[getsmart-l] BC wild salmon endangered by failure to contain sea lice from salmon farms - Open letter from respected scientists and researchers

[Media Release]

September 18, 2007

To the Editor/Producer:

The following is an open letter sent earlier to Prime Minister 
Stephan Harper and Premier Gordon Campbell regarding the threat to 
BC's wild Pacific salmon from sea lice breeding on farmed 
salmon.  The letter has been signed by 18 respected scientists and 
researchers.

For more information, contact Alexandra Morton at 250-949-1664.


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BC wild salmon endangered by failure to contain sea lice from salmon 
farms - Open letter from respected scientists and researchers

Dear Steven Harper and Gordon Campbell,

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.

The scientific literature reports that sea lice infestations of wild, 
juvenile salmon are associated with salmon farms and wild salmon 
population declines in several countries: Canada, Norway, Scotland, 
and Ireland.

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). Earlier this year the 
BC Special Legislative Committee on Sustainable Aquaculture 
recommended granting no new net pen farm licenses and moving all 
existing salmon farms into close-contained facilities. Despite this 
Pat Bell, British Columbia's Minister of Agriculture and Lands, has 
granted three more net pen licenses. In consultation with the salmon 
farming industry and Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the Pacific Salmon 
Forum spent $315,000 of the public's funds collecting a baseline 
dataset to examine sea lice response to fallowing salmon farms. But 
as of today Marine Harvest and Mainstream Canada have restocked farms 
spanning the entire Broughton Archipelago. Consequently this 
definitive study is no longer possible.

We have united our voices because wild salmon are essential to life 
in the North Pacific and to the BC economy. We feel the weight of 
scientific evidence is enough to enact the precautionary principle. 
For wild salmon to survive in an era of major environmental stresses 
through global climate change, a pathogen barrier must be established 
between BC's farmed and wild salmon populations; there are no 
scientific results to the contrary. Furthermore, we are warning the 
BC public that where farmed and wild salmon populations meet in 
narrow marine passages, as in Broughton and off Campbell River, we 
can expect long-term wild salmon stock decline if farmed salmon are 
not quarantined. When our government ignores the immutable natural 
law that disease is amplified when host populations are crowded, we 
pay the price of irreversible loss of a very valuable resource.


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Emacs!

Pink salmon infected with sea lice, June 1, 2007, Broughton Archipelago, BC

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We the undersigned agree that based on the published scientific 
evidence, the only management action that can ensure the protection 
of wild salmon stocks from farmed salmon is a complete physical 
barrier to pathogen transmission between wild and farm salmon (closed 
containment). We are aware that such changes may have economic 
consequences for the industry. The science is clear. It is now up to 
the government and the people of Canada to decide whether the 
economic benefits of aquaculture, as currently practiced, outweigh 
the threats to wild salmon and the ecosystems and economies that 
depend on healthy and abundant wild salmon populations.

We write this public letter out of a sense of duty to future generations.


Respectfully,


David Suzuki, Ph.D.
Founder
David Suzuki Foundation

Daniel Pauly, Ph.D.
Director, Fisheries Centre
University of British Columbia

Richard Routledge, Ph.D.
Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science
Simon Fraser University

Larry Dill, Ph.D.
Professor and Director,
Behavioral Ecology Research Group,
Dept. of Biological Sciences,
Simon Fraser University

Mark A. Lewis, Ph.D.
Center for Mathematical Biology
University of Alberta

Wade Davis, Ph.D.
Explorer-in-Residence
National Geographic Society

Boris Worm, Ph.D.
Marine Conservation Biology
Dalhousie University, Halifax

John Volpe, Ph.D.
University of Victoria Environmental Studies
Victoria BC

Don McQueen, Ph.D.
Emeritus Research Professor
York University, Toronto.
Adjunct Professor,
Simon Fraser University

Craig Orr, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Watershed Watch Salmon Society
Coquitlam, BC

Neil Frazer, Ph.D.
Department of Geology and Geophysics
University of Hawaii at Manoa

Rob Williams, Ph.D.
University of British Columbia
St. Andrews University
Pearse Island, BC

Michael Burt, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus
University of New Brunswick

Gordon Hartman, Ph.D.
Retired Biologist
Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Lance Barrett-Lennard, Ph.D.
Co-chair Resident Killer Whale Recovery Team

Paul Spong. Ph.D.
Director, OrcaLab/Pacific Orca Society
Hanson Island, BC

Helena Symonds
Director, Orcalab/Pacific Orca Society
Hanson Island, BC

Alexandra Morton, R.P.Bio.
Director Salmon Coast Field Station
Echo Bay, BC


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