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| Salmon farms pollute the ocean Farmed salmon are grown in net cages that float in the ocean. Pollution and waste from the fish farms flow directly into the water. The fish farms along the BC Coast produce as much waste as the raw sewage from a city with 500,000 people. This waste goes untreated into the ocean. Most fish farms use pesticides and antibiotics when their fish are sick. Some of these antibiotics and pesticides also leak into the ocean and can harm other animals like crabs, prawns and shrimp. Salmon farms kill marine mammals On average, fish farms in BC shoot and kill 500 seals and sea lions under permit from Department of Fisheries and Oceans. In addition, an unknown number - possible hundreds - are killed without permits. Salmon farms release exotic species into the environment Escaped Atlantic salmon have been found in about 80 rivers along the BC Coast. Between 1998 and 2000, 153 freshwater juvenile Atlantic salmon, offspring from escaped farmed salmon, were found around Northern Vancouver Island. Atlantic salmon can outcompete wild Pacific salmon, upsetting the natural ecological balance. Salmon farms spread diseases and parasites Diseases and parasites are often found in high numbers in fish farms because up to 50,000 fish live in one pen (90x90ft, 48ft deep). Salmon fry are especially threatened by these diseases. 40% of all fish farms in Norway were shut down in 1998 and millions of fish were killed to stop the spread of an incurable disease called "infectious salmon anaemia." A parasite that lives on the skin, eyes and gills of salmon was imported from Sweden to Norway in 1975 with salmon fry for fish farms. The parasite quickly spread and killed off many wild salmon runs. To stop the parasite from spreading, many of the 40 rivers that have been infected in Norway are poisoned with a powerful poison called rotenone. It kills off the parasite but also almost all other life in the rivers, and the salmon. 8 rivers in the Broughton Archipelago region of BC saw only 2% of the pink salmon return this year. There are many fish farms in that area. Researchers found that wild salmon around fish farms had 10 times more sea lice than wild salmon in areas with no fish farms. 86% of the wild salmon caught near fish farms had more sea lice than they could probably survive. In Ireland, wild trout near salmon farms had up to 20 times more sea lice than those away from fish farms. In one case, 38 million sea lice larvae per day were released into the ocean where trout were migrating. In 1993, Atlantic salmon at a fish farm in the Broughton Archipelago in BC developed a bacterial disease that was resistant to three different antibiotics. When they tried to move the farm, the nets broke up and the diseased salmon escaped. It is unknown what happened to these diseased, farmed salmon that escaped. Salmon farming threaten ancient temperate rainforests Salmon Farms threaten the survival of wild salmon which are the food and nutrient sources for the wildlife and watersheds of the Great Bear Rainforest. Grizzlies, wolves, eagles, and First Nations all depend on wild healthy salmon runs. |
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