Salmon Escape Fish Farm

[campking]

Just read that nearly 21000 Atlantic Salmon escaped from a fish farm near Port Hardy, this can not be good at all as the article mentioned that the risk of pathogen transfer is very high because we know these farmed salmon are carrying a lot of viruses and pathogens that aren't native to Pacific waters.

[REMINGTON JIM]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/atlantic-salmon-escape-fish-farm-bc-1.5406399 RJ

[Fella]

Get these garbage fish out of our waters.

[mpotzold]

Not surprised at all. It was only a matter of time. Reason I'm against fish farms on the Pacific coast.
Wouldn't have it if it was free.

[ryanonthevedder]

These fish are far more harmful in the nets than out. Eliminate the farms because they are concentrated breeding grounds for lice and pathogens. Plausibility over a million have escaped over the years and yet the ones that don’t escape have caused the greatest damage.

[dougan]

These fish are far more harmful in the nets than out. Eliminate the farms because they are concentrated breeding grounds for lice and pathogens. Plausibility over a million have escaped over the years and yet the ones that don’t escape have caused the greatest damage.
I’m not a fish farmer but there is not one shred of evidence that fish farms are harmful. Produce one document! Seriously try to find one that’s isn’t native based Sierra club, rain coast . There isn’t any . Just extremists ramming there bullshit in everyone’s brains and you all eat it up.

[REMINGTON JIM]

https://mountainculturegroup.com/fish-farming-british-columbia/ :shock: RJ

[Rieber]

These Atlantics won't know how to escape seals or Orcas so they won't be around very long before being gobbled up.

There will might be a few that make it to a river but even then, nothing will happen. It's not like they live forever.

Best not to have them in our waters in the first place.

[dougan]

https://mountainculturegroup.com/fish-farming-british-columbia/ :shock: RJ
Still just extreamist nonsense. Tavish Campbell is a environmental extreamist hack .sorry RJ I want government proof not media.

[Livewire322]

I’m not a fish farmer but there is not one shred of evidence that fish farms are harmful. Produce one document! Seriously try to find one that’s isn’t native based Sierra club, rain coast . There isn’t any . Just extremists ramming there bullshit in everyone’s brains and you all eat it up.

Playing devils advocate here: Could that be because the only people researching fish farms are either the groups you mentioned or fish farm corporations themselves? Research requires money, and researchers try not to bite the hand that feeds...

[dougan]

Playing devils advocate here: Could that be because the only people researching fish farms are either the groups you mentioned or fish farm corporations themselves? Research requires money, and researchers try not to bite the hand that feeds...
That could be very true but let’s say you are correct and for arguments sake meet in the middle of both of them . Probably nowhere near as bad as they claim . I’ve been fishing salmon my entire life and I don’t notice any more or less sea lice now than I did in the 80,s. Prv could come from seal shit for all I know. Stop fishing hearing would be far more productive than eliminating fish farms for our salmon stocks imho.

[Livewire322]

That could be very true but let’s say you are correct and for arguments sake meet in the middle of both of them . Probably nowhere near as bad as they claim . I’ve been fishing salmon my entire life and I don’t notice any more or less sea lice now than I did in the 80,s. Prv could come from seal shit for all I know. Stop fishing hearing would be far more productive than eliminating fish farms for our salmon stocks imho.


There is always merit to saying that there are three sides to every story.

In this his case I have insight on all sides of the argument.
My father was a manager with Stholts (now Marine Harvest) for 25 years.
My fiancé worked as a research assistant for a lab doing research with Marine Harvest.
I, like you, have fished my whole life and don’t think that there are more sea lice now than before.

From my perspective it may not as bad as the eco warriors say. That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be heavily pushing towards land based aquaculture.

[mpotzold]

For starters-

Is Farmed Salmon Bad for You?
https://www.onemedical.com/blog/eat-well/farmed-salmon

A 2004 study.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/farmed-salmon-laced-with-toxins-study-finds/article20426983/

5 Reasons to Avoid Farm-Raised Salmon – and Why Wild Salmon Is Better
https://blog.daveasprey.com/farm-raised-salmon-vs-wild-salmon/

[dougan]

For starters-

Is Farmed Salmon Bad for You?
https://www.onemedical.com/blog/eat-well/farmed-salmon

A 2004 study.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/farmed-salmon-laced-with-toxins-study-finds/article20426983/

5 Reasons to Avoid Farm-Raised Salmon – and Why Wild Salmon Is Better
https://blog.daveasprey.com/farm-raised-salmon-vs-wild-salmon/ where are all of the wild salmon that are going to fill the void left behind from farmed fish??? Globe and mail is just pushing agendas. All media reports are bias just the way it is.

[ryanonthevedder]

How many smolts do you catch in a year dougan? I don’t catch any, but the folks that go looking for them certainly have evidence that the closer they get to the pens the more lice they tend to pick up... but that’s why slice is so popular albeit with degrading efficacy.

then of course there is prv (picene reo virus) that has been shown to cause mortality in Chinook and coho which also concentrates near the pens. The virus has yet to demonstrate mortality in sockeye though.

https://www.psf.ca/news-media/prv-virus-may-cause-disease-chinook-salmon

arguing that farmed fish have no negative effect on wild fish is like saying that the spread of cwd had nothing to do with farmed deer and elk. Also no different than the spread of bird flu or African swine fever between wild and farm stock. It’s just the ways she goes mate.

[.264winmag]

This has been happening for decades, I remember slaying Atlantic’s in the little west WCVI rivers over 20 years ago. You just didn’t hear about the nets falling apart on the news. They are sterile but apparently hammer the wild smolts in the rivers though. They are actually very good eating after they’ve been in the wild and ‘flushed’ out their system. Very aggressive feeders as well, fight great. Should be some good winter Atlantic fishin up north island HA

[S.W.A.T.]

Why don't they farm Pacific fish is my question

[S.W.A.T.]

Lice are becoming way more prominent in northern waters. Hard to set traps and not get a bucket of sea lice in the bait

[.264winmag]

Why don't they farm Pacific fish is my question
Turn over rate to slow, Atlantic’s reach the prime market size the quickest. And farming a pacific salmon species would not be any safer than Atlantic’s, in an open net pen that is.

[S.W.A.T.]

Turn over rate to slow, Atlantic’s reach the prime market size the quickest. And farming a pacific salmon species would not be any safer than Atlantic’s, in an open net pen that is.

But they aren't invasive

[tubby]

I wish people and eco warriors would put half the effort and multi media posts into netting as they do for fish farms.
Some of the biggest escapes happened in the 80s and 90s. Those fish never took to our rivers.

I don’t agree with them being in our waters, however they are the perfect nonracial scapegoat for the collapse of our salmon stocks.

[two-feet]

Look at the massive and permanent damage done to ecological systems world wide caused by invasive species. Taking a conservative approach in regards to non native fish in our waters is simply good policy

[quadrakid]

I’m not a fish farmer but there is not one shred of evidence that fish farms are harmful. Produce one document! Seriously try to find one that’s isn’t native based Sierra club, rain coast . There isn’t any . Just extremists ramming there bullshit in everyone’s brains and you all eat it up.

I second this. Amazes me how many fisherman eat up this false bs from antifarmers but cry the blues when people believe the same type os bs thrown at hunters. Check the sources.

[tinhorse]

Exactly...everybody likes to look at disease or the landslide on the Fraser and say that those are the causes of salmon decline....imho it has everything to do with over harvest or shrimp then herring then salmon.....you cant save salmon if you dont stop the harvesting of their food sources.

[Wild one]

Turn over rate to slow, Atlantic’s reach the prime market size the quickest. And farming a pacific salmon species would not be any safer than Atlantic’s, in an open net pen that is.

There is still farming of coho, chinook and sockeye because there is a viable market. One of the main reasons Atlantic’s are farmed over pacific salmon is the availability and cost of smolts. The industry for Atlantic’s is much older/larger giving way more options for stock and the availability of pacific salmon smolts or eyed eggs is limited. If memory is correct 1 hatchery alone in Ontario produces more Atlantic’s that all commercial pacific salmon hatcheries combined. Because of this farming pacific salmon is way more risky because if your supplier has an issue you maybe screwed trying to find an alternative

The turn around for pacific salmon is good and chinook is actually really good

So much BS propaganda out there it is unreal and this is another example

[S.W.A.T.]

There is still farming of coho, chinook and sockeye because there is a viable market. One of the main reasons Atlantic’s are farmed over pacific salmon is the availability and cost of smolts. The industry for Atlantic’s is much older/larger giving way more options for stock and the availability of pacific salmon smolts or eyed eggs is limited. If memory is correct 1 hatchery alone in Ontario produces more Atlantic’s that all commercial pacific salmon hatcheries combined. Because of this farming pacific salmon is way more risky because if your supplier has an issue you maybe screwed trying to find an alternative

The turn around for pacific salmon is good and chinook is actually really good

So much BS propaganda out there it is unreal and this is another example

So it's a reliability issue for proper egg supply if I read that correctly?

I'm for the farming of fish, when done properly can be used as a viable source of food. Every action humans take always leaves a unintentional consequence. Pros and cons must be weighed. However not sure how I sit with the farming of invasive species. Seems as though it could be problematic. I'm a life long fisherman, never caught an Atlantic salmon but have obviously seen a decline in not only salmon in our waters but trout, char and burbot as well.

Is there a scientific approach to increasing wild fish populations?

[Keta1969]

More hatcheries would help shortterm but I'm not a real fan. For some reason our neighbors to the south are better at it but basically comes down to money. H abitat destruction and urban sprawl are the biggest problem. I can remember coho spawning in several small creeks and what some would call ditches in Campbell River area when I was a kid. All have been storm sewered or altered and no more fish. Lots of rearing areas logged and paved over for housing development. All the hard surfaces lead to high water flows in what remain of the creeks. Sadly comes down to not enough willpower to protect sensitive areas from growing population demands on the land. Factor in logging mining ocean survival and salmon are in real trouble.

[Wild one]

So it's a reliability issue for proper egg supply if I read that correctly?

I'm for the farming of fish, when done properly can be used as a viable source of food. Every action humans take always leaves a unintentional consequence. Pros and cons must be weighed. However not sure how I sit with the farming of invasive species. Seems as though it could be problematic. I'm a life long fisherman, never caught an Atlantic salmon but have obviously seen a decline in not only salmon in our waters but trout, char and burbot as well.

Is there a scientific approach to increasing wild fish populations?

Yes supply is part of the issue when it comes to pacific salmon farming but being a smaller industry it comes with other complications as well. Either way you will see less investment into this industry because of the bad press. Just like the inshore farms are suffering from backlash including new regulations that has now mad some farmers unable to operate within regulation. Some will be closing once the grace period has ended. There has definitely been major damage done to the smaller operation in aquaculture.

Is there scientific ways to improve wild stocks of course there is but wild stocks cannot handle the world’s commercial demand for fish. This is something many overlook because here in Canada our protein intake is not 80% plus fish like many other countries. This is where aquaculture is extremely important

There definitely can be improvements made to fisheries management for wild stocks but I don’t we will see anymore then user groups fighting over who keeps their rights to fish. When you are talking about fisheries out sides of salmon and steelhead they are overlooked for the most part. Basically throw around a few trout to appease the masses. I bet burbot are not even on the radar

Salmon issues have been discussed many times and I bet we can all touch on an issue or two we all agree on but the big issue is there is no effort to address them

[.264winmag]

There is still farming of coho, chinook and sockeye because there is a viable market. One of the main reasons Atlantic’s are farmed over pacific salmon is the availability and cost of smolts. The industry for Atlantic’s is much older/larger giving way more options for stock and the availability of pacific salmon smolts or eyed eggs is limited. If memory is correct 1 hatchery alone in Ontario produces more Atlantic’s that all commercial pacific salmon hatcheries combined. Because of this farming pacific salmon is way more risky because if your supplier has an issue you maybe screwed trying to find an alternative

The turn around for pacific salmon is good and chinook is actually really good

So much BS propaganda out there it is unreal and this is another example

Dunno about that, a good friend has worked the Nootka/Esperanza farms for years. Perhaps his info is off, but highly unlikely...

[Wild one]

Dunno about that, a good friend has worked the Nootka/Esperanza farms for years. Perhaps his info is off, but highly unlikely...

I was a chairman for the aquaculture industry for 8 years.

[.264winmag]

I was a chairman for the aquaculture industry for 8 years.
So where’s the growth rate studies?

[Wild one]

So where’s the growth rate studies?

if you thought I was claiming Atlantic’s don’t have a faster growth rate I have not said that. I said pacific salmon have a viable growth rate for commercial farming and are farmed in BC.

[xcaribooer]

Still just extreamist nonsense. Tavish Campbell is a environmental extreamist hack .sorry RJ I want government proof not media.

why would you put any stock in "government proof"? they are going to spin the evidence to support the agenda of dollars over environment every time. It was government who allegedly fired their own biologists who were too aware of the damage the farms were doing to the passing sockeye

[xcaribooer]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTCQ2IA_Zss
this is worth a watch. even if it is only 50% true than is still scary

[.264winmag]

if you thought I was claiming Atlantic’s don’t have a faster growth rate I have not said that. I said pacific salmon have a viable growth rate for commercial farming and are farmed in BC.

exactly as I thought. what was the ‘propaganda’ I was supposedly spreading? show me the studies that farming pacific salmon is any safer for the wild stocks than farming Atlantic’s, in sea pens...

[Wild one]

exactly as I thought. what was the ‘propaganda’ I was supposedly spreading? show me the studies that farming pacific salmon is any safer for the wild stocks than farming Atlantic’s, in sea pens...

From your original post I took from that you claiming pacific’s are not farmed do to growth rate. This is not true they are both different markets, commanding different price, and both species have viable growth rate. The biggest factor between the 2 industries is one has limited stock options vs has way higher stock options.

Where did I say it was any safer or even a better option? Salmon farming in pens does not change much because of the species of salmon.

I think we might have some wires crossed in this conversation because you are demanding studies that have nothing to do with what I posted lol

[Piperdown]

Hey Dougan, you ever hear of a guy named Cohen, maybe google him. Wildone, so when you moved to Alberta, did you move on your own accord or where you chased out of BC having been the chairman for the grey fleshed, pasty shitty tasting Atlantic salmon farming industry :)

[Wild one]

Hey Dougan, you ever hear of a guy named Cohen, maybe google him. Wildone, so when you moved to Alberta, did you move on your own accord or where you chased out of BC having been the chairman for the grey fleshed, pasty shitty tasting Atlantic salmon farming industry :)

All on my own and I have been out of aquaculture for going on 6 years lol. I actually turned down a huge grant to work on land base salmon because the expenses and BS in aquaculture was getting too much. Hell I would not even reinvest my $ in BC after getting out lol

I was land based trout but do to my big mouth I was dragged around all kinds of farms and forced to listen to DFO in Nanaimo talk in circles. Worst part it was almost always salmon and shellfish related so not even my own personal problem :|. Got to learn all kinds of useless information and see all kinds of operation in BC though lol

Grey flesh is something I keep hearing about but have yet to see though lol. If you said white or light pink that is possible. I have actually only eaten smoked farmed Atlantic twice but I have never been big on salmon/trout in general wild or farmed. I would rather eat halibut or pike

Tell the truth you wish BC had more a$$holes like me lol

[Piperdown]

All on my own and I have been out of aquaculture for going on 6 years lol. I actually turned down a huge grant to work on land base salmon because the expenses and BS in aquaculture was getting too much. Hell I would not even reinvest my $ in BC after getting out lol

I was land based trout but do to my big mouth I was dragged around all kinds of farms and forced to listen to DFO in Nanaimo talk in circles. Worst part it was almost always salmon and shellfish related so not even my own personal problem :|. Got to learn all kinds of useless information and see all kinds of operation in BC though lol

Grey flesh is something I keep hearing about but have yet to see though lol. If you said white or light pink that is possible. I have actually only eaten smoked farmed Atlantic twice but I have never been big on salmon/trout in general wild or farmed. I would rather eat halibut or pike

Tell the truth you wish BC had more a$$holes like me lol

Lol, yes had a few buddies who where marine biologists with DFO, they retired early as they couldn't handle the bullshit anymore just like you couldn't. As for Aholes in BC, we have no shortage, and the biggest one is in Ottawa. Might have to take a drive to the Drayton valley this spring:)

[Wild one]

Lol, yes had a few buddies who where marine biologists with DFO, they retired early as they couldn't handle the bullshit anymore just like you couldn't. As for Aholes in BC, we have no shortage, and the biggest one is in Ottawa. Might have to take a drive to the Drayton valley this spring:)

wait till things dry out and not a half melted mess

[IronNoggin]

Fish farm operator says most of escaped salmon likely eaten https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/fish-farm-operator-says-most-of-escaped-salmon-likely-eaten-1.4744831

[Redthies]

Still just nonsense. I want government proof not media.

Edited like this, the above is possibly the funniest thing ever posted here!

[ryanonthevedder]

Exactly...everybody likes to look at disease or the landslide on the Fraser and say that those are the causes of salmon decline....imho it has everything to do with over harvest or shrimp then herring then salmon.....you cant save salmon if you dont stop the harvesting of their food sources.

Also this ^^

Too much of the bottom of the food chain is stripped out of the sea.