Submission 0075-MITCHELL

Name: Barbara McElgunn

Date Created: June 18, 2010

Comment:
CTV reported in 2002 that Health Canada allowed numerous emergency uses of a non-registered pesticide - emamectin benzoate (Slice) - to treat sea lice in farmed fish (300 times in 20 months). Emamectin has been shown to be very toxic to the developing nervous system at very low levels of exposure. The CFIA has found residues of this "drug" in farmed salmon. It might be worthwhile to see if farmed fish are still being treated with this unapproved for use substance, and if so, are they able to reproduce or respond to normal hormonal signals to spawn - this is another chemical that may be finding its way at low chronic levels to other fish habitats.

Name: ron wilton

Date Created: June 19, 2010

Comment:
Some fifteen years ago when the foreigen fish farmers came to BC,they requested meetings with interested parties such as biologists, fishermen,natives,residents and others with a view to determining likely places to set up their fish farms so as not to interfere with the life and migration cycles of wild salmon. This would indicate to me that they were aware of negative consequences fish farms represented to native stocks. The BC people identified areas between Vancouver Island and the mainland where salmon smolt rested and where returning adults staged, as well as the routes the various salmon used in their migration from BC rivers and their return routes. The most sensitive areas were called "red zones" while less sensitive areas were given other designations. It was presumed that the fish farms would not locate in the red zones but in the other less sensitive zones. The fish farms have now proliferated in the red zones and have largely ignored the less harmful zones.

Name: Lawrence Vea

Date Created: June 20, 2010

Comment:
So, let’s get this straight:
-2 groups disagree: the fish farm industry (Group A) and the environmentalists, commercial and sports fishermen (Group B)
-Gr. A suggest there is no impact on wild salmon due to the activities of their farms
-Gr. B suggest there is a definite link between farms and the sea lice produced and this is affecting salmon
-Gr. B suggests that "closed containment" would rid us of this problem
-Gr. A insists this is not necessary...and it would be far too expensive.
NOW, if Gr. B is correct and nothing is done....our wild salmon population will grow increasingly smaller and numerous people will be impacted severely economically.
IF, however, closed containment is required by law, the wild salmon are given a better chance of surviving.
If, Gr A is correct, and it is found that sea lice are not a problem then the negative will be they have spent more money to keep our BC environment cleaner. They will still have their industry.
Can we afford to take a chance?

Name: Eva Lyman

Date Created: June 20, 2010

Comment:
Personally I will not buy farmed salmon, because of the way they are raised on hormones, drugs, etc.

I live near the mouth of the Adams river, biggest sockeye spawning river in BC. Our returning salmon are getting fewer and fewer. I say get the fish farms out of the sea. It's a public common, and no one let us vote on whether we want these Atlantic salmon in our Pacific waters. As for the diseases and sea lice, I think common sense would dictate that there is a connection between them, and the dropping stocks. We see it here every year!
Fishs have been raised in ponds on land in Europe and elsewhere for centuries. Put the salmon in artificial ponds or tanks on land, and let's have Canadian companies do it for a change. The Norwegians seem to have a bad reputation everywhere. I recall their Atlantic whaling fleet did back in the 60's in Nova Scotia. And the captain's wife was a friend of mine, I have no need to slander them..

Name: Geoff Gerhaart

Date Created: June 20, 2010

Comment:
OK lets talk dirty (money) It's all about the money. Fish farm jobs and indirect jobs total 6,000. Payroll 225,000,000. Sport fishing in just one watershed brings in 54,000,000 per year. That is only one watershed, direct and indirect jobs 54,000. This includes all Commercial fishing, all sport fishing, all whale watching, bear watching, and eagle watching. Never mind first nations that harvest Salmon out of the rivers to feed themselves. The ecosystem feeds off Salmon almost into Alberta at the base of mount Robinson. We could lose it all just like the coast of Chile if the farms don't change the way they farm. Well over 300,000,000 will be lost never mind all the rest that we will never see again.

Name: Thomas Chan

Date Created: June 22, 2010

Comment:
The devastating effects of fish farms now impacting BC wild salmon populations have long since been predicted by concerned scientists and others worldwide, as co-witnesses to the parallel destruction of Norwegian, Scottish, Irish, and Chilean fisheries alike.

We, as responsible Canadians and British Columbians, cannot sit idly while entire populations of our critical wild salmon resources are permitted to disappear -- at the interests of profit-oriented foreign multi-nationals, and to the detriment of our ecology, our wilderness, and the many livelihoods which rely on those resources.

We must take critical preemptive measures to prevent further impending damage, and remove these probable sources of sea lice infestation, IHN, and other diseases and pathogens from our waters in the public interest.

Name: Christopher Machine

Date Created: August 18, 2011

Comment:
I learned a lot from this post, great help for me, thank you!

Name: Heli

Date Created: August 29, 2011

Comment:
Very nice, i suggest webmaster can set up a forum, so that we can talk and communicate.