Category Archives: Oceans

Deadly IHN Salmon Virus Turns up at Fish Farm on Sunshine Coast

August 5, 2012Oceans, Salmon Farming and AquacultureAquaculture, SalmonCommon Sense Canadian

Watch this CTV video news report on the discovery of IHN virus, known to cause the deadly Heart and Skeletal Muscular Inflammation disease in farmed fish, a yet another fish farm – this time in Jervis Inlet on the Sunshine Coast. (Aug. 3, 2012)

Another salmon farm in British Columbia is dealing with an outbreak of IHN, a fatal virus that can devastate fish populations.

Greig Seafood says its farm on Culloden Point, in Jervis Inlet on the Sunshine Coast, north of Vancouver, has produced preliminary positive results for IHN, or infectious haematopoietic necrosis virus.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is doing more tests and final confirmation is expected over the weekend. In the meantime, the company has voluntarily quarantined the facility.

IHN was also detected on Monday at a Mainstream Canada facility north of Tofino, in Millar Channel. Mainstream has also isolated the site to try to limit the spread of the virus. It says there have been no mass fish die-offs at the farm since the discovery.

In May, the virus was detected at another Mainstream Canada farm in Tofino, this time at a fish farm in Dixon Bay. The company says that given the length of time between the cases, it doesn’t think the virus at Millar Channel came from the Dixon Bay farm.

“Migrating wild salmon, natural carriers of the virus, are a more likely source,” the company said in a news release.

IHN is a virus that causes fish bellies to swell and can quickly lead to death, especially in younger fish. The virus is considered endemic to the Pacific Coast and is transmitted in the water through infected fish feces, urine and external mucous.

It’s often fatal in farmed Atlantic salmon, because the fish are not native to the Pacific Ocean and do not have any natural resistance.

Salmon Virus Detected at Yet Another Norwegian Fish Farm in Clayoquot Sound

July 31, 2012Oceans, Salmon Farming and AquacultureAquaculture, SalmonCommon Sense Canadian

Read this story from Tofino’s Westerly News on the discovery of IHN virus – known to cause fatal heart and skeletal muscular disease – in another of Norwegian company Cermaq-Mainstream’s farms in the Clayoquot Sound region on west Vancouver Island this past Friday. The announcement comes as the same company is pushing to open a new salmon farm at nearby Plover Point. (July 31, 2012)

The Infectious Haematopoietic Necrosis virus (IHN) was detected at Mainstream Canada’s Millar Channel farm, near Tofino, on July 27.

The company was made aware of the detection on Friday evening by the provincial animal health lab.

Mainstream has stepped up monitoring efforts at its Clayoqout farm sites since an IHN outbreak occurred at the company’s Dixon Bay location in May.

As was reported in the Westerly News May 24, the IHN outbreak at Dixon lead to the culling of the farm’s population-about 550,000 fish.

Millar is Mainstream’s closest site to Dixon with about 6.5 kilometres between the two farms. Despite this proximity, Mainstream is confident the Millar virus did not originate from Dixon and cites the length of time between the two cases, as well as the company’s following of strict biosecurity measures, as reasons for this confidence.

Mainstream is pointing at migrating wild salmon as a more likely source of the virus because, according to the company’s media release, wild salmon carry the IHN virus naturally.

Millar is now isolated and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is set to conduct an investigation at the site to determine the fate of its fish population.

Millar’s fish are smallish weighing in at an approximate average of 400 grams each. “Unfortunately, our Millar Channel farm has tested positive in qPCR tests for the IHN

Virus…We are waiting for results from confirmatory tests,” the Mainstream’s managing director Fernando Villarroel says.

Mainstream Canada operates 17 farms in the Tofino area.

Read original article: http://www2.canada.com/westerly/story.html?id=b80e88ef-bef0-4b4d-b814-222aa0f9dee8

J’Accuse!…Fish Farmers and Our Governments

July 20, 2012Oceans, Salmon Farming and AquacultureAlexandra Morton, Aquaculture, rafe mair, SalmonRafe Mair

In 1894 a French army officer, Alfred Dreyfus, was convicted of treason and sent to Devil’s Island prison.

In 1896 a Paris journalist, Emile Zola, printed an article called “J’Accuse!”, which tore apart the case and led eventually to his pardon – which he accepted because he was dying on the vicious tropical Devil’s Island – and he was exonerated to serve, gallantly though sick and old in combat in World War I. An Alsatian Jew, Dreyfus was seen by the military establishment automatically to be suspected.

Last Monday night, along with 200 others, I listened to Alexandra Morton outline the loss of our salmon and carefully and surgically weave together the case against the fish farm industry, the provincial government and the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

The case goes back 12 years and mirrors the Campbell/Clark administration.

First it involved escapees from fish farms crowding native salmon on their spawning grounds, something that continues but became less relevant as Alexandra discovered that hundreds of thousands of wild salmon smolts were being slaughtered by lice from fish farms sited on their migration routes. Lately Alexandra has concentrated on diseases imported into our waters by farmed fish.

J’accuse both senior governments of deliberately avoiding this issue.

Before going further let me stress a fact that is of great importance but overlooked.

When I started helping Alex, my veterinarian, the estimable Moe Milstein, took me aside and said “Rafe, I don’t know anything about that particular issue but I can tell you that when you take huge numbers of animals and coop them up, disease on a massive basis is inevitable.”

From the outset, Alex was stonewalled by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and by the provincial Department of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries.

Study after study was produced, all being peer-reviewed in prominent scientific journals, yet Alex was pilloried and threatened with jail.

World class ocean scientists everywhere praised her work and supported her scientific methodology. She continued to be harassed and insulted by government and industry alike.

As Alex presents her case on disease in fish farms and the impact on wild salmon you begin to wonder – isn’t this where DFO steps in?

As she moves on – surely the DFO gets involved now!

But the presentation proceeded to stunningly make the case that these diseased fish farms are slaughtering entire runs of wild salmon, but nary a move by the DFO, the federal Environment Department, the Provincial Ministry of Agriculture or Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource (which now controls tenures for fish farms).

It’s worse than mere neglect – while all this is going on, not only does DFO stand idly by but the Minister is globe-trotting, flogging farmed salmon in potential markets. The provincial Agricultural Ministry, rather than pulling licenses, is considering granting new ones!

J’accuse the fish farm industry of deliberately destroying millions of Pacific salmon with their Atlantics. They have hidden their documents, dissembled at every turn, admitted that their farms ought not to be sited near migration paths while expanding their operations and markets.

J’accuse the Province of ignoring worldwide science while renewing fish farm licenses and issuing new ones.

J’accuse the Department of Fisheries and Oceans of gross neglect of its statutory mandate to protect Pacific Salmon and, quite to the contrary, shilling for industry.

J’accuse the DFO of wilfully ignoring (or worse) the ever increasing scientific evidence of fish farms infecting large runs of wild salmon.

J’accuse every federal fisheries minister since 2001 of gross neglect of his/her duty to care for the wild pacific salmon. J’accuse these ministers of forcing DFO scientists to make political decisions paramount over scientific evidence.

J’accuse the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and Province of avoiding inspection of fish farms, which would have, without question, led to prosecutions.

J’accuse DFO, under political orders, of suppressing evidence and muzzling DFO scientists.

J’accuse the mainstream media of abdicating its responsibility to hold the governments they cover accountable and indeed looking for all the world as if they were promoting fish farms.

J’accuse both senior governments of failing to apply the Precautionary Principle, which would require fish farms to demonstrate they would not harm the wild salmon, instead of forcing those who care for the environment to establish their case against the farms.

This is a huge issue – in fact it goes to the root of the matter.

The Precautionary Principle is embedded in Canadian law and is sanctioned by the UN. Why shouldn’t industry be required to demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that what they will do will not harm the environment?

Why should Alexandra Morton, who as a result of her decades-long fight is in straitened circumstances, be required to fund the research and carry the burden of proof?

We are fools on an international scale. Those countries which have had experience with fish farms, namely Norway, the UK and Ireland, see us as idiots.

A few years ago I was a guest of Dr. Patrick Gargan, a world renowned fish biologist who has consistently verified Alex’s work, in Galway, Ireland, where he has his laboratory. Wendy and I were guests in his lab, and his senior technician, on learning I was from BC asked, succinctly, “Can’t you fucking well read out in Canada? Don’t you know what’s happened in Norway, Scotland and here in Ireland?”

Alexandra Morton is a hero and should be recognized as such throughout the nation – a nation that gives Orders of Canada to crooks while trying to put her in jail.

I’ve known Alex for over a decade and see the tremendous personal sacrifice she has made, to say nothing of the huge financial sacrifice.

Every step of the way – from escapees to sea lice to disease – she has been hassled, slandered, insulted and ignored.

Every step of the way she’s been proved right.

We are left, right now, with the two senior governments, especially Ottawa, still in denial and with Alexandra Morton doing all the work they should be doing and paying out enormous amounts for the research DFO should be doing.

All the while, the mainstream media ignores these issues while giving the Fish Farmers ample opportunity to attack Alex’s credibility.

This gallant lady who came to the Broughton Archipelago to study whales, became dedicated to saving wild salmon – and her thanks has been shit and abuse from the authorities.

For shame!

Dix Can Reclaim Control Over Fish, Pipelines and Tankers from Harper

July 16, 2012Canada, Energy and Resources, Fisheries, Oil&Gas, Pipelines and Supertankers, Politics, Western CanadaAdrian Dix, BC Oil Pipelines and Supertankers, Enbridge, Oil and gas, PoliticsRafe Mair

Dear Adrian Dix,

You and your party have taken a strong stand against the Enbridge Pipeline and tanker issues, for which I applaud you. I think you should broaden this policy, but first some background.

Stephen Hume has a fascinating article in the Saturday July 14 Vancouver Sun in which he quotes a man from Kitimat who, with the assistance of a man with mathematical training, vetted by a Mathematics professor at Thompson Rivers University, assessed the risk of spills, ruptures, etc. from the Enbridge Pipeline and tankers out of Kitimat, using Enbridge’s own figures. The results are scary, to say the least. By all means, read the article, but the bottom line is that over 50 years there is an 87% chance of a major spill on land or sea.

Here, Mr. Dix, are two other major factors – we know that getting any sort of cleanup on land is virtually non-existent due to the terrain and all but impossible at sea, AND, as Kalamazoo teaches us, there’s very little that can be done to clean up these spills. Very quickly after a spill on water, the bitumen is freed from the condensate which permits it to be piped, and it sinks like a rock.

There is one other new factor the BC government must face – almost nil protection of fish and their habitat by The Department of Fisheries and Oceans thanks to Bill C-38.

We have a jurisdictional clash here, for under The Constitution Act, federal power over fisheries is paramount but the Provinces have control over “Property and Civil Rights”.

Now we get into sticky ground here, but there’s no question in my mind that the Province can and should legislate so as to protect all wildlife, which is its clear right. Hunting laws are provincial as are fishing laws over those which do not go to sea. The dangerous ground is that if the “pith and substance” of your laws was to deal in fisheries over which Ottawa has jurisdiction it might be struck down by the courts.

There is absolutely no need to be concerned about that if you proceed properly.

Dealing with the pipeline, there is an unquestionable provincial right to protect all fauna and flora. Properly done, this would not be a ruse or look like a ruse to trample on the Federal jurisdiction over fisheries but a legitimate effort to protect our trees and our wildlife. Moreover, how could the feds be heard to complain that the matters under their jurisdiction are being protected?

The same argument applies to the coast, where birds and bears depend upon a pristine climate within which to live and eat.

Now, what I suggest Mr Dix, is that your legal beagles go to work and prepare draft legislation which could be tabled as a private member’s bill at the next sitting of the legislature – assuming there is one – and made public in the meantime. From a strictly political point of view, I can think of nothing more useful than having the Feds challenge the constitutionality of your position.

You should go one step further – return to the local governments their power to permit development in their bailiwicks as they had before the Campbell/Clark government took it away. They did that for the Ashlu private power plant. We know from the result of that project that the fish died in ponds because too much water was sucked out of the river. The Ashlu River would still be free of impediments to fish had the Squamish-Lilloett Regional District’s jurisdiction been honoured.

You have spoken loud and clear Mr, Dix – it’s time to put it in writing.

Newfoundland Salmon Farm Quarantined due to Suspected ISA Virus Outbreak

July 6, 2012Oceans, Salmon Farming and AquacultureAquaculture, ISA virus, SalmonCommon Sense Canadian

Read this story from FIS (Fish Information & Services trade publication), reporting that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has quarantined a salmon farm off the coast of Newfoundland due to a suspected outbreak of the deadly Infectious Salmon Anemia virus. (July 6, 2012)

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has quarantined an fish farm on the south coast of Newfoundland due to a suspected outbreak of infectious salmon anaemia (ISA).

Newfoundland and Labrador veterinarians detected the virus during routine testing at the site, explained Miranda Pryor, the executive director of the NL Aquaculture Industry Association.

“In the ocean, there’s a lot of naturally occurring viruses and bacteria and other things that can impact our farming situations,” said Prior, CBC News reports. “And unfortunately, it appears that this may be the case at this site right now, maybe impacted by something it caught from the wild.”

While ISA is harmless to humans, it can kill up to 90 per cent of the salmon it infects, depending on the strain.

Prior added that the aquaculture pen suspected of containing infected fish has been quarantined to minimise the risk of spreading the virus throughout the facility.

This is the first time a fish farm has been quarantined in Newfoundland and Labrador, she highlighted.

CFIA has taken samples that it will hand over to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) for testing. Obtaining these test results could take weeks. If ISA is confirmed, CFIA may take further action to obstruct a possible outbreak.

Although the agency is refusing at this time to release the name of the company that runs the quarantined facility, Cooke Aquaculture assures it is not one of its sites.

Two weeks ago, evidence of another outbreak of ISA was found at Cooke Aquaculture’s fish farms in Nova Scotia which CFIA has been investigating. The company documented many cases of ISA and engaged in the killing of affected fish; affected facilities were put under quarantine until all fish were removed from the site and all pens, cages and equipment were cleaned and disinfected.

In May, CFIA quarantined a third salmon farm in the province of British Columbia in just two weeks over fears about the presence of haematopoietic necrosis virus (IHN).

Read original article: http://www.fis.com/fis/worldnews/worldnews.asp?monthyear=&day=6&id=53635&l=e&special=&ndb=1%20target=

Law Takes Precedence Over Justice in Germany – An Update From Captain Paul Watson

July 6, 2012Oceans, Species At RiskCommon Sense Canadian

This article appeared originally on the blog of Captain Paul Watson’s Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

I remain a prisoner in Germany in a case that has become highly unusual, controversial and international.

On May 13th, 2012, I was arrested at Frankfurt airport in Germany because in October 2011, Costa Rica issued an order for my arrest and extradition for an incident that had taken place in 2002.

That incident involved a confrontation between the Sea Shepherd crew and a poaching vessel that we caught finning sharks in Guatemalan waters. We were given permission to intervene to stop the killing of the sharks by the Guatemalan government. No one was injured and there was no property damage but the Costa Rican poachers accused us of endangering their lives.

And 10 years later I found myself arrested in Germany because of this complaint.

Even more strange is that I had traveled extensively between October 2011 and the present, including trips to Europe and had not been arrested. That was because Interpol had dismissed the extradition warrant as being politically motivated. But for reasons unexplained Germany had not dismissed the warrant despite Interpol `s dismissal.

Germany does not have an extradition treaty with Costa Rica but insists they can extradite to Costa Rica if they decide to so.

Is it a coincidence that Japan launched a civil lawsuit against Sea Shepherd in October 2011 when they were granted $30 million U.S. dollars from the Tsunami Earthquake Relief Fund to be used to protect the Japanese whaling fleet from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society?

Is it a coincidence that Costa Rican President Chinchilla paid a visit to the Prime Minister of Japan in December 2011?

It is a coincidence that President Chinchilla visited Germany ten days after my arrest because she had no way of knowing I would be arrested and my arrest actually caused her problems and distractions she would have rather not had during her visit to Germany.

It was unusual that I was granted bail in a country that does not provide for the possibility of a bond for prisoners held for extradition.

It was unusual that the Costa Rican Foreign Minister requested a meeting with me during his visit to Germany with the President of Costa Rica.

It was unusual that the President of Costa Rica publicly made a statement that I would get a fair trial in Costa Rica. This statement alone implies that there were reasons to suspect that I would not get a fair trial in Costa Rica.

I believe that if given the opportunity to present our documentation, evidence and witnesses in a Costa Rican court that I would be found not guilty.

I told the Costa Rican Foreign Minster that I would return to Costa Rica voluntarily with my defense team if a trial date was set but I felt it was unfair to imprison me in Costa Rica until a trial date is set because that could take months or even years.

I also told the Costa Rican Foreign Minister that Sea Shepherd wants to work with Costa Rica to protect sharks and to protect the Cocos Island National Park Marine Reserve.

I don’t think that Germany or Costa Rica anticipated the international response of support for my position. Dozens of demonstrations around the world before German Embassies, 400 demonstrators in Berlin to greet the Costa Rican President, a statement from the President of the Brazilian Senate calling for my release, statements from celebrities worldwide, support from the European Parliament, threats to boycott tourism to Costa Rica.

Our legal team has filed a motion to dismiss the charges based on errors in the warrant.

If the motion is not granted, Costa Rica has 90 days to provide the file to the German authorities requesting extradition.

So I could be free to leave Germany in a few days, a few weeks or three months or if we lose the case then I would be forcefully extradited to Costa Rica OR if I lose the case, the German government can intervene politically to prevent the extradition.

All and all it seems like a great deal of effort to go to because a couple of shark finning fishermen who were not hurt nor had their property damaged had made a complaint.

Meanwhile nothing ever happened to the Captain of the Shonan Maru 2 for destroying the 1.5 million dollar Ady Gil and almost killing 8 people and injuring one of them. There is no extradition order for him, no arrest warrant – nothing!

Why?

Because the law is there to protect those who profit from exploiting the oceans and not for those who work to protect the oceans.

Whatever happens, there is one undeniably positive outcome of this entire incident and that is that worldwide attention is being focused on shark finning and the horrific massacre of tens of millions of sharks every year and for what?

For a bowl of soup!

Captain Paul Watson is the founder of Sea Shepherd Conservations Society.

If I was a BC Tory Under Harper, I’d Resign

July 5, 2012Canada, Energy and Resources, Oceans, Oil&Gas, Pipelines and Supertankers, Politics, Salmon Farming and Aquaculture, Western CanadaAquaculture, BC Oil Pipelines and Supertankers, Enbridge, KinderMorgan, Oil and gas, Politics, SalmonRafe Mair

I have received a lot of feedback on my recent blog on John Weston, MP.

Let me say that this was directed to Weston because he is my MP and it applies with equal force to all Tory MPs from British Columbia.

I’ve been asked if I would resign were I in John’s position and I say YES. Now, I realize that’s easy to say – he who has not sinned has not been tempted. I have no doubt, however. I sat in a cabinet that had half a dozen ministers who would have resigned under these circumstances. Premier Bill Bennett recognized this and it was taken into his consideration, I’m sure.

Now, under our system – such is the measure of its idiocy – all elected members on the government side must often compromise, otherwise the government couldn’t function. There were occasions where cabinet passed policy that I had spoken out against in the past and I told the press that when cabinet makes a decision all must support it. But these were areas of policy, not matters that go to the root of your commitment to your voters and your constituency. They were not matters of conscience. Any who have sat on the board of, say, a golf club will readily get the distinction between matters of business and matters of conscience. Premier Bill Bennett understood the distinction – Stephen Harper, no doubt also understands but he knows his backbenchers well and knows that there is almost nothing that goes to the conscience of his MPS because they have none.

Let’s be clear what issues we’re talking about here.

The environment of BC as a whole is not merely threatened but is on the brink of disaster from policy decisions already taken by the Harper government. I refer, of course, to its support of the Enbridge pipeline and expansion of Kinder Morgan’s pipeline to Vancouver; its open support of tankers loaded with deadly bitumen from the Tar Sands; its ongoing support of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to promote fish farms while their statutory basic raison d’etre is to protect our salmon; and its utter abandonment of protection of fish habitat as demonstrated in its gutting of the DFO in BC.

These, I contend, are not merely matters of policy but go the very root of what British Columbia is and as such simply cannot be supported by any Member of Parliament from our province.

Ask yourself this: if in the past election Tory candidates were asked if they support the above policies, I suggest that not one of them would have answered yes. If they had been and they replied that they were for these policies they would never have been elected and they know that.

I pick on Weston because, as I say, he’s my MP. In fact, the entire BC Conservative caucus ought to resign en masse. That they haven’t and won’t brands them as they are – lickspittles and toadies who put their parliamentary seat before their duty.

My prediction is that Weston will be rewarded with a cabinet seat in the next major shuffle – after all, he has been faithful to Harper and he’s moved his family back to Ottawa, which move could well have come from a nod or a wink from Harper.

After all, if sacrificing your constituency and your province for personal gain is to mean anything, there must be a reward and in my view it will come.

Parasite Turning Farmed Salmon Sold at Costco to Mush

July 4, 2012Oceans, Salmon Farming and AquacultureAquaculture, SalmonCommon Sense Canadian

Check out this video and story from CTV News on BC-farmed salmon being sold at Costco stores infected with the Kudoa parasite, which turns the flesh into “slimy mush”. (July 3, 2012)

Some B.C.-farmed salmon is reaching store shelves with a parasite that can liquefy the fish’s flesh into an unappetizing goop, CTV News has learned.

Consumer Dale Reynolds recently picked up a salmon fillet from Costco, but the texture made him think twice about serving it to his family.

“I started noticing it had indentations in it,” Reynolds said. “Started taking a closer look and noticing these pit holes that were in it and wondering what was going on, what was eating at it. It just didn’t look normal.”

Marine Harvest Canada, B.C.’s largest fish farming company, confirmed to CTV News that the fish was infested with the Kudoa thyrsites parasite – the second most common parasite in farmed salmon, which causes a condition known as “soft flesh” syndrome.

“It’s unacceptable that someone was able to purchase a piece of this salmon,” spokesman Ian Roberts said. “It’s rare that someone would find this in the market.”

The parasite doesn’t pose a health risk to humans, but can render fish flesh into a jelly-like consistency, according to the Pure Salmon Campaign.

Kudoa can also survive long after the salmon is killed, and the parasite’s longevity is making it a widespread problem in B.C. Marine Harvest alone spent $12 million last year to clear out infected fish and provide refunds for tainted products, and there are estimates that Kudoa affects 20 to 50 per cent of all salmon farmed in the province.

The industry is currently studying the microscopic menace to protect farmed salmon, but experts say the greater risk is the impact the parasite could have on fish in the wild.

“What we don’t know is the magnitude and impact on the larger ecosystem,” said John Volpe, a University of Victoria environmental studies professor. “This parasite is like this time bomb inside the fish.”

Costco didn’t respond to a CTV News interview request, but a manager told an undercover reporter that the problem is not uncommon.

Watch video: http://bc.ctvnews.ca/parasite-ridden-salmon-sold-in-b-c-stores-1.864202

Harper Wasting No Time Slashing DFO Habitat Jobs as Notices go out to Staff

July 3, 2012Canada, Fisheries, Politics, Western CanadaPolitics, Salmon, Stephen HarperOtto Langer

According to Otto Langer, the former senior DFO scientist and manager who first blew the whistle on Stephen Harper’s plan to gut the Fisheries Act, the job cuts associated with Harper’s program will soon be taking effect in BC. Langer sent out the following warning on June 27.

Today all DFO habitat protection and management staff in Canada are receiving letters that they are now “red-circled” – i.e. they are being affected by Bill C-38 with it’s budget and habitat legislation and program cuts (i.e. DFO downsizing) and many will soon not have a job. Yesterday all staff in the BC-Yukon region were advised of this happening in a telephone call from Pacific Regional Director General Susan Farlinger. Staff were directed to not discuss this with anyone and only DFO Ottawa was allowed to comment on the issue.

132 habitat staff across Canada will be fired (laid off) in the next few months in that many will have to compete for remaining jobs. In the Pacific Region, they now have 92 staff and that is to be reduced to 60 – an approximate 33% cut in staff. Also, all habitat office locations in Pacific Region are to be closed down, with the exception of Whitehorse, Prince Rupert, Kamloops, Vancouver and Nanaimo. That means offices such as those in Mission, Campbell River, Prince George, Nelson, Williams Lake, Smithers, Port Hardy, etc. are to be shut down. If the Enbridge and natural gas pipelines go across northern BC, there will be no habitat staff in Prince George or Smithers, etc. to respond to potential disasters – the closest offices will be Prince Rupert or Kamloops.

The office in Port Hardy has looked after salmon farming issues, which it will be unable to do now.

This puts DFO back where it was in the early 1980s, i.e. 5 offices in BC and even less staff than they had in 1983 with many giant projects such as Enbridge, gas lines, gas liquification plants, New Prosperity Gold Mine, Site C Dam on the Peace River, Panamax tankers of jet fuel up the Fraser River, Roberts Bank Port expansion, etc. now being proposed and pushed along. Never in the past 50 year history of habitat protection have we seen such great cuts in staff the face of upcoming massive industrial development that can and will harm habitat and our fisheries of the future.

Finally, Ottawa has given all DFO habitat staff directions to remove the “Habitat Management Program” title from their organization and from their offices, etc. in that they are now to be called the “Fisheries Protection Program”.

In summary, this puts DFO back to where they were in the late 1970s in terms of habitat staff numbers in the Pacific Region, but with next to no legislation to protect overall habitat and a greatly reduced presence in the field where the habitat damage takes place. Their efforts will of course be distracted over the next year or more in that staff will have to compete for the surviving 60 positions and put their minds to what they can do for a living when laid off and where they move to to get a job to support their families, etc. I am told the already very low morale of the staff was destroyed by Bill C-38 and now it has received its final blow – the willingness and direction to do their jobs can now be measured in negative quantities.

One can now say that the Harper Government has ‘right-sized’ the workload for the reduced number of staff! They will protect less habitat, despite the incredulous claims of DFO Minister Ashfield and many Conservative MPs that DFO will provide the fishery with better, more focused protection. More staff-related budget cuts have been outlined for 2013 and 2014.

All DFO habitat protection offices from Quebec to the BC-Alberta border, i.e. Central and Arctic Region, will also be drastically cut and all offices will be shut down except in Ottawa, Burlington, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Yellowknife. It is indicated that of 63 DFO offices in Canada with habitat staff (now “fisheries protection” staff), most will be closed and the number of offices having habitat-type program staff will be reduced to 14 for a giant geographic area – i.e. Canada.

Norwegian Salmon Farming Industry in Dire Financial Straits

June 29, 2012Oceans, Salmon Farming and AquacultureAquaculture, SalmonCommon Sense Canadian

Read this blog from Alexandra Morton, summarizing the dire financial situation for the world’s biggest salmon farming operators, all headquartered in Norway. (June 25, 2012)

In 2009, I met with the previous CEO of Marine Harvest in Norway. She asked me, “what do you want?” When I said, “you have to move your industry out of the narrow Fraser sockeye migration route off Campbell River,” she said it could not be done, because their share price must rise every quarter. However, today Marine Harvest is moving farms from exactly that area trying escape a parasite that liquifies salmon flesh (Kudoa). People don’t want to consume their salmon through a straw.

Kudoa, the white balls in this picture, releases an enzyme that liquifies the flesh after death. Salmon farms are almost certainly enhancing this parasite similar to how they enhance sea lice, viruses and bacteria

“Kudoa is a typical customer claim. At 4Q11, Marine Harvest continued to report Kudoa challenges linked to the Campbell River area…. The company will concentrate production at the best sites, while other sites will be closed down in order to improve biological performance.” Download MHG4Q11update080212 copy.pdf (884.4K)

“For Marine Harvest Canada, the 2011 profit was affected by exceptional customer
claims and discards at harvesting totalling NOK 67.7 million due to the parasite Kudoa thyrsites. A restructuring plan for Canadian operations led to restructuring costs of NOK 23.4 million“

“Operating revenues for Marine Harvest Canada were NOK 1 182 million in 2011 (NOK 1 371 million). The average price achieved in CAD was 11% lower than in 2010 due to high presence of Kudoa combined with a general reduction in the market price. Total costs related to discards and claims as a result of soft flesh (Kudoa), amounted to NOK 68 million/NOK 2.00 per kilo harvested in 2011 (NOK 24 million/0.72 per kilo harvested).”Download MH_AnnualReport_2011_Web copy 2.pdf (6264.7K)

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