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In March 2003, the BC Seafood Alliance wrote to
the federal and provincial fisheries Ministers in support of the
Pacific Fisheries Resource Conservation Council (PFRCC) recommendations
for the protection of wild salmon following the release of its Making
Sense of the Aquaculture Debate: An Analysis of Issues Related to
Netcage Salmon Farming and Wild Salmon in BC.
The Alliance urged that the PFRCC’s advice
and recommendations be applied to all wild fish and shellfish and
called on the Ministers to ensure that:
- The protection of wild fish and shellfish is
given priority in government decision-making;
- The precautionary principle be applied in a
much more rigorous way in evaluating the risk of interaction between
farming operations and wild stocks;
- The government and industry undertake a wide-ranging
research and monitoring program on interaction of wild/farmed
species and ways to mitigate any impacts;
- The health of all wild marine resources is
considered in assessing impacts of farmed operations and siting
of farms.
The Alliance believes that Making Sense of
the Aquaculture Debate helps move the public debate on aquaculture
in a more productive and positive direction. Both levels of government
must take up the challenge of mending the shortcomings in governance
and communication that the report identifies if we are to move beyond
the current acrimonious public debate. We look to both Ministers
for the leadership to implement the recommendations and ensure the
health and survival of the wild fish and shellfish populations of
Canada’s Pacific Coast.
The PFRCC, established to provide strategic advice
and information to the governments of Canada and British Columbia
on the sustainable use of wild salmon stocks and protection of their
habitat, issued the report in January 2003. Making Sense of
the Aquaculture Debate takes a look behind the debate, examines
the information and assumptions supporting the arguments of opposing
interests and deepens the current public understanding about the
potential impact of salmon aquaculture on wild salmon, particularly,
the impacts of sea lice, bacteria and viruses and Atlantic and Pacific
salmon escapes. In a subsequent advisory to the federal and provincial
fisheries Ministers and to the Canadian public, the Hon. John Fraser,
chair of the PFRCC, makes a number of recommendations designed to
ensure that government policy reflects the salmon conservation principle
most valued by Canadians—"wild salmon must come first." |
