It has been three weeks since a federal court ruled that former Federal Fisheries and Oceans Minister Bernadette Jordan breached the rights of B.C. salmon farmers to procedural fairness, when she ordered them to phase out their operations in the Discovery Islands by June 2022. Now Cermaq Canada is returning to its site on Raza Island.
Continue reading Cermaq Canada reoccupying Raza Island fish farm
As we get closer to June 30, when the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has to decide whether to reissue the licenses for 79 British Columbian salmon farms, independent biologist Alexandra Morton points to yet more problems.
A recent Global and Mail article revealed the existence of a decade old Department of Fisheries (DFO) report about the ‘transmission of the PRV virus from farmed to wild salmon.’
Morton said the fish farm industry has exceeded the three lice per fish threshold every week since the out-migration season began on March first. Two to five active farms have exceeded that limit every week, for the past five weeks. Morton claims that no sooner had the industry brought the lice on one farm under control, than another exceeds the limit.
Continue reading 47 days until a decision must be made: sea lice and pathogensRepresentatives of 102 First Nations, from across British Columbia, voiced their support for the transition of open-net pen fish farms out of BC waters.
The First Nations Wild Salmon Alliance hosted a press conference in Vancouver on Tuesday April 5, 2022.
Continue reading 102 BC First Nations call for fish farms to be transitioned onto land
Editor’s note: The licenses for 79 fish farms will come up for renewal by the end of June, 2022. If the Department of Fisheries fails to reissue them, there will only be seven farms left in the province. These are all in the Broughton Archipelago and their licenses come up for renewal in 2023.
On March 21, a group of what was supposedly 17 First Nations supporting the fish farming industry put out a press release. Cortes Currents is not on the First Nations for Finfish Stewardship email list, and at that point had not heard of the group. We subsequently asked Dallas Smith, spokesperson for this coalition, for an interview. When he did not reply, Cortes Currents published a write-up largely based on that original press release. Within hours of posting a link through social media, someone directed Cortes Currents to independent biologist Alexandra Morton’s Facebook page where there was evidence that this group of 17 was at best 12 and more likely 11 First Nations. Since then, the list has grown smaller.
Continue reading The First Nations calling for a renewal of fish farm licensesOn Monday a new study confirmed what environmentalists have been saying for years, sea lice have developed a resistance to SLICE the treatment fish farms most often use against them.
Continue reading Countdown for 79 salmon farms: new report says sea lice have developed resistance to SLICE
