| Archived Press Release
- September 21, 1999 |
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Escaped Atlantic Salmon are
Quickly
Becoming Common Place in BC’s Coastal Waters
September 21, 1999
Vancouver, BC - In light of the recent
escape of 30,000 Atlantic salmon into British Columbia's
coastal waters, the Steelhead Society of BC advocated
today that protection of our wild salmon and steelhead
stocks must be the priority of both the federal and
provincial governments. "The issues surrounding
industrial fish farming operations are clearly environmental
issues and as such this current escape should concern
the Federal and Provincial Environmental Ministers as
well as their fisheries counterparts," stated Society
president Daniel Burns.
On average 60,000 Atlantic salmon escape
from BC net-cages every year. These non-native fish
eat scarce food that would otherwise go to wild fish,
disturb wild salmon spawning beds, and introduce new
disease and parasites into wild salmon stocks. Last
September it was confirmed by the provincial Fisheries
Ministry that one and two-year old juvenile Atlantic
salmon had been found in the Tsitika River near Robson
Bright on Vancouver Island. This discovery was the first
clear indication that escaped Atlantic salmon had successfully
spawned in the wild. More recently, provincial Fisheries
Ministry announced that two age classes of Atlantic
salmon had been found in the Amor de Cosmos Creek. It
is now feared that escaped Atlantic salmon could establish
a viable population in the West Coast, an event that
could be detrimental to fragile pacific salmon stocks.
"The 30,000 Atlantic salmon that
escaped from the Stolt Sea Farms site near Port McNeaill
are adding to a growing Atlantic salmon population swimming
free off Vancouver Island," stated Burns. This
is not the first escape of it's kind; in June of this
year 100,000 Atlantic salmon escaped from a commercial
fish farm at the south end of Bainbridge Island in Puget
Sound, adding to the estimated 300,000 escapees of 1997.
To ensure that British Columbia's wild
fish are safeguarded, the Steelhead Society of BC is
urging that the moratorium on expansion be kept in place
until closed loop containment systems are phased in
and proven o be an effective mechanism for protecting
wild salmon and steelhead stocks. "With the right
incentive, British Columbia could lead the world in
developing the only safe fish farm: a closed loop containment
system that does not allow salmon, infections, antibiotics
or excrement escape," stated Burns.
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