An edited version of my letter appears in the paper. Here is the whole letter
Editor
Nanaimo News Bulletin
I am writing in response to a series of letters published in the October 3rd News Bulletin. I recognize that these letters are part of an organized letter writing campaign of anti fish farm activists,and they contain numerous false statements and inaccuracies that simply cannot be left unchallenged.
Blanket statements such as “they are decimating our wild salmon with lice and disease…” and “Diseases from salmon farms are threatening B.C wild salmon” are simply unsupportable. First, if one was to review the catch of wild salmon over the last two decades you will see a normal pattern of catch volumes that vary from year to year. With some of the highest wild salmon harvest numbers ever recorded taking place in the last few years. The collapse of Fraser River Sockeye in 2008 was followed by the largest return to the river on record. Disease from salmon farms has never been implicated to have impacted wild salmon in British Columbia. Other than findings of certain anti-fish farm activists, whose scientific procedure has been shown at times to not have scientific integrity, there is no evidence of harm to wild salmon from farmed. I find it interesting to note that the status of the Broughton Pinks, which was reported “extinction probability is 100 percent and the only question is how long that is going to take. It is estimated the stocks will be locally extinct within four years” is as strong as ever. This “scientific” prediction was made in 2007. There are most certainly challenges to wild salmon such as global warming, pollution and other factors but net cage salmon farming on the BC coast is certainly not high on the list. On this matter one should consider the impact of Alaska, who claims no aquaculture industry, yet releases billions of hatchery raised fish every year as they “ranch” the ocean..those fish have to eat something and they certainly have an impact on the “wild” salmon who share the ocean.
In one of the recent letters the letter writer raises concern about salmon farms and “their pollution” and then lists these pollutants –“chemicals, antibiotic feed, hormones…neurotoxins….etc” These statements reveal a complete ignorance of the practice of salmon aquaculture. While antibiotic use in past decades was an issue, with the development of effective vaccines, the amount of antibiotics used in Salmon Aquaculture is almost nonexistent. Certainly, salmon aquaculture as practiced in British Columbia use of antibiotics is orders of measure less that what are used routinely and prophylactically in the production other proteins such as chicken. If and when antibiotics are used they are only used on prescription and aquaculture’s use of them is more highly regulated, reported and controlled than any other food production industry. Hormones are never used, feeding and sea floor impacts are highly regulated and insure these farms do not pollute. Sea lice and their treatment is likewise closely monitored, highly regulated and controlled. The farmed fish themselves require a pristine environment and fish farmers are the most dedicated people I know in protecting that environment. Their livelihoods depend on it!
These letter writers echo the call that the fish farms must be moved on land. My wife and I happen to be the owners of one of the very few land based grow out Salmon farms in the world, one of three in British Columbia. While there is a common perception that the technology currently exists to take the salmon farms out of the ocean and move them on land it simply is not so. Atlantic salmon, which is the most cultured salmon, has simply not been successfully raised at commercial scale on land at a profit anywhere, other than at hatchery stage. Research continues, but, so far success has not been achieved. Land based salmon farming does have a future in BC, and our farm is showing that. But, I see land based salmon farming as a compliment to ocean farming not a replacement.
Salmon Aquaculture is now a very important industry to British Columbia. The economic impact has now eclipsed 1.5 billion dollars. That is jobs and tax revenue for BC and Canada. These letter writers decry the fact that the companies are foreign owned. While that may be true, the jobs are Canadian jobs held by Canadians and the substantial taxes are paid to all all levels to Canadian governments. It is a good industry that is more regulated than any other food production system. Farmed salmon is a necessary protein to feed the world and it is produced, in British Columbia, in a responsible manner that has now been recognized by the Monterey Bay Seafood Watch as a “Good Alternative.”
Steve Atkinson
President Taste of BC Aquafarms Inc.
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FYI - Link to Edited Letter posted in the Nanaimo News Bulletin http://www.nanaimobulletin.com/opinion/letter-to-the-editor-fish-farming-done-responsibly/
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Fish farming done responsibly
Previous letters contain numerous false statements and inaccuracies that cannot be left unchallenged
Oct. 23, 2017
