Environment: Something Fishy-urgent action

October-November 1996

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.

by Laurie MacBride

How many of us, while paddling along the BC coast, marvel- ling at the beauty of the intricately carved shoreline, have been shocked to encounter an industrial fish farm operation tucked into an otherwise pristine nook? The question to be decided over the next few months is whether or not this experience will become commonplace.

Fish farms may sound like a good idea to take pressure off the wild stocks, but their impact is, to say the least, obtrusive and any expansion of aquacultuture would have a chilling impact on the growing ecotourism industry.

There are also many frightening environmental implications, including pollution from fish farm wastes and chemicals (hormones, anti-foulants, algaecides, fungicides and antibiotics), predation on wild species, disease and parasite transmission to wild salmon, disruptions to marine mammals, the potential for takeover of spawning grounds by escaped Atlantic salmon, and the risks posed to wild salmon by the large-scale introduction of genetically-altered fish into their ecosystem.

Currently there is a provincial moratorium on new fish farms but there are strong economic pressures for the industry to develop. The salmon farming industry is pushing for a massive, ten-fold expansion. Backed by major companies such as BC Packers (part of the Weston conglomerate), the BC Salmon Farmers Association recently hired two paid lobbyists, allocated $340,000 to promote consumption of farmed salmon in BC and has been regularly running full page ads in major newspapers.

Salmon farmers and related industries have eight representatives on the Salmon Aquaculture Review Committee. The Review Committee, made up of about 40 representatives from various sectors and special interest groups, has an advisory role to the provincial Environmental Assessment Office (EAO). Unfortunately the recreational sector-which is heavily impacted by fish farming-has only a single representative on the Review Committee (the BC Council of Yacht Clubs).

To have a voice in the Review process and ensure that paddlers' concerns are expressed at the Review table, it is vital we contact our recreational representative or his alternate (see below).

The primary study area for the Review is the Broughton Archipelago (the Johnstone Strait Area), where rapid growth of the fish farming industry has taken place over the past few years.

The Broughton is a prime recreational area of particular importance to kayakers, sailors and whale-watchers, and sought by environmentalists for designation as marine protected areas. Yet as salmon farms have moved into areas such as the Broughton-expanding their facilities with little apparent government control and no public review process-access to sheltered waters is lost; water quality deteriorates as waste from crowded pens turns once-pristine areas into industrial production sites; whales and other marine mammals leave the areas, driven away by ear-splitting acoustic devices, guns and other predator control measures; and the potential for designation as marine protected areas becomes more remote.

Any expansion of fish farms along the BC coast would dramatically decrease recreational opportunities and could irrevocably damage the coastal environment. Now is the time to tell the Review Committee our views on fish farms and point out their impacts on ecotourism. It may be the last opportunity to protect the wilderness paddling experience in many sites.

Act Now

1. Get in touch with your representative (Al Fairhurst from the BC Council of Yacht Clubs, telephone 604/754-3501) or his alternate (Jim Borrowman of Stubbs Island Charters, 604/928-3185) and ensure that your views are known and carried to the Review table.

2. Make a written submission to the Review (deadline December 31) expressing your concerns. This can be as simple as a letter addressed to: EAO Salmon Aquaculture Review, 2nd Floor, 836 Yates St., Victoria, BC V8V 1X4, fax 604/387-2208; phone 604/356-7483.

3. If you have email, subscribe to the Georgia Strait Alliance's newly-launched "FISHFARM" electronic discussion group to receive regular review updates and discuss the topic at length (contact hbreen@island.net).

4. Attend meetings of the Review Committee (open to the public; to be held in Campbell River, Port Hardy and Nanaimo). For dates, contact your rep or the EA Office.

5. Write letters to the editor, Environment Minister Paul Ramsey, Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Corky Evans, and Premier Glen Clark, urging that there be no lifting of the moratorium.

Laurie MacBride is executive director of the Georgia Strait Alliance and an environmental rep on the Salmon Aquaculture Review Committee