What is salmon farming?

History of Salmon Farming in British Columbia

Environmental Impacts of Farming Salmon

Salmon Farming and Human Health

Salmon Farming and First Nations

Salmon Farming and the Coastal Economy

Location of Salmon Farms in BC

  

Environmental Impacts of Farming Salmon

The industrial open net-cages used to farm salmon treat BC’s coastal waters like a flow-through feedlot. Waste feed that can be laced with antibiotics or pesticides and fish feces equivalent to a city of hundreds of thousands people are dumped into our oceans every year by BC salmon farms while parasitic sea-lice breed in the crowded farm pens.

Open net-cages, typically stocked with hundreds of thousands of non-native Atlantic salmon, create a wide range of environmental problems including:
•    Proliferation of sea lice from salmon farms threatening the survival of wild salmon populations;
•    Indiscriminate waste disposal from the millions of farmed salmon in     BC smothering the benthic (ocean bottom) ecosystem and then dispersing waste over a wide area of coastline;
•    Escaped farmed salmon out-competing wild Pacific salmon for habitat and food; and
•    Introduction of antibiotics, pesticides and industrial chemicals into the marine environment.

High-density stocking in salmon farms creates the perfect breeding ground for sea lice outbreaks. Open net-cages allow these parasites to freely transfer from farmed salmon to juvenile wild salmon migrating past salmon farms. Tiny wild salmon smolts (no larger than an AAA battery) simply cannot survive the number of sea lice generated by salmon farms. Runs of wild pink and chum salmon are collapsing in areas like the Broughton Archipelago where dense concentrations of salmon farms breed millions of lice.

Open net-cages used by salmon farms allow contaminated waste, including feed and feces laced with antibiotics and pesticides residues as well as toxic net coating substances, to fall untreated to the ocean floor.

This waste builds up under the pens smothering the ocean bottom, contaminating the marine ecosystem and depriving species of oxygen.  The contaminants from salmon farms have also been linked to elevated levels of mercury in rockfish, impacting a traditional food source still used by coastal communities.

Industrial production of farmed salmon inevitably leads to disease and parasite outbreaks that are treated with antibiotics and pesticides. In 2003, 37 million farmed salmon in Canada were treated with SLICE™, a parasiticide treatment used to combat sea lice. SLICE is only authorized for use in the marine environment on an “emergency” basis, but outbreaks of sea lice are so prevalent in industrial net-pens that the “emergency” use of SLICE has become standard operating procedure.  Antibiotic treatment is on a steady increase in the farmed salmon industry. The widespread use and introduction of antibiotics into the marine environment can contribute to antibiotic resistance.  According to Health Canada, antibiotic resistance is an emerging global health issue that may become one of the most significant public health challenges worldwide.

Since 1987, approximately 1 million farmed salmon have escaped into BC waters. It is suspected the actual total could be much higher as the number of escapes reported by government is based solely on figures provided by the industry. This number is low and does not account for leakage, which the industry states can be anywhere from 1-5% of annual production. Leakage occurs through small holes in the net or when net sizes change and the smaller “non-performers” can slip through the larger mesh.  If we assume that 3% of production is leaked this translates into an additional 350,000 fish per year. The escape of non-native farmed salmon into wild salmon habitat poses a serious threat to indigenous wild Pacific salmon. Escapees have the ability to out-compete wild salmon for habitat and food, and have the ability to transfer disease and pathogens to wild salmon.

There are solutions that will address these environmental impacts. Ending the use of open net-cages and shifting the industry to closed-containment systems will help ensure there is a future for wild salmon, orca whales, eagles, bears and the people that make the BC coast their home.

 

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