Testimonials
The 2005 Broughton LICE-CAPADES
Hello
For those new to this list, from time to time, I feel it is important
to share what is happening to the Pacific Wild Salmon of the Broughton
Archipelago.
First, thank you to all of you who can see the terrible
things afoot and are stepping into the void to do something. Wild
salmon will not easily survive our generation. While the
situation feels hopeless it is important to remember Margaret Mead’s
words: “Never doubt that a small, committed group of individuals
can change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has”.
I am writing you because I am watching a collection of unsubstantiated
remarks from the DFO build an illusion that Pacific Wild Salmon stocks
are unaffected by the marine feedlots trying to rear synthetic,
“salmon”. Once a highly respected scientific agency, I find the DFO no
longer makes sense.
The DFO blame sticklebacks for spreading sea lice, though no one has
shown this is even possible. They claim Broughton Wild Pink Salmon have
no migration route, making them unique among all stocks of salmon. They
suggest the young Broughton Pink Salmon starved, while at the same time
reporting those same fish were fat and healthy. They suggest high
salinity caused the lice epidemics, while at the same time suggesting
low salinity prevented Broughton Salmon from thriving.
Two years ago DFO recognized a migration route, and the farmed Atlantic
fish were removed from that route in the “Pink Salmon Action Plan”.
Lice numbers plummeted and Wild Broughton Pink Salmon increased.
You might think this would have been recognized as a solution, but no.
Today, DFO denies both the existence of the migration route and
that the fallow ever happened.
“Alternative hosts” (wild over-wintering salmon) have been reported to
the public as the source of lice, even though DFO cannot actually find
them.
Meanwhile, I listen at scientific meetings where DFO presents its
million dollar sea lice study in the Broughton, and refuses to even
mention “salmon farms,” that were the very reason so much money was
spent. Despite this, DFO is on those very farms counting lice, though
we never get to see that data. One government scientist even
reported there is no lice problem, while using a net-type well known to
scrape lice off before the fish reach the surface. DFO reports that
tadpole-size pink and chum fry, with no protective scales, ragged and
raw from sea lice eating them… are fine. And, really pushing the
reality barrier, the Minister recently signed a letter in a Prince
Rupert newspaper proclaiming the 2004 Broughton Pink Salmon returns
were a 50-year-high. I felt he was suggesting the industry would
therefore not harm the Skeena River Wild Salmon. In fact, this does not
match what we saw here. The Glendale River (in the Broughton area), for
example, had 1.3 million pinks in 2000 and only 400,000 in 2004.
These lice-capades have become ludicrous. Europeans ask can’t you
people even read, wondering why we ignore the lessons they suffered. On
the one hand we have peer-reviewed papers from around the world, saying
sea lice from salmon farms damage wild salmon stocks. And on the other
hand we have DFO blazing off alone in the opposite direction, without a
single page of published science on this and they are the ones supposed
to protect our Wild Pacific Salmon from industry.
Hindsight is extremely alarming. As the vast Canadian cod stocks
were plundered, DFO decision-makers refused to listen to their own
scientists, rolled out plausible, but fatally unscientific flawed
theories and the world lost a major food source
Foreign corporations were given generous access to our precious coastal
habitat. Despite that, 20 years later they have failed to make a
profit and the public is increasingly rejecting their product.
Liberal MLAs in the fish feedlot regions lost their seats in the
last election. Creating a synthetic fish reared on chicken meal and
dyed pink is an idea that has simply failed on this coast because the
real thing, Pacific Wild Salmon, still exists.
I don’t blame most scientists in DFO, they are as trampled by this as
the rest of us. But bureaucrats safe from the rigors of the business
world and the pressures of reelection need encouragement to notice this
venture has failed.
It is absolutely time to winnow the gifts of this failed and dangerous
behemoth and let the chaff fall away in the manner of every successful
business venture.
The synthetic fish industry has educated people that could be essential
to restoring the wild salmon to glorious, enviable and profitable
abundance. As well, this industry has given BC state-of-the-art seafood
processing plants, and fresh fish delivery infrastructure that could be
used to profit from the diverse wild seafood products of BC. It even
stimulated the science that revealed that BC Wild Pink Salmon are one
of the cleanest proteins left on earth. Just wait till the consumers
learn that.
Don’t be fooled. Wild Pink Salmon in the Broughton are in serious
jeopardy and these marine feedlots are affecting other BC stocks as
well. The tough part for me is telling you that I am failing to protect
the Wild Broughton Salmon. Despite the science, collapsing salmon runs,
election indicators, the efforts of our top environmentalists, this
insatiable industry is demanding expansion in the Broughton and access
to the waters off the Skeena River. Every last man, woman and child who
thinks they might someday want Wild Pacific Salmon must peacefully, but
resolutely make it known in anyway that comes to you that it is not OK
with you that we loose the Pacific Wild Salmon.
Alexandra Morton
Broughton Archipelago, BC
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
_______________________________________________
Thanks for all this information. I am now going
to check my portfolio to make sure I'm not supporting any of the
fish farming companies. Keep up the excellent work.
Alyce
I am writing this letter regarding my concerns
about open net cage salmon farming.
I am a Seattle resident, sport fisherman, and part owner of Blackfish
Lodge, in the Broughton Archipelago. I have fished in the Broughton
Archipelago several times a year for the past fourteen years. I
know that there are at least seven or eight other lodges in the
NE Vancouver Island area in addition to whale watching companies,
kayaking companies, etc.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) is guilty of ignoring
both the historical and current evidence that the current methods
used by the open pen fish farms are an environmental disaster. Besides
my personal environmental and economic interests, this is hurting,
and will continue to hurt, BC’s tourism and sport fishing
industry.
As a sport fisherman, I come to British Columbia for its pristine
wilderness, and beautiful wild salmon, trout, and steelhead---reasons
for coming to BC shared by many of my colleagues and customers.
Frankly, over the past decade, the proliferation of fish farms in
the area I prefer to visit has alarmed and now disgusted me. I have,
personally, caught fish that were heavily and unnaturally infested
with sea lice. I have caught fish that were bleeding from their
bellies from disease. I have fished beautiful streams that were
absolutely teeming with pink salmon a few years ago, and looked
positively barren this fall. Why? Because fish farm-generated sea
lice infestations of young salmon passing by these farms on their
migration from stream to ocean are killing these small fish in huge
numbers. These things were unheard of in this area prior to the
arrival the fish farms.
I cannot believe that the BC government, tourism promoters, and
associated parties would tolerate such a public relations disaster--especially
in light of your upcoming Olympics bid. Most sport fishermen these
days, want to know that the areas in which they fish are managed
sustainably and responsibly. Many tourists want to know that the
areas they visit are being managed responsibly and respectfully
with regard to the overall environment. This is clearly NOT the
case in the NE Vancouver Island area. In this case, the "Super
Natural" tag line of BC Tourism becomes a joke---fish farms
are neither super nor natural!
Further, the economic gains produced by the fish farms are nowhere
near the losses that will be produced by a loss of revenues from
eco-tourism, adventure tourism, and fresh and saltwater fishing.
After all, if there are no salmon, there will be no bears, eagles,
orca whales, etc. These fish farms also affect shellfish, clams,
and crabs with the disgusting effluent (which I have seen and smelled,
myself), disease, and parasites such as sea lice that come off of
them.
Our fellow U.S. citizens in Alaska aren't stupid. They have a fabulous
sport fishing industry and tourism business up there. And, guess
what? Fish farming is banned in Alaska.
I would urge you to put all possible pressure on the DFO, the fish
farming industry and any federal agencies to, at the very least,
fallow existing farms during juvenile salmon out migration periods.
I would further urge the outright ban of open net cage farming methods.
The payback in tourism and fishing will far outweigh the loss of
these farms.
I have enclosed an email (see page 3) from one of our, now former,
customers expressing very vividly why he now chooses to fish in
Alaska rather than BC, even though he would prefer the convenience
and easier access of BC to the Alaska Seattle area. This former
customer has chosen to vote with his wallet. There are others like
him. Once the salmon and all of the other parts of the ecosystems
that depend on them are gone, British Columbia will look to be a
fool in the eyes of many who currently look in awe at her beauty
and natural resources.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Richard P. Groman
Seattle, Washington
USA
