As the federal government considers bringing in new laws to govern fish farms, there is widespread skepticism that the government will act in the public interest.

Tensions surrounding salmon farming are running particularly high in British Columbia where more than 100 operations dot the south and central coast. Many of the farms are located in the territory of First Nations who oppose open-net fish pens along wild salmon migratory routes.

‘Namgis First Nation Hereditary Chief Ernest Alfred says he finds the federal government’s consultation on potential new fish farming rules “a little suspect.”

“Let’s be honest, the federal government has, up until now, been pretty well blatantly helping this industry,” Alfred told DeSmog Canada.

Alfred said both the provincial and federal governments should realize that there can be no genuine reconciliation with First Nations while fish farms remain in the Broughton Archipelago.

“The economy on the coast is based on wild salmon,” he said. “This whole place is built on the bones and scales of the fish.”

In 2016 a Senate Committee recommended the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) introduce an Aquaculture Act and the department is now holding consultations on whether such legislation is needed and, if so, what shape it should take, spokeswoman Michelle Rainer told DeSmog Canada in an e-mail.

“Should a decision be made to develop proposed aquaculture legislation, the main aim would be to provide consistency and clarity for aquaculture operators across the country, while simultaneously reassuring Canadians that robust environmental measures are in place,” Rainer said.

DFO is wrapping up consultation sessions this month with First Nations, industry associations, licence holders, local governments and non-governmental organizations and feedback will be shared with the provinces, according to Rainer.

In the highly charged atmosphere surrounding salmon farming in B.C., suspicions about DFO’s promise of balancing industry benefits with protection of wild salmon are running at an all-time high.

The ‘Namgis First Nation, which has actively opposed salmon farming in its territory for decades, recently participated in a months-long occupation of a Marine Harvest fish farm in the Broughton Archipelago alongside the Musgamagw and Mamalililukulla First Nations.

In early March the ‘Namgis filed an application for an injunction against Marine Harvest, to prevent the company from restocking the nearby Swanson farm with up to one million Atlantic salmon smolts.

On March 26 federal Justice Michael Manson rejected the injunction request, telling the ‘Namgis their application was made too late. But Justice Manson agreed there is “real and non-speculative likelihood of harm” to the First Nation’s way of life due to fish-borne disease.

The ‘Namgis also applied for a judicial review of federal policy that allows fish to be placed into coastal farms without testing for piscine reovirus or heart and muscular disease.

“It is my opinion that the underlying application for judicial review should proceed as expeditiously as possible,” Manson said in his 41-page ruling.

Recent research found wild salmon that swim past fish farms are at a higher risk of contracting piscine reovirus, a virus that affects the health of fish hearts making it more difficult for them to swim upstream to reach spawning grounds. The Canadian Ministry of Agriculture estimates 80 per cent of Atlantic salmon farmed on the West Coast enter Pacific waters already infected with piscine reovirus.

As the federal government mulls over the need for an Aquaculture Act, the province is faced with the contentious problem of whether to renew 22 fish farm tenures of which 18 are in the Broughton Archipelago and opposed by six First Nations.

The tenures, which include Marine Harvest’s Swanson Island site, are due for renewal in June, meaning fish now being moved into the pens will not be ready for harvest until two years after the current licences expire.

British Columbia’s Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations Minister Doug Donaldson said it is too soon to speculate when a decision will be made on the tenures and government is holding discussions with First Nations.

There are opportunities for closed containment, but more work needs to be done, Donaldson said.

“There is one existing closed containment facility in B.C. and there are advancements in the technology in other parts of the world,” he said, adding the province is keeping a close eye on facilities in places like Scotland and Norway to see how B.C.’s industry could adapt.

Alfred says both governments are moving too slowly as there is already a dramatic collapse of sockeye and pink salmon runs around Kingcome and Knight Inlets.

“We know the fish farms are contributing and it’s only going to get worse,” he said.

Donaldson said he believes new aquaculture legislation could help.

“Given the federal government is the lead agency responsible for activities in Canada’s oceans, it’s important they have a strong regulatory framework in place. We share the same goal: to protect wild salmon,” Donaldson told DeSmog Canada.

Others are not so sure.

The fish farming industry has been lobbying for an Aquaculture Act since 2011, which arouses suspicions among those who want to see salmon farming moved into closed containment pens — a development that would mean dramatic changes for industry.

“One thing the industry is asking for is consistency around funding for marketing,” Stan Proboszcz, science and campaign advisor with Watershed Watch Salmon Society, told DeSmog Canada.

“Essentially, it sounds like they want more taxpayer dollars to market their industry.”

Proboszcz said he’s worried industry groups have been highly engaged with the government on the Aquaculture Act.

“Especially if the salmon farming industry is leading the charge on consultations with government, it’ll likely mean relaxed industry oversight, less monitoring, and growth of an industry that spews virus-ridden bloodwater into B.C. oceans,” he said.

Watershed Watch Salmon Society, along with Living Oceans Society, David Suzuki Foundation, Ecojustice, West Coast Environmental Law and many others, recently wrote a sharply worded letter to the federal government after the groups found Aquaculture Act consultations were being held among fish farm stakeholders on the East Coast of Canada, but not out West.

The letter outlined several governing principles for an Aquaculture Act which include moving open-net fish farms into closed containment systems, recognition of Indigenous rights, transparent reporting systems on the use of drugs, presence of disease, lice and parasites and a strong restriction on the introduction of diseased fish into B.C. waters.

The letter resulted in government meetings being arranged with western groups but Proboszcz said the process is moving too fast, with a federal recommendation expected this June.

“I believe that, given all the problems this industry has faced recently in B.C. around viruses and diseases, escaped fish moving into our waters from Washington…everyday British Columbians deserve to have an opportunity at this stage to provide their input — not down the road when the big decisions on direction have already been made,” he said.

The Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance which represents ocean farmers of seafood says legislation is needed to set clear, consistent national standards.

“(The Act) would allow for much greater federal-provincial coordination in how our industry is managed. This will simplify cross-provincial operations and focus attention on creating sound, science-based rules,” the alliance said in a statement.

“Rather than being regulated under a 150 year old Fisheries Act, the Aquaculture Act would recognize our industry as a farming activity — consistent with the approach of other leading jurisdictions around the world.”

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New footage released to DeSmog Canada shows deformed and disfigured salmon at two salmon farms on the B.C. coast — just as British Columbia reels from news of the escape of up to 305,000 Atlantic farmed salmon from a Washington salmon pen.

Wild salmon advocate and fisheries biologist Alexandra Morton said she was shocked by the footage.

“I was shocked and frankly disgusted,” Morton told DeSmog Canada. “These fish have open sores, sea lice, blisters all over their skin and a disturbing number of them are going blind.”

Morton said the footage also gives an indication of what is now travelling through Pacific waters after the escape of potentially hundreds of thousands of farmed Atlantic salmon in the San Juan Islands just east of Victoria. Atlantic salmon are considered invasive in Pacific waters.

“Now you have potentially 300,000 farmed salmon traveling with wild salmon. We know that is what they do.”

The footage was shot at two salmon farms owned by Grieg Seafood and located near Broughton Island, B.C., in the traditional territory of the Musgmagw Dzawada’enuwx Nation.

The nation has been vocally opposed to fish farming in its traditional waters for 30 years and has handed out eviction notices to fish farming corporations.

“These fish are really sick,” Ernest Alfred, member of the Nagmis and Lawit’sis from Alert Bay, says in the footage. “These fish are polluting the environment that we call home.”

Greig Seafood did not respond to requests for comment.

In a B.C. Salmon Farmers Association statement provided to DeSmog Canada, executive director Jeremy Dunn said, “abnormalities in farm-raised salmon are rare, but — as with any species — do exist for several reasons: growth deformities from birth, mechanical damage resulting in an injury, or poor performers that are outcompeted for food by more aggressive fish.”

Dunn added if individuals are displeased with farmed salmon brought to market he “recommend they return it to the place of purchase.” *

Alfred and Awahawoo Hereditary Chief George Quocksister Jr. shot the footage while travelling to fish farms aboard the research vessel Martin Sheen, provided by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

‘It’s a Mess Every Way You Look at It’

“When I say there is disease in these farmed salmon, this is not a guess,” Morton said. “Over 80 per cent of farmed salmon are infected with piscine reovirus.”

Morton is currently fighting the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Dominique Leblanc in court to prevent more Atlantic salmon infected with the virus from being placed in B.C. waters.

Morton said the fish pens are a highly concentrated source of waste and disease that threaten other species.

“From a biological point of view this footage gives you an idea of the scale of the pathogens coming out of these farms and we know that a single particle in this ocean can travel 10 kilometres in a short amount of time.”

It’s been a tough week for wild salmon.

While major salmon fisheries in the Fraser and Skeena rivers are closed due to low returns, a new study released this week revealed the federal government has failed to monitor the majority of struggling stocks on B.C.’s north and central coast.

Meantime, fishermen are being called on to catch as many of the escaped Atlantic farmed salmon as possible.

Morton expressed concern that fishermen will be mixed up with struggling Fraser sockeye salmon that may be caught as bycatch.

“It’s a mess every way you look at it.”

Farming Salmon On Land Reduces Risks

Aaron Hill, executive director of Watershed Watch Salmon Society, told the CBC an easy solution to the multiple problems posed by salmon farms is to move pens onland and out of wild salmon waterways.

“We can farm salmon on land where they’re not going to pose any risks to our wild salmon populations.”

Disturbing New Footage Shows Diseased, Deformed #Salmon in BC #FishFarms https://t.co/XIlbwq74ji #bcpoli

— DeSmog Canada (@DeSmogCanada) August 23, 2017

“Escapes aren’t the only risk,” he added. “There is growing evidence that these net pens spread diseases, viruses and parasites to our wild salmon populations that make it harder for many of our at risk populations to rebuild.”

Alfred said the window to protect wild salmon stocks in B.C. is closing.

“You know, when I think about our people’s history, I think about the colonization, the stripping of our rights, the stripping of our identity, the fact that our language is disappearing, the potlatch ban, the fish is all we have left and they can’t take our fish.”

“We don’t exist here without our fish.”

* Updated August 23, 2017 at 4:54 pm PST to include a statement from Jeremy Dunn of the B.C. Farmed Salmon Association.

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