Wild Salmon Supporters on Wednesday criticized a Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) plan to develop regulations to facilitate and enable the ongoing use of “eco-toxic” pesticides by salmon farmers.
The network of environmentalists, chefs and retailers said the DFO’s proposed Pathogen and Pest Treatment regulation would undermine Canada’s Fisheries Act, which prohibits the dumping of toxic substance into fish-bearing waters, effectively exempting salmon farmers from legislation designed to protect the marine environment and fisheries.
Twenty groups — including Living Oceans Society, David Suzuki Foundation, Atlantic Salmon Federation and the New Brunswick Salmon Council — sent a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper urging him to protect the marine environment and coastal communities by halting the development of these regulations.
“Sea lice infestations plaguing the aquaculture industry highlight the inherent unsustainability of open net-cage salmon aquaculture as it is now practiced in Canada,” said Matthew Abbott, coordinator for Fundy Baykeeper in New Brunswick. “On top of that, instead of ensuring the aquaculture industry does not harm the marine environment, DFO is planning to facilitate the use of toxic pesticides in the aquaculture industry.”
“Wherever open net cages are used to rear hundreds of thousands of densely packed farmed salmon the industry faces problems controlling parasites and disease,” added John Werring of the David Suzuki Foundation and the Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform in British Columbia. “Rather than undermining the Fisheries Act and aiding the salmon farming industry in supplementing their arsenal of toxic weapons, DFO should be investing in the development of alternative technologies that do not require pesticide use, such as closed containment.”
