DFO's Don Noakes remarks below demonstrate the callous
recklessness and gross indifference for exotic invasions that
DFO Federal Aquaculture Policy implementation poses
for wild salmon.
Anne McMullin (BC Salmon Farmer's Executive Director)
in the Van Sun article (last below) was quoted as saying
"the self-contained pens are actually more prone
to escapes than net pens." (!*!!)
The Aquashister's hacks should be purged from DFO to
avert Farmegeddon in B.C. and their "Fred Flintstone"
netcage technology sent to the mort landfill.
The B.C. provincial ministry moratorium remains
the one obstacle to DFO-sponsored Farmegeddon.
Unfortunately, Atlantic Canada and Washington state
haven't got one.
Howard
PUBLICATION National Post
DATE Thu 17 Jun 1999
EDITION National
SECTION/CATEGORY News
PAGE NUMBER A9
BYLINE Mark Hume
COLUMN TITLE Scene: Off the West Coast
STORY LENGTH 383
HEADLINE: How not to keep them down on the fish farm when the tide
rolls in
The problem started when the tide went out -- way out -- and it
got worse when it came back in again. Last week, the seasonal
tides in Puget Sound, just south of the Canada-U.S. border on the
coast near Vancouver, fell to a low point for the year, grounding
floating pens at a salmon farm on Bainbridge Island. That is when
the great escape began. As the water rose the Atlantic salmon that
were being fattened for market at Northwest Seafarms made good
their get-away -- and before the fish ranchers could do anything,
100,000 fish were free ranging. The fish are now thought to be
moving with the strong currents in the area, with some dispersing
into Puget Sound and others moving north into Canadian waters.
The
escape, the second largest accidental release of Atlantic salmon
in Washington State history, has raised alarms on both sides of
the border because it has set an exotic species loose among the
five kinds of native Pacific salmon, some of which are endangered.
"Clearly, escapes of this magnitude pose a threat both by disease
transmission and by competing through colonization to our own
fish," said Howard Breen, habitat campaign co-ordinator of the
Georgia Strait Alliance. "We've seen the spread of imported
diseases [from penned salmon] already in Atlantic Canada and now
we may see the same thing here. This is a sad day for wild
salmon." Mr. Breen is also worried that the escaped Atlantics,
which were all mature adults, could lead to attempts at spawning
in West Coast streams.
Last year, Canadian scientists found
evidence that Atlantic salmon from Vancouver Island farms had
survived long enough at sea to enter nearby rivers and
successfully spawn. Many West Coast salmon streams are lightly
used by Pacific salmon because of over fishing in recent years.
That could present a habitat niche for Atlantics. Could they breed
like rabbits did when introduced to Australia?
"You're talking about a serious threat to endangered species," said Barbara
Stenson, with the Marine Environmental Consortium in Washington
State. But Pete Granger, executive director of the Washington
Farmed Salmon Commission based in Bellingham, doesn't agree the
escaped fish pose an environmental threat. He noted the salmon are
healthy, disease-free and will tend to congregate in areas
different than wild Pacific salmon.
............................................................................
..........................
> PUBLICATION The Ottawa Citizen
> DATE Wed 16 Jun 1999
> EDITION FINAL
> SECTION/CATEGORY News
> PAGE NUMBER A3
> STORY LENGTH 203
>
> HEADLINE: Escape of salmon revives fish farm fight
>
> VANCOUVER -- The escape of 100,000 Atlantic salmon from a
> Washington state fish farm on the weekend has reopened the debate
> over whether more fish farms should be allowed.
>
> At issue is whether the Atlantic stock present a serious threat to
> B.C.'s wild salmon by beating them out for a finite food supply.
> ** Environmentalists renewed their charges that escaped farm fish eat
> food that would otherwise go to wild fish and displace wild fish
> on spawning grounds.
>
> B.C. Fisheries Minister Dennis Streifel said yesterday more needs
> to be known about the ability of Atlantic salmon to reproduce on
> Pacific-coast spawning grounds before the provincial government
> will decide whether to lift a moratorium on creating more fish
> farms.
>
> Federal officials say there is little to fear from the Atlantic
> salmon but B.C. officials are less sure. They discovered last year
> escaped Atlantic salmon had reproduced in a B.C. river.
>
> Environmentalist Howard Breen warned, ``There is currently an
> invasion of Atlantic salmon coming north from Washington state.''
>
> But Don Noakes, director of the federal department's Pacific
> Biological Station, said there have been two other large escapes
> -- 100,000 Atlantic salmon in 1996 and 369,000 in 1997 -- with no
> resulting problems for the native variety.
[I suppose Noakes would say the first 2 rabbits in Australia was no big deal.
Or the first two zebra mussels in the Great Lakes. We know how he
belittled the first evidence of Atlantic Salmon spawning in B.C. (Tsitika
River).
Suppose you can't expect much from an engineer put in charge of
DFO's Pacific lab -- instead of a scientist. - Howard ]
............................................................................
.....................
Summary:
ESCAPE OF ATLANTIC SALMON REVIVES FEAR FOR WILD STOCK -- Vancouver Sun, p.
B7, David Hogben, 16/06/99 -- Fisheries Minister Dennis Streifel said more
needs to be known about the ability of Atlantic salmon to reproduce on
Pacific coast spawning grounds before the B.C. government will lift the
moratorium on fish farm expansion. His comments came following the escape
on the weekend of 100,000 Atlantic salmon from a Washington State fish
farm, which Streifel said demonstrates the need for caution and an industry
target of zero escapes. Georgia Strait Alliance habitat campaigner Howard
Breen said "there is currently an invasion of Atlantic salmon coming north
from Washington State," and noted that "the escapes could actually lead to
a self-sustaining population in our rivers."
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