And now we know............

[Spy]

The solution that has been immediately suggested, is to put additional terms on their occupancy permits. This misses the entire point.

This one incident is particularly egregious - but changing the permit conditions to address it, does nothing to address the very serious externalities of the industry as a whole.

The only solution? Get them out our inland water ways. Period. These farms can't continue to be permitted having any more direct, unmitigated contact with migrating salmon.

we paid for an atrociously expensive inquiry in the collapse of wild salmon. Its time we used the findings from that process.

X 1000 and it needs too happen ASAP

[Ozone]

Here's the 75 recommendations
http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/cohen/report-rapport-eng.htm

[jlirot]

Curious to me that the folks who hate government - now want more government. But, I digress.

Firstly - I agree this is unacceptable and there needs to reasonable rules.

Secondly - I'm kind of surprised that they simply dump the effluent. I would think it would have some value as fertilizer or something. If they could find a way to use it (like fertilizer) it seems it would be a nice PR plug.

[Ozone]

And then there's this from Cohen Commission Final Report:

“I am also satisfied that marine conditions in both the Strait of Georgia and Queen Charlotte Sound in 2007 were likely to be the primary factors responsible for the poor returns in 2009. Abnormally high freshwater discharge, warmer-than-usual sea surface temperatures, strong winds, and lower-than-normal salinity may have resulted in abnormally low phytoplankton and nitrate concentrations that could have led to poor zooplankton (food for sockeye) production.” (Volume 3, page 59)

“…data presented during this Inquiry did not show that salmon farms were having a significant negative impact on Fraser River sockeye…” (Volume 3, page 24).

[finaddict]

Curious to me that the folks who hate government - now want more government. But, I digress.

Firstly - I agree this is unacceptable and there needs to reasonable rules.

Secondly - I'm kind of surprised that they simply dump the effluent. I would think it would have some value as fertilizer or something. If they could find a way to use it (like fertilizer) it seems it would be a nice PR plug.

Its value is as blood meal but the volumes are just not there. Rendering companies will render blood into meal but they need a couple of tanker loads a day to make it worth the costs associated with a shipment from mid island to Vancouver. Brown's Bay just does not have that kind of volume.

[Jagermeister]

Its value is as blood meal but the volumes are just not there. Rendering companies will render blood into meal but they need a couple of tanker loads a day to make it worth the costs associated with a shipment from mid island to Vancouver. Brown's Bay just does not have that kind of volume.

Just because the fish processors' volume does not match that of an abattoir is no excuse for not collecting and sending to fertilizer process. There is no excuse for exemption.
It's like the little old ladies that take their small dogs to a park and refuse to "scoop the poop". "It's such a small thing that is no problem." they lament. Of course others are of the same ilk and do the same and decry the act of others when the landmines abound and the turd is stuck to their shoe.
There is no excuse for dumping "tainted" offal into the chuck and we should be intolerant of that practice.

[Surrey Boy]

Curious to me that the folks who hate government - now want more government. But, I digress.

Very good point.

We should be careful of what we wish for.

[Pemby_mess]

Curious to me that the folks who hate government - now want more government. But, I digress.

Firstly - I agree this is unacceptable and there needs to reasonable rules.

Secondly - I'm kind of surprised that they simply dump the effluent. I would think it would have some value as fertilizer or something. If they could find a way to use it (like fertilizer) it seems it would be a nice PR plug.

I'm pretty sure there is a significant composting industry that survives exclusively off the fish farm by-products as inputs.

However, when these companies are poorly regulated and/or poorly watched, they think they can, and will try to get away with murder if its an any cheaper solution to any particular problem. The only reason this incident comes to light at all, is the random curiosity of an unpaid activist, being in the right place, at the right time.

[dougan]

What a load of horse crap this is . They are pumping blood into the blender of the seymore narrows and people freak!!!!!! They pump human shit in the ocean in Victoria what's worse???? People are idiots anything to bitch about!!!

[Pemby_mess]

And then there's this from Cohen Commission Final Report:

“I am also satisfied that marine conditions in both the Strait of Georgia and Queen Charlotte Sound in 2007 were likely to be the primary factors responsible for the poor returns in 2009. Abnormally high freshwater discharge, warmer-than-usual sea surface temperatures, strong winds, and lower-than-normal salinity may have resulted in abnormally low phytoplankton and nitrate concentrations that could have led to poor zooplankton (food for sockeye) production.” (Volume 3, page 59)

“…data presented during this Inquiry did not show that salmon farms were having a significant negative impact on Fraser River sockeye…” (Volume 3, page 24).

i think if that's the take away from the commission you managed to get, we've found some kind of vested interest in you. Seriously, thats the only reason I can come up with, that explains your willingness to ignore the directives outlined in the report.

The commission was not really much of a blame finding exercise anyway, but a solution focused one. Solutions that would allow the DFO to work inside a changing environment, one with dynamic threats to the salmon that include a large number of unknowns.

The solutions presented in the recommendations of the time, certainly do encapsulate the problems regarding fish farms that have come to light since. At the time, there was scant evidence regarding the nature of the bio toxins being produced by these floating waste heaps. The Canadian federal labs were refusing to test for viruses for some still unexplained reason, and the primary correlation between migrating salmon and these farms was suspected to be due to sea-lice, not picene reo-virus, and ISA, as we now know it is.

The only controversy that currently exists there, is generated via fairly consistent industry propaganda. It was the most likely explanation behind the collapse of Scandinavia's wild fishery, and now they're here on our coast.

I'm not saying, by any means, that fish farms represent the only aspect of mismanagement as it relates to our salmon stocks - nor necessarily even the primary culprit behind their precipitous decline - just that it'll certainly be the final nail in the resource's coffin, should farms be allowed to continue operating as they are. I really can't see any credible excuse for why they can't be moved onto land and develop world class aquaculture best practices in the process. As it is, the externalities to public and outside private interests, far outweigh the benefits to the same.