BC Wild Salmon Endangered by Sea Lice From Salmon Farms
By Tom Chandler on Sep 24, 2007 in Environment
In this open letter to British Columbia’s leading politicos, a long, long list of biologists and other fisheries professionals confirm what most already seem to know — that sea lice from commercial fish farms threaten wild salmon runs:
We, the undersigned, are convinced by the published scientific evidence that the debate is over; sea lice breeding on farmed salmon are threatening BC’s wild Pacific salmon. There are many threats to wild salmon; however there is now extensive peer-reviewed science that sea lice spread from farm to wild salmon and kill juvenile wild salmon. In some cases, sea lice originating from salmon farms are estimated to have killed up to 95% of the wild juvenile salmon that pass salmon farms during their ocean migrations. This is unacceptable for any industry.
That’s an unpretty statistic, and even the owner of one of the biggest salmon farming companies thinks so too:
John Fredriksen, owner of Marine Harvest, one of the biggest salmon farming companies, both globally and in Canada, recently stated publicly: “I am concerned about the future for wild salmon. Fish farming should not be allowed in fjords with salmon rivers” (Norwegian newspaper Altaposten July 19, 2007).
Read the rest of the letter at: BC wild salmon endangered by failure to contain sea lice from salmon farms
Meanwhile, on the other side of the continent, the DayTripper blog posts about salmon fishing closures in New York due to low water conditions. Given all that we’re reading, it’s not exactly a great year to be a salmon…
Technorati Tags: salmon, wild salmon, salmon farming, british columbia, sea lice
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