Sockeye loss should be examined
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Updated: September 30, 2009 4:29 PM
Dear Editor:
Marine Biologist Alexandra Morton (www.adopt-a-fry.org) has devoted decades of her life to studying the lives of whales and salmon of the south coast of BC.
After the recent loss of sockeye fry returning up the Fraser River, she began to examine the possible causes closely.
While there are many factors at play, there was a clear indication of what she calls a “bulls-eye” loss of a particular group of salmon – those that swam past the open pens of farmed salmon along the Fraser migration route. Here is her statement about it:
“Nine million sockeye salmon vanished without a trace and the Minister of Fisheries, Gail Shea, has told us (the) fish farms are not responsible because there was a coastwide collapse of all salmon. Fortunately this is not true. While there have been some very alarming collapses this year, this is not the case among the southcoast sockeye. Only the ones going past ... fish farms vanished; the others made strong returns.
“Similarly, the Pacific Region director of Fisheries, Paul Sprout, wrote letters in newspapers claiming that the lice on the juvenile sockeye that vanished were not the species found on farm salmon. This is not true either. On Marine Harvest’s own website, over 92 per cent of the farms reported the exact same species in the year and months that the missing sockeye swam past them.
“The only thing being controlled is the public perception.”
It is critical that we encourage the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans to:
o Close the fish farm fishery on the Fraser migration route just as they have closed commercial and sport fishing.
o Apply the Canadian Fisheries Act to fish farms and start laying charges for violations.
o Support the Canadian fish farmers who want to reinvent their industry on land, with an eye to siting these facilities in job-starved towns.
The Hon Gail Shea is: min@dfo-mpo.gc.ca.
Linnea Good
Summerland
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