Alexandra Morton

[phearless]

I get regular updates on Alenandra's work and will pass it along as I get it.

>> Dear John Macdonald:
>>
>> It is good to hear from you via Granville. The Pacific Salmon
>> Foundation should review the salmon farming situation as I believe it
>> to be far more serious than many are taking it. The sea louse
>> infection rates in the Broughton remain persistent despite use of the
>> drug Slice and the infection rate on sockeye, very juvenile herring
>> and the other salmon species around Campbell River is even higher at
>> times than in the Broughton. There is also
>> evidence that Megin River Chinook are exposed to high sea lice
>> numbers
> as
>> soon as they enter sea water. And these are just the places where I
> have
>> looked, there is no reason sea lice are not threatening wild salmon
>> wherever
>> they occur. I examined the sockeye age-class that did not return in
> 2007,
>> when they went to sea as smolts in 2005 and they were heavily
>> infested
>
>> with
>> sea lice around the fish farms off Campbell River (see attached).
>> This
>> summer we found even higher infection rates in this area.
>>
>> I am also beginning work on the antibiotic resistance patterns
>> associated with salmon farms, as well there have been widespread
>> viral
>
>> outbreaks on fish farms spread by the industry from Bella Bella to
>> eastern Johnstone Strait via their smolt transporters (see attached).
>> The IHN epidemic in the Broughton occurred as the Kingcome Inlet
>> herring were staging in the area of
>> the farms and that population has plummeted to the point DFO no
>> longer
>> assesses their spawn.
>>
>> Regarding my upcoming challenge in BC Supreme Court. Most fish farm
>> leases
>> in the Broughton have expired, some 5 years ago. The fish farmers
>> have
>> applied to increase the number of fish they can hold at these sites.
> This
>> in
>> spite of the work by my colleagues and I showing population scale
> impact
>> of
>> these operations at their current size. The local First Nations have
> done
>> what they can to prevent these lease renewals, but they do not have
> the
>> capacity to continue this indefinitely. I was interested in seeking
> an
>> injunction against the renewal of the leases until the pink salmon
>> returned
>> to pre-lice levels. However in the process the lawyer I am working
> with
>> (Greg McDade) found that regulation of fish farms was transferred
>> from
>> Federal to Provincial jurisdiction in a 1988 MOU that he feels was
>> not
>> legal.
>>
>> This MOU transferred fish farms to the Province based on the premise
>> that fish farms cause no impact on any Federal jurisdiction. The
>> transfer may not have been legal and furthermore there is now ample
>> evidence that there is substantial impact of fish farms on the marine
>> environment (a federal responsibility). DFO is now in a precarious
>> position. If they admit to impact of fish farms on the marine
>> environment or wild salmon, the regulatory framework collapses as the
>> premise of the MOU is found invalid, but in fact the premise is
>> invalid.
>>
>> So my legal challenge is a petition to the BC Supreme Court to
>> investigate the legality of the MOU. If we win (I am joined in
>> this by
>
>> the Wilderness Tourism Association and the Vessel Owners Association)
>> all fish farm leases become invalid, unconstitutional and unlawful
>> and
>
>> fish farm regulation falls
>> entirely under DFO. At that point we could begin to clean up this
>> mess
> as
>> DFO could not point to the Province and Province point back at DFO,
>> stalling
>> all progress. The Federal government must tread carefully here
> because if
>> they give up jurisdiction of the marine environment in BC their claim
> on
>> Artic waters is weakened.
>>
>> There is only one solution; we must abide by the natural laws
>> fundamental
>> to
>> wild salmon - the youngest salmon cannot meet large populations of
>> the
>
>> older
>> salmon. Nature is so fastidious, killing all spawners and the
>> lice in
>
>> fresh
>> water. Most pink and chum salmon are encountering multiple
>> schools of
>> 600,000 Atlantic salmon before they have even developed the scales
>> required
>> to protect them from sea lice. The farms attract the fry with a
>> sheen
> of
>> fish chow dust, night lights and highly inappropriate siting. Coho
> smolts
>> prefer young salmon with lice because they are weaker and the lice
>> transfer
>> to the smolts. We also see steelhead and Chinook with lice. The lice
> now
>> act
>> as a biological tag indicating exposure to farm effluent including
>> bacteria
>> and viruses. I have studied this as the industry attempts response
> and
>> nothing they have done to date has been sufficient. The fish farms
> must
>> be
>> removed from long narrow channels where wild salmon weigh less than a
> few
>> grams, there is no other way. My colleagues in Norway are aghast that
> the
>> same companies they deal with in Norway are reacting with denial.
> However,
>> see the attached quote from the Hansard.
>>
>> The fish farmers and government always respond by asking where the
>> farms
>> can
>> go. Well there are two places, closed containment and into the
> boundaries
>> of
>> communities that want the farms and have agreed to risk their wild
> salmon.
>>
>> All the Best
>>
>> Alexandra Morton
>>
>>
>
>