Skip to content

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: ‘Anti-fish farm activists’ care about oceans

There is indeed huge harm to wild salmon and other sea life from salmon farms, says letter writer
9242522_web1_Fishfarm_3
Occupy Swanson signs at the occupation of Swanson Island fish farm. FACEBOOK photo

To the editor,

Re: Fish farming done responsibly, Letters, Oct. 24.

There is indeed huge harm to wild salmon and other sea life from salmon farms.

Evidence comes from bonafide scientific data gathered and checked in both Canadian and European labs by international biologists. It is often reiterated by those who listen, understand and care about the alarming findings – otherwise known as ‘anti-fish farm activists.’

During the last 15 years, the number of registered vessels and fishermen has fallen steadily, according to a Norwegian article which clearly tells how loss of salmon stocks are directly linked to lice infestation of young fish and the very virus that Alexandra Morton was afraid would infest our West Coast farmed salmon and then our wild stocks. Many other caring and passionate biologists echo those findings.

If word of mouth means anything to you, ask the fishers in Norway, Scotland and South America where fish farms have proliferated for eons.

One of the careful monitoring devices fish farms use is a sound to deter seals. This sound accidentally forced whales from the Broughton Archipelago for three years. They returned sometime after the devices were stopped. Not so scientific, but the whales had not left that area before the sound devices were used.

I applaud the letter writer for investing in land-based fish farms. I, and many others who care about the wildlife of the Pacific, hope they persevere.

I would also encourage further readings by Morton in her informative and poetic books and online. Though it can be a long struggle, passion for what is right is what changes our world for the better.

Ruth Caspell, Nanaimo