Salmon farms threaten marine life & human health
The Adams River river is renowned as the world’s largest wild sockeye salmon run. Photo credit: Roberta Olenick.
British Columbia is well known for its towering mountains, temperate rainforests, sparkling streams and rivers and its abundant wildlife. Grizzlies, killer whales, eagles and wild salmon are just some of the species that create the incredible mosaic of biodiversity that is found in the province, and nowhere is this more pronounced than in the estuaries, inlets and islands that dot the West Coast. Stellar sea lions, white-sided dolphins, shorthorn sculpins, gooseneck barnacles and mighty grey whales are just some of the thousands of species that make our coastal ecosystem so special.
Although our coast teems with wildlife, it is our wild salmon, born in hundreds of creeks, streams and rivers throughout BC, that are the lifeblood of this sensitive ecosystem. Chum, chinook, coho, pink and sockeye salmon are part of the very fabric of the West Coast. Salmon is the lifeblood of First Nations’ coastal communities and supports wildlife, fisheries and contributes to our vibrant provincial tourism industry.
There are thousands of genetically distinct stocks of salmon found in BC, but decades of over fishing, industrial development and habitat destruction through poor logging practices and hydro-electric dams have taken their toll. Today over 700 stocks of salmon unique to British Columbia are at risk and over 100 have gone extinct.
Pacific salmon and coastal forests have a complex inter-relationship that has nourished forest, wildlife and coastal cultures & economies for thousands of years. Photo credit: Jeremy Sean Williams.
Newer threats have also materialized: global warming, chemical pollutants such as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and aquaculture are increasingly not only putting our wild salmon at risk, but are damaging entire ecosystems in the process. While all of these issues are of vital importance, perhaps no issue has captured the public interest more than the introduction of industrial salmon farms to Canada’s Pacific Coast.
The introduction of industrial salmon farming took root in Norway in the late 1960s. After Norway’s wild salmon stocks had crashed from a combination of acid rain, over-fishing and habitat destruction, Norway set about introducing open-net cage salmon farms in dozens of protected fjords. The success of salmon farming in Norway, combined with tightening environmental regulations, created the incentive for Norwegian multinationals to expand their operations. In western North America two markets looked particularly promising: Alaska and BC.
Concerned about their wild fishery, Alaska banned salmon farming. BC, which already had several small family-run farms, opened the gates to large-scale industrial salmon farming.
Today there are 121 salmon farm tenures in the province with over 80 farms operating along the coast. Far from providing a clean, environmentally sound and sustainable industry open-net cage salmon farming has been beset by disease outbreaks, sea lice, toxic algae blooms, escapes, pollution, inadequate regulations, parasite infestations, chemical contamination and serious health concerns.
Read more and find out how you can help protect your health and the health of our coastal marine environment by saying no to unsustainable salmon farming.
