation mode, despite media reports to the contrary. And as anybody involved with the application for a new aquaculture site in B.C. knows all too well- the scrutiny these applications go through in the form of environmental assessments, stream and ocean bottom surveys, resource maps and consultation- few industry insiders today consider the Fisheries Department as an industry advocate, although its overarching policy acknowledges that aquaculture is a legitimate user of Canada’s aquatic resources- and rightfully so.
