From the Globe & Mail – March 24, 2011

by Mark Hume

A heated battle between an anti-fish farm group and the aquaculture
industry is headed to the Supreme Court of British Columbia over attack
ads that equate farmed salmon with cancer-causing tobacco.

Mainstream
Canada, the second-largest aquaculture company on the West Coast, is
seeking damages for “false and defamatory postings” and seeks to have
the offending material removed from the websites, Facebook accounts and
Twitter feeds of Don Staniford and his organization, the Global Alliance
Against Industrial Aquaculture.

Mainstream Canada announced the lawsuit in a press release on
Thursday, and Mr. Staniford responded by releasing a copy of a letter he
sent to Mainstream’s parent company in Norway, Cermaq ASA, in which he
says he welcomes the chance to debate the issue in court.

“GAAIA
takes Cermaq’s complaint extremely seriously and very much welcomes the
opportunity to expand upon why we honestly and firmly believe that
‘Salmon Farming Kills,’” states the letter, repeating one of the
anti-fish farm slogans to which Mainstream objects.

Laurie Jensen,
Mainstream Canada’s communications and corporate sustainability
manager, said the company is not concerned the lawsuit might give Mr.
Staniford and his campaign more publicity.

“It’s not about the
media,” she said. “It’s about the fact that these guys have crossed the
line. The comments there are so insane and libellous that we just can’t
not do anything any more.”

Ms. Jensen said the anti-fish farm
campaign has drawn complaints from the company’s employees, customers,
suppliers and from some first nations, which are partners in aquaculture
operations.

“They are saying somebody’s got to do something about
this – and if not us, then who?” she said. “So that’s what it’s about.
We can’t let this continue. Enough’s enough.”

Mr. Staniford said the lawsuit is an attempt by the company to silence its harshest critic.

“This
is an example of the Norwegian government trying to shut down free
speech,” he said, noting that the GAAIA website was taken offline after
the Internet service provider was advised of the lawsuit by the company.

Mr.
Staniford said he hopes to have a new site up soon, and that he will
use it to continue his battle against fish farms and to raise legal
defence funds.

Mr. Staniford, who is based in B.C., said he formed
GAAIA recently to go after fish farms internationally, and that the
organization “has supporters globally.”

Mainstream, which produces
25,000 tonnes of farmed fish annually in B.C., states in its claim that
Mr. Staniford and GAAIA defamed the company numerous times in a
campaign launched in January that ran in three segments, under the
titles “Salmon Farming Kills,” “Silent Spring of the Sea” and “Smoke on
the Water, Cancer on the Coast.”

The notice of claim lists more
than 30 slogans the company finds defamatory and says the anti-fish farm
campaign “employs graphic imagery that links the defamatory words and
Mainstream to tobacco manufacturers and cigarettes.”

It states
that tobacco products are known to be harmful to human health and
alleges the campaign clearly implies that Mainstream’s products “kill
people … make people sick … are unsafe for human consumption … [and
that] Mainstream is knowingly marketing a carcinogenic product that
causes illness, death and harm.”

The GAAIA campaign is aimed at
“Norwegian-owned” fish farms in general, but the claim notes that the
Norwegian government owns 43.5 per cent of Cermaq ASA, so the link to
Mainstream is obvious.

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