Salmon Farming Sucks!

I live on the ocean in Beautiful British Columbia. Out here there is nothing better than catching your own salmon and sharing it with family and friends fresh from the barbeque. As a teenager back in the '80's, my friends and I would go out in our speedboat and fish. And despite our lack of talent, we often brought something home. But in my short lifetime it has become more difficult to catch a salmon, or most other seafood for that matter.

There are many reasons for the decline in salmon stocks in B.C. and I believe one of the causes is open net cage salmon farming. At first glance salmon farming seemed like such a good idea...we could farm salmon to reduce the pressure on wild salmon stocks. But the salmon farms do more harm than good.

The problems with salmon farming are many, including:

• Sea lice are transferred from farmed salmon to wild juvenile salmon, reducing their chance of survival,
• Diseases such as IHN (Infectious haematopoietic necrosiscan) can be transferred from the salmon farms to wild salmon,
• The ocean floor below salmon farms is literally smothered with feces and food waste,
• Antibiotics and pesticides used on salmon farms contaminate the environment and shellfish,
• Farmed salmon contain higher levels of PCB and PBDE contamination than wild salmon, and are fed chemical dyes to colour their flesh pink,
• Escaped Atlantic salmon have been found in B.C. rivers and there is concern that they have spawned there, and
• Escaped Atlantic salmon compete for food with native species.

I have done my research on the subject, but don't take my word for it. Here are links to help you find out more and to take action:

• David Suzuki Foundation
• Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform
• Friends of Clayoquot Sound
• Friends of Wild Salmon
• Georgia Strait Alliance
• Living Oceans Society
• Rafe Mair
• Raincoast Conservation Society
• Raincoast Research Society
• Save our Skeena Salmon
• Watershed Watch Salmon Society
• Western Canada Wilderness Committee

Don't eat open net cage farmed salmon and tell your friends not to!

Related topics:

• There's Something Fishy with Salmon Farming in B.C.
• Salmon Farming...the Dark Side
• Submission to the Special Committee on Sustainable Aquaculture
• BC Fish Farm Saga Continues