Tag Archives: Marine Harvest Canada
It’s wild salmon health vs. money and jobs as B.C.’s fish farm fight comes to a head
For some, salmon farms are a blight on the landscape. Not for the way they look, but because of the threat they believe these large aquaculture operations pose to wild salmon. “We’re pretty confident this place will have to be dismantled,” says Ernest Alfred, pointing at the farm from the boat. “And I’ll be here to watch it.” The government is currently reviewing the leases of 20 fish farms that expire on June 20. Alfred and other opponents are upping the pressure on the NDP leadership in hopes they will commit to ending fish farming in the ocean. But supporters of the farms say that would be a huge blow to an industry worth billions of dollars to the province. >click to read<12:01
Meanwhile, in Scotland, A bid by the Scottish Government to resolve fierce arguments over how fish farms harm wild salmon has been dismissed as a public relations stunt by campaigners. The population of wild salmon in Scotland has fallen by 50 per cent from around 1.25 million in the 1960s to 600,000 in 2016. Angling groups point out that most of the decline is on the west coast, close to where salmon farms are located. >click to read<
British Columbia: Dead humpback found entangled in fish farm anchoring equipment
A dead humpback whale has been found stuck in equipment at an empty fish farm on B.C.’s central coast. Marine Harvest Canada says in a news release that the whale was found on Nov. 15 entangled in an anchor support line at a site in Sheep Passage. The company says staff and contractors were in the process of dismantling the site’s anchoring system after another whale got entangled in the equipment in September. The previous whale was safely released, and the entire site is now dismantled. The federal fisheries department has been notified about the dead humpback and will be investigating the incident. Marine Harvest Canada says before the incident in September, nothing like this had ever occurred in their 30 years of operation, and engineers are now testing all their sites to prevent this from happening again. link 16:46
Marine Harvest Canada sues Alexandra Morton for trespassing on fish farms
Aquaculture company Marine Harvest Canada has filed a lawsuit against activist and independent biologist Alexandra Morton for allegedly trespassing on three of their salmon farms on the B.C. coast last month. Morton spent the summer visiting salmon farms — uninvited — aboard the R/V Martin Sheen owned by the group Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, looking for a controversial virus prevalent in salmon farms. In the lawsuit, Marine Harvest alleges she and others trespassed on their Glacier Falls, Midsummer Island and Sonora Island operations without permission and intentionally tampered with the equipment. At two facilities, they’re accused of violating biosecurity procedures. The group is also accused of flying a drone and diving at one facility, putting an object in the water at another and ignoring Marine Harvest’s instruction to leave. Read the story here 09:57
Marine Harvest Canada appeals recent aquaculture regulations court decision
The company cites errors in fact and law as grounds for the appeal. The appeal has been filed on a number of grounds, including significant factual errors Justice Rennie made in his findings, according to a Marine Harvest press release. In its appeal, the company says that Justice Rennie erred in law by not placing the evidentiary onus on the applicant to show that the aquaculture license conditions were unreasonable, and the judge applied the wrong standard of review, replacing the Minister of Fisheries’ view of what may be harmful with his own. Read the rest here 20:33
Court orders new safeguards to prevent fish farm disease spreading to ocean
The federal government has been ordered to shore up its regulations to ensure diseases aren’t transferred from fish farms to the ocean. A Federal Court judge in Vancouver has struck down rules around transfer of fish between acquaculture farms and has given the Department of Fisheries four months to fix the regulations. The decision comes after a biologist accused a fish farm operator of moving diseased salmon smolts from its hatchery to a open pen fish farm on the British Columbia coast. Read the rest here 19:21
B.C. Algae kills 280K Marine Harvest Canada farmed fish
The largest salmon farming company in B.C. lost up to 280,000 fish last week to a type of “harmful algae” associated with warm waters known to kill salmon. Marine Harvest Canada communications manager Ian Roberts said on Tuesday the deaths represent up to 4% of the company’s annual production, adding there was 30 times more algae than needed to kill the fish present at a Port Hardy area farm earlier this month. Read the rest here 00:47
