As federal Fisheries and Oceans Minister Dominic LeBlanc was in West Vancouver Tuesday, promising that his government would act on all 75 recommendations from the 2012 Cohen Commission into the decline of Fraser River sockeye salmon, independent biologist Alexandra Morton was sailing into friendly waters on northern Vancouver Island and casting doubt on the government’s intentions.

“There is no substance to it,” said Morton, pointing out that LeBlanc has avoided any commitment to act on the Cohen recommendation to separate promotion of aquaculture from its duty to protect wild salmon or to put the brakes on the salmon farming industry.

The progress report, delivered by LeBlanc, noted that Fisheries and Oceans  oversight of salmon farming meshes with the department’s mandate and LeBlanc said at the news conference that DFO has a responsibility to promote the sustainable use of “fish resources in a way that is good for the local economy.”

That does not go down well with Morton, a thorn in the side of the salmon farming industry and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for decades.

In addition to the federal Liberal’s apparent reluctance to rein in the salmon farming industry, Morton is discouraged by government’s earlier decision to extend fish farm licences from one to six years, running counter to Cohen’s recommendations.

That is a decision that disrespects First Nations, said Morton in an interview from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s research vessel Martin Sheen as she sailed into Musgamagw Dzawada’enuxw territory, where one-third of B.C.’s salmon farms are located.

“I don’t understand how they can give the industry long-term licences and now (LeBlanc) says he is going to enact the Cohen recommendations,” said Morton, who is conducting sampling around fish farms to establish whether piscine reovirus (PRV) — a virus found in farmed fish — is present in wild salmon and whether there are hotspots of the virus around the farms. PRV has been linked to Heart and Skeletal Muscle Inflammation in fish.

Instead of making vague promises to talk to aboriginal groups, LeBlanc should be meeting with the hereditary leaders to find out what is happening to wild salmon runs around salmon farms, Morton said.

“The salmon farming industry has been in Musgamagw Dzawada’enuxw territory since the 1990s and they have never given them permission, but no one is compensating them and they are suffering,” she said.

Her words were echoed by Dzawada’enuxw councillor and fisheries coordinator Melissa Willie, who is also on board the Martin Sheen.

“There are 27 farms in our territory and we have never given them permission to be there. We just continue to write letters opposing them,” she said.

Damage from the farms is evident not only in declining salmon runs and the number of sea lice, but also in clam beds, Willie said.

“All that shit is going into the water. I don’t believe it’s being flushed out and the beaches are becoming muck. It’s our whole food chain. We want them totally out of our territory and I just hope someone is listening,” she said.

The Cohen Commission report languished on governmental back shelves for four years while the Conservatives were in power, but hopes were high that it would see the light of day under the Liberals and some, such as Willie, remain optimistic that there will be help, not only for the Fraser River sockeye, but for all B.C.’s salmon.

Willie is hoping that the secret weapon might be Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, a member of the We Wai Kai Nation.

“Her grandmother was one of ours. We hope to get her involved,” Willie said.

However, salmon farming companies have economic agreements with many First Nations and at least two have denied the Martin Sheen permission to come into their territory.

That is a choice that is up to them, said Morton, who hopes they will not find they are importing diseases from the farmed Atlantic salmon into their traditional fishing grounds.

Bob Chamberlin, chairman of the First Nations Wild Salmon Alliance, found some encouraging aspects in LeBlanc’s progress report, although he said it lacked detail

“I found it positive that the minister spoke about looking after all species of salmon in B.C. and it was not just the restricted view of Fraser River sockeye and the Discovery Channel fish farms,” he said.

The emphasis on science and research, backed by an additional $197 million in funding announced last March, is good news, but the government should now be adhering to the precautionary principle until those science gaps are filled, Chamberlin said.

“That means stop expanding fish farms, stop creating new licences and stop setting the table for this industry. Science needs to be at the table,” he said.

What's Fishy About the Feds' Salmon Promises? https://t.co/eNULDlE8Rj #cdnpoli #bcpoli

— DeSmog Canada (@DeSmogCanada) August 11, 2016

Innovative programs such as tagging salmon smolts and genome science should be able to determine the major salmon stressors and pinpoint those industries causing grief to wild salmon, Chamberlin said.

But, until those scientific holes are filled, salmon farming industry expansion must be stopped, he said.

Jeremy Dunn, executive director of the B.C. Salmon Farmers Association, applauds the renewed emphasis on science and said LeBlanc has reinforced his government’s commitment to making science-based decisions for all Canadian fisheries.

But that does not mean curtailing the salmon farming industry and longer licence terms are necessary to provide security for the companies, he said.

“These licences could be revoked at any time if the farmers are not living up to their licence conditions,” he said, emphasizing that members of the Salmon Farmers Association work closely with government, scientists and academics and are concerned about the health of their own fish while being acutely aware of the importance of wild salmon.

Alexandra Morton’s virus-hunting patrols have added additional stress to salmon farmers and it is “important to distinguish between advocacy and science,” Dunn said.

Morton shows no sign of contrition and believes she is providing a voice to counteract the powerful lobby of Japanese and Norwegian-owned salmon farming companies.

“The industry is entrenched and everyone is afraid to say ‘this is not working,’ ” she said.

Instead of protecting those interests, government should be looking at rearing salmon in closed containment pens on land, which is being done by Namgis First Nation on northern Vancouver Island, Morton said.

Photo by Amanda Carroll, UNR Department of Art/Photography

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A new salmon farm in Clayoquot Sound on Vancouver Island was dismantled and hauled away this week after being occupied by members of Ahousaht First Nations and local supporters from Tofino.

“This is the very first salmon farm that’s pulled out of B.C. because of protesters,” said Alexandra Morton, an independent salmon research scientist who has documented the devastating impacts of salmon farms on wild salmon and other marine species. Morton was part of the two-week occupation.

Lennie John, an Ahousaht man, was the first to tie his boat to the floating fish pens in the long narrow channel near the eastern shore of Flores Island with its intact ancient cedar rainforest and many creeks supporting runs of wild salmon. This is also home of the Ahousaht First Nations. Cermaq, a Norwegian-based salmon farming company (recently purchased by the Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi) was granted permits this summer to install its 16th farm in Clayoquot Sound.

“We blocked Cermaq’s access and told them they were trespassing,” John, an Ahousaht tourism business owner, said.

“You wouldn’t want someone to come into your house and make a mess,” John told more than 100 people attending a Clayoquot Action event, called “Take a Stand for Wild Salmon,” in Tofino on Wednesday. Clayoquot Action is a local environmental organization.

John was soon joined by others who literally camped on the steel catwalks that frame large salmon net pens that can hold up to a million Atlantic salmon at a time when fully stocked. The group spent two weeks camped on the open water despite the very windy and wet weather the region is known for.

Occupation of Cermaq fish pen. Photo: Alexandra Morton.

“I’m tired of being told to keep quiet. A handful of warriors stopped this. Imagine what a Nation could do?” John said.

“We want to get rid of all the fish farms on our territory,” John Rampanen, a member of the Ahousaht First Nation, told DeSmog Canada. There have been serious declines in shellfish, salmon and herring since salmon farms appeared in the nation’s traditional territory around 1999.

According to Cermaq’s website there is an agreement with three chiefs of the Ahousaht First Nation that covers issues such as financial and social benefits and employment. However the nation’s traditional and elected leadership ended up supporting the occupiers, Rampanen said.

Salmon are the life-force that powers the ecology and economy of British Columbia, Morton said.

“We’d be fools beyond forgiveness if we cut this off for future generations,” she told the crowd at the Clayoquot Action event in Tofino.

Morton, among others, has published scientific reports and papers documenting the impacts of salmon aquaculture on B.C.’s wild Pacific salmon, which are in sharp decline almost everywhere farms are located.

With up to a million salmon jammed into small open-ocean enclosures, disease and parasites like sea lice are common, requiring chemical insecticides and antibiotics to keep the fish from dying. As young wild salmon pass underneath the pens they are showered by sea lice. A single louse can kill a young fish according to Morton’s studies.

Underwater ‘sound canons’ are used to keep seals away from the net pens but also drive away orcas and other whales because of the sound pollution, Morton added. Three or more kilograms of wild fish are required as feed to produce one kilo of salmon. The ocean bottoms under and around the open-ocean net pens are usually devoid of any life, buried under the excrement of up to a million salmon overhead.

Aquaculture is big business in B.C. with about 750 aquaculture operations producing salmon, other finfish and shellfish. The total harvested value was nearly $534 million in 2010, according to government statistics.

Last May a petition with more than 106,000 signatures called on B.C. Premier Christy Clark to place a moratorium on new farms. In July, Clark approved four new farms including the one near Flores Island. 

“Nothing has ever stopped these farms. Not science, lawsuits, protests or petitions. Now the blockade has stopped one. You have to put your body on the line,” Morton told DeSmog.

“We know salmon farming in the ocean is wrong. We have to do something,” Joe James Rampanen, another occupier, said.

There is widespread support for the occupiers within the Ahousaht First Nation and other communities. That support included those who have family working for Cermaq and other operators.

“They feel ashamed they’re involved but what choice do they have?” Rampanen told DeSmog.

The aquaculture industry could modify its practice of operating in pristine regions where wild salmon thrive. Rampanen said companies could raise their fish on dry land like the freshwater fish aquaculture industry does.

Image: Cermaq

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The truth will set you free, but only if you footnote it correctly. The BC Supreme Court ruled last September that activist Don Staniford’s 2011 campaign against a Norwegian fish farming company falls under the right to fair comment legislation, protecting Staniford from defamation charges.

The decision, however, has just been overturned by the BC Court of Appeals which ordered Staniford to pay $75,000 in damages to Mainstream Canada, a subsidiary of the Norwegian company Cermaq, in addition to a portion of the company's legal fees.

Norway owns 98 percent of the Pacific salmon fish farms in BC.

“Any person who has already published or cause to be published the Defamatory Words shall, upon receiving notice of this Order, forthwith make all reasonable efforts to remove from the internet and any other medium upon which they are published, the entirely of any and all of the Defamatory Words.” This likely means news outlets who have reported on the case will be expected to remove the specific statements once the injunction kicks in on August 1.  

The ruling comes as another blow to wild salmon advocates working to demonstrate the negative effects of salmon farming in Canadian waters.

Further study revealed that wild salmon who pass through Discovery Passage on the west coast of BC, the narrowest salmon route in the world and home to 11 fish farms, are contracting the disease as well.  

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