Salmon Farming

Vancouver:  Environmental groups are applauding the B.C. government’s recent decision to conduct a review of fish processing plants, following revealing video of virus-laden bloodwater being discharged into the ocean. 

After the video and initial lab results were released publicly, the fish farming industry said that discharge from fish processing plants was disinfected prior to release to the environment.

In a new study published today in the online journal Plos One, Alex Morton and co-authors Drs. Rick Routledge and Molly and Fred Kibenge trace the Norwegian variant of piscine reovirus (PRV) in samples of wild salmon. Sampling from regions where salmon have little chance of passing a salmon farm disclosed very low levels of the pathogen (5%); while Fraser River stocks were as much as 45% infected.  Significantly, the rate of infection was highest in the lower reaches of the Fraser River, as compared with the Upper Fraser where infection rates dropped 50%.

VANCOUVER - A review of the provincial Animal Health Laboratory and its fish health program is long overdue, according to two B.C. conservation organizations.  While critics claim the investigation is unwarranted, Watershed Watch Salmon Society and Living Oceans Society point to a well-documented history of concerns with the lab’s fish health work.

K’JIPUKTUK/HALIFAX  - A retired Environment Canada employee and conservation and environmental law groups are calling for action from the federal government after Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) confirmed certain aquaculture activities result in a disposal at sea, likely violating the federal Disposal at Sea Regulations.  Despite this confirmation the activities appear to be continuing without any enforcement action by ECCC. 

VANCOUVER — U.S.-based Seafood Watch’s ranking of B.C. open-net-pen farmed salmon as a “good alternative” seafood choice is problematic, according to SeaChoice, Canada’s sustainable seafood watchdog.

Seafood Watch’s shift in ranking from Red (avoid) to Yellow (good alternative) results from an improved score for the assessment criterion that measures whether disease transmission from farmed salmon to wild fish has population-level impacts on wild salmon.

HALIFAX, VANCOUVER — Seafood eco-certifications by two prominent organizations are falling short, according to a new report by SeaChoice, a coalition of Canada’s leading sustainable seafood advocacy organizations. What’s behind the label? Assessing the impact of MSC and ASC seafood certifications in Canada is the first review of whether the Marine Stewardship Council and Aquaculture Stewardship Council have improved sustainability in Canadian seafood production.

VANCOUVER/HALIFAX:  Ecology Action Centre and Living Oceans Society welcome the report of the Standing Committee on the Environment and Sustainable Development, tabled in Parliament today, recommending a broad range of reforms of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA). Several of the recommendations would open a very welcome window into the approval process for genetically modified organisms, say the groups.