The David Suzuki Foundation

Note: copies of "NET LOSS" are available at cost for $25.00 by contacting:

The David Suzuki Foundation
Suite 219-2211 W. 4th Ave.
Vancouver, B.C.
V6K 4S2
Tel: 6604-732-4228; Fax: 604-732-0752

Salmon Farming Industry Threatens B.C.’s Wild Fish Stocks

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 24, 1996

VANCOUVER - Open netcages, unregulated drug use, and imported Atlantic salmon eggs threaten wild fish stocks, according to a David Suzuki Foundation report released today.

"The way it operates today, B.C.’s salmon netcage industry threatens the survival of fragile wild fish stocks, such as the Fraser River salmon, and may even put human health at risk. To manage these hazards we must immediately stop importing Atlantic salmon eggs, monitor drug use, and change the open fish cages, which release sewage and diseases, into closed pens," says the Foundation’s Executive Director Jim Fulton.

The Suzuki Foundation says B.C.'s industry stands in sharp contrast to the sound practices followed in 85% of the world’s fish farming, which is carried out on land and closely tied to agriculture. Fish wastes in Asia are used as crop fertilizer, but in B.C. become sewage.

"The unsurpassed wild environment along the B.C. coast supports a multi-billion dollar commercial and sport fishery and tourism business. It is the foundation of Native culture, and it provides a home and recreation for hundreds of thousands of people. We appreciate the jobs salmon farming can bring. But this study tells us we stand to lose far more than we gain. We need to set this industry on a course which helps us, not hurts us," explained Fulton.

The major risk is that wild fish could be decimated by the spread of virulent diseases. The problem starts with the netcage system itself. These cages float in the ocean, and are filled with high densities of farm fish. The jammed and stressful conditions of the netcages mean they can become breeding grounds for disease epidemics. The use of fish grown from imported Atlantic salmon eggs compounds this danger. Atlantic salmon are preferred by the industry because they grow more rapidly, and they are more docile. The trouble is, the imported fish can bring new diseases with them which can spread like wildfire among our native fish. To combat these threats, the industry injects fish with drugs and regularly mixes drugs with the feed.

These measures don’t always work. In Norway the industry uses similar netcage systems to those in B.C. There, eggs imported from Scotland brought epidemics of such diseases as furunculosis, which spread rapidly among wild fish which had little resistance to the new pathogens. In fruitless efforts to control the spread of disease, the Norwegian government spent, in one instance, $100 million of taxpayers’ funds. In an earlier attempt to eradicate an epidemic, the government completely poisoned 20 rivers.

The fundamental problem is that the netcages are open to the ocean environment. Escapes of farm fish are inevitable, leading to genetic and other harmful interactions with wild fish. Sewage from fish feces and other wastes builds up in the areas around the netcages, sewage which contains disease pathogens and drugs. In total the sewage is equivalent to the amount produced by a half million people. This refuse is deposited right into the food chain along the B.C. coast, to be picked up by fish such as black cod, herring and salmon.

Eight disease outbreaks have already occurred, and many scientists report that a large-scale epidemic will eventually happen among both wild and farmed fish. The netcages are typically located in sheltered bays such as Clayoquot Sound, areas with rich marine life. Close to fifty of the cages are found among the islands and bays along Johnstone Strait, right in the path of most Fraser River spawning salmon.

"At least 140 distinct salmon stocks in B.C. are already extinct. To help rebuild salmon stocks, commercial, native and sport fishermen made big sacrifices this year. We need to make sure this sacrifice is not in vain," says Fulton.

The netcage industry’s use of drugs has been targeted by the Foundation because of its possible effects on human health. The repeated use of drugs to hold the fish diseases at bay has already led to diseases fully resistant to three types of antibiotics. This cavalier and largely unregulated overuse of drugs concerns scientists because it reduces the pool of antibiotics available for human medicine.

The drugs also leave residues in the fish and shellfish in the areas around net cages which are used for food by local communities, particularly First Nations. There is no government monitoring of these health effects, or those on fish farm workers who are frequently exposed to antibiotics and other drugs.
 

The David Suzuki Foundation makes 12 recommendations. They include using:

· only native salmon,
· closed containment systems which fully treat sewage and prevent contact with wild fish
· mandatory industry insurance covering full ecological restoration of catastrophic events
· government monitoring of drug use and the spread of drug-resistant diseases.

The Foundation is submitting its report to the Salmon Aquaculture Review which is currently being conducted by B.C.’s Environmental Assessment Office.

For more information please contact:
David Hocking - Communications Director, The David Suzuki Foundation (604) 732-4228
 

NET LOSS Executive Summary

Salmon aquaculture in British Columbia follows an intensive, industrial model, with detrimental effects on the pristine environment in which it is situated. This stands in sharp contrast to the way fish farming is practiced in most of the world. Eighty-five percent of global aquaculture production involves non-carnivorous species produced in land-based ponds for domestic markets. Most ponds are ecologically integrated into the agricultural, industrial, and community fabric; wastes, for instance, become fertilizers rather than pollutants.

The infant B.C. salmon netcage industry is part of a much smaller and more lucrative component of aquaculture, where publicly owned fresh and saltwater environments are used to subsidize intensive private feedlot operations that raise carnivorous species for export.

The industry has been encouraged by governments because it provides new economic opportunities in coastal areas. However, these benefits are more than offset by a wide array of environmental and social costs. The costs include:

· Risks of disease transfer from netcage fish to wild stocks, such as black cod, herring, and salmon, and in particular to large numbers of migrating Fraser River salmon
· Risks of introduction of exotic diseases from the continued importation of Atlantic salmon
· Pollution from fish sewage, similar in magnitude to the sewage from a city of about half a million people, with associated disease risks, contamination of shellfish, and loss of habitat
· Death, wounding, and harassment of mammal and bird populations due to shootings, net entanglements, and acoustic deterrent devices
· Loss of access to traditional fisheries for First Nations people, with increased risks to their health from exposure to drug residues from food collected near netcage operations
· Competition for spawning beds and genetic interaction between wild and escaped salmon in fresh and salt water
· Lost access to anchorages and pristine scenery for sportfishing, recreation, and tourism
· Loss of revenue for commercial fishermen due to lower salmon prices, and risks to future revenue for commercial and sportfisheries because of potential declines in wild stocks
· Potential health problems for fish farm workers from the handling of drugs
· Losses in quality of access for foreshore users from odours, visual pollution, and danger from gunfire
· Costs to taxpayers from government regulatory costs and an array of cash subsidies to the industry
· Losses of wild fish, such as herring and juvenile salmon, consumed by netcage fish
· Endangered human health from the increased use of antibiotics and other drugs, which have already led to the spread of fish diseases that are fully resistant to three types of antibiotics
· The net loss of food (four pounds of fish protein are consumed for every pound of netcage salmon produced)

These costs are the subject of the illustrations on pages v and vi.

 
The combination of public subsidies, human health issues, pollution, threats to native stocks from disease and habitat damage, and net consumption rather than production of protein demonstrates that the existing salmon netcage industry in B.C. is not sustainable. The David Suzuki Foundation therefore recommends the following policy changes:

· Replace open cages with closed containment systems.
· Use native salmon only; prohibit the use of exotic species.
· Eliminate discharge of fish sewage (zero discharge).
· Fully monitor drug use and the spread of drug-resistant diseases.
· Require systematic testing by communities for diseases among farmed and wild fish, to be fully funded by industry.
· Institute mandatory insurance for operators to cover full ecological restoration costs of disease epidemics, escapes, genetic pollution, and other catastrophic events.
· Require industry-developed and funded site reclamation plans.
· Introduce a resource-use rent (royalty) for salmon farmers.
· Introduce single-window access to public funds, which will be audited and made public.
· Develop and use a process for gaining the agreement of coastal communities and First Nations regarding the siting of all existing or proposed aquaculture operations.
· Prohibit the use of firearms and acoustic deterrent devices that harass marine mammals, and require the use of technologies that safely separate local wildlife from salmon farming operations.
· Eliminate the use of fish that could be used as human food as the primary feed for farmed salmon.

FULL RECOMMENDATIONS

· Veterinary prescriptions and the use of medicated feed should be monitored to determine what drugs are used and in what amounts.
· Monitoring of drug residues in fish should include the drugs that are actually used, not just the ones that are "approved" for use in fish.
· The present monitoring program conducted by MELP should be compiled in a single database, with results presented in an annual summary report.
· There should be a program to monitor the biota surrounding netcage sites for antibiotic residues, particularly in areas of traditional food gathering by First Nations people.
· The health of fish farm workers should be monitored. Fish farm workers should be educated in the proper handling of drugs and chemicals, and a record of the way drugs are handled should be kept on farms.
· As there is no innocuous treatment for sea lice, siting criteria should include "a sea lice risk assessment" that may result in restrictions on the farming of the highly vulnerable Atlantic salmon.
· There should be a review of the products used as antifoulants, boat hull paints, and wood preservatives on fish farm structures.
· Government and industry must make every effort to minimize the use of all drugs and chemicals, and to minimize their movement into the environment.

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