The Written Word: Rafe Mair September 27th

By Rafe Mair

The letter of 18 scientists to the Premier and Prime Minister, on the impact of sea lice from fish farms on wild salmon smolts is a devastating indictment of both governments. In essence the report did two things:-

It stated “We, the undersigned, are convinced by the published scientific evidence that the debate is over; sea lice breeding on farmed salmon are threatening BC’s wild Pacific salmon. There are many threats to wild salmon; however there is now extensive peer-reviewed science that sea lice spread from farm to wild salmon and kill juvenile wild salmon. In some cases, sea lice originating from salmon farms are estimated to have killed up to 95% of the wild juvenile salmon that pass salmon farms during their ocean migrations. This is unacceptable for any industry

Second, it contained this quote -John Fredriksen, owner of Marine Harvest, one of the biggest salmon farming companies, both globally and in Canada, recently stated publicly: "I am concerned about the future for wild salmon. Fish farming should not be allowed in fjords with salmon rivers" (Norwegian newspaper Altaposten July 19, 2007).

What this letter does is declare that the BC government’s position is and has been dead wrong and that hundreds of thousands of wild salmon migrating smolts have been lost. It shows that the governments, both BC and Ottawa, have been serial deceivers. Worse, the government of BC is showing no signs that it will change; in fact they are handing out even more fish farm licenses. The arrogance of the Campbell government knows no bounds.

And they’ll get away with it for there is no viable political alternative,

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