Pamela Anderson, the actress and celebrity famed for her role in the television series Baywatch, has joined the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society to call for an investigation into salmon farms in British Columbia, Canada and a campaign for consumers not to eat farmed salmon.
Anderson, a Canadian native who grew up in British Columbia, is the chairman of the board of Sea Shephard, an activist environmental nonprofit. On 18 July, the organization announced the launch of Operation Virus Hunter, which will entail the Sea Shepherd’s vessel R/V Martin Sheen sailing to salmon farms along the coast of British Columbia and conducting audits for fish-borne diseases.
“Fish farms hurt wild salmon,” Anderson said in a video announcing the campaign. “Please do not put farmed salmon on your plate.”
Our mission is to investigate, document and expose an industry that is spreading disease, parasites and destroying the natural habitat of our wild salmon - the coho, the sockeye and the chinook. These exotic Atlantic salmon simply do not belong in these waters,” Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson said.
In response, Jeremy Dunn, executive director of the B.C. Salmon Farmers Association, which represents the 109 licensed salmon farms in British Columbia, told the Vancouver Sun the industry has a good track record of environmental stewardship and is committed to achieving a high level of third-party certification for its farms.
“Fish health is an obsession to salmon farmers,” Dunn, told the Sun, adding that Sea Shepherd’s vessel could pose a “biosecurity concern” if it trespassed onto waters leased to salmon farmers.
