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NEWS RELEASE

Dhaliwal's Stand on Aquaculture Wrong as More Spawned Atlantic Salmon Found

For immediate release August 4, 1999

VANCOUVER - Canada's new Fisheries Minister must re-evaluate his unquestioning support of open-netcage salmon farming in light of news that more Atlantic salmon have spawned in a Vancouver Island stream, the David Suzuki Foundation said today.

"Today we learned from the provincial Fisheries Ministry that two age classes of Atlantic salmon have been found in the Amor de Cosmos Creek, and at the same time the new federal minister Herb Dhaliwal says the moratorium on new salmon farms should be lifted," said Lynn Hunter, aquaculture specialist for the David Suzuki Foundation.

"Obviously the new minister has a lot to learn," said Ms. Hunter. "The reason we have Atlantic salmon spawning in our streams is because they escape from netcages. The province must require the use of closed containment systems before they even consider lifting the moratorium."

Last September, the provinicial Fisheries Ministry confirmed that one- and two-year-old juvenile Atlantic salmon had spawned in the Tsitika River near Robson Bight on Vancouver Island. It was the first verified report of successful reproduction for introduced Atlantic salmon anywhere in the world other than in a small number of lake resident populations, provincial fisheries conservation manager Ted Down said at the time.

Amor de Cosmos Creek is located about 50 kilometres south of the Tsitika River.

"Conservation groups and First Nations have been telling Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) officials for years that they must stop promoting the aquaculture industry as a benign engine for the economy," said Ms. Hunter.

"Millions of federal tax dollars are spent promoting aquaculture and on research supporting the industry. But when DFO learned there was research on the effects of escaping Atlantic salmon, which may reflect badly on the industry, they withdrew their support for this research.

"It is the old game of not asking questions to which you don't want answers. They are in deep denial about the environmental consequences of netcage salmon aquaculture," said Ms. Hunter.

The consequences include putting extreme pressure on our vulnerable wild salmon stocks, she added.

"Despite all of these serious concerns, DFO and the new minister openly advocate for expansion. To say this is wreckless is an understatement."

David Anderson, the former Fisheries Minister who was moved to the environment portfolio, is on the record as being against lifting the moratorium for environmental reasons. Upon becoming Environment Minister yesterday, he said he would "chew out" any minister who was negligent on environmental matters.

"We're holding Mr. Anderson to his word," said Ms. Hunter. "He better talk to Mr. Dhaliwal immediately and inform him about the environmental consequences of his statement."

Before the discovery that Atlantics had been spawning for over two years in the Tsitika, DFO and the salmon farming industry said such an occurance was virtually impossible. Despite continued escapes from netcages, neither government nor industry have taken any precautionary steps, Ms. Hunter said.

David Suzuki, chair of the Foundation, says it is extremely dangerous ecologically to introduce exotic species.
"When there are already five exquisitely evolved Pacific salmon species, the deliberate introduction of Atlantic salmon is ecological lunacy," Dr.Suzuki said when told of the Atlantics spawning in the Tsitika.

The Foundation's position on this issue remains unchanged since the discovery of the Atlantics spawning in the Tsitika, and Ms. Hunter called on the provincial and federal governments to take the following measures:

1. Ban open netcages in all Canadian waters and replace them with safe, closed containment systems.

2. Canada must call upon the United States to ban open salmon netcages since Atlantics are escaping from cages in the USA into Canadian waters.

3. Canada must immediately prohibit the importation of Atlantic salmon eggs into Canada and all existing eggs and fry must be destroyed.

Additionally, industry must be forced by government to pay for the removal of all escaped Atlantic salmon and Atlantic salmon offspring from BC waters, said Ms. Hunter.

She has launched a private prosecution against Stolt Sea Farm Inc. for pollution-related criminal charges under the federal Fisheries Act for its operation at Carrie Bay off northern Vancouver Island. The case will resume at Campbell River provincial court on November 8.

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For further information, please contact Lynn Hunter at 250-479-0937 or David Hocking, Communications Director at the David Suzuki Foundation, 604-732-4228.

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