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International Call for an End to Open-Net Salmon Farms
In an open letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Premier Gordon Campbell,18 scientists warned that sea lice transfers from salmon farms to migrating juvenile wild salmon are causing wild salmon population declines in several countries including Canada, Norway, Scotland and Ireland.
International Call for an End to Open-Net Salmon Farms
In an open letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Premier Gordon Campbell,18 scientists warned that sea lice transfers from salmon farms to migrating juvenile wild salmon are causing wild salmon population declines in several countries including Canada, Norway, Scotland and Ireland.
Closed Containment as a Solution and Pure Salmon Trip to Pressure Marine Harvest Highlighted in Recent Canadian News Broadcast
Video Presentation to Cermaq
Watch Alexandra Morton's Presentation for the 2007 Cermaq Annual General Meeting.
Wilderness Tourism Association Bears Witness in Norway
Norwegian Government urged to protect wild salmon from Cermaq’s open net pen salmon farms in the Broughton Archipelago.
Committee Calls For Closed-Containment Salmon Farms
Salmon farms in B.C., including those in Clayoquot Sound, must begin growing fish inside ocean-based closed-containment pens in five years, says a report released by a legislative committee.
51 Sea Lions Found Dead at a Canadian Salmon Farm
On April 20, 2007 Creative Salmon Company, Ltd. reported that 51 California sea lions drowned at its salmon farming operation in the Tofino-area of British Columbia, Canada.
Filmmaker and Biologist Bear Witness to Sea Lion Drowning on a Salmon Farm
Broughton Archipelago fish farm net claims dolphin, porpoise and sea lion. Watch a video clip taken by independent filmmaker Twyla Roscovich featuring biologist Alexandra Morton. *note the sea lion footage begins on 4:26
'No debate' that fish farms kill wild salmon, says B.C. scientist
B.C.'s leading critics of open-net fish farming say there's no question that sea lice from salmon farms kill wild salmon.
Fish farming for the future
AgriMarine Industries have spent the past six years developing a floating, closed-containment aquaculture system. The company aims to address the problems of disease transfer, fish escapes, and fish waste that have plagued the Canadian fish-farming industry over the last decade.
There Is Growing Community Opposition to a Salmon Farm in Nova Scotia's Port Mouton Bay
Concern about the local marine environment cited as reason for opposition in a letter from the mayor of Queens County to the minister of fisheries and aquaculture.
Pure Salmon Campaign gets exposure in the International Herald Tribune
Pan Fish urged to stop exporting environmental problems and bad labor practices
The Pure Salmon Campaign will file a shareholder resolution at Pan Fish's annual general meeting in Stavanger Norway on May 30 asking the company to adopt closed containment technology to remedy environmental impacts on salmon farms. Accompanied by two First Nations leaders from Canada and a Chilean, the campaign plans on providing first-hand accounts of how Pan Fish's operations are exporting environmental problems and poor labor conditions to other countries.
New Mercury Concerns for Wild Fish Near Salmon Farms
A study published on-line today in Environmental Science and Technology revealed elevated levels of mercury in rockfish living near salmon farms in British Columbia. The study can be found here.
The study concludes that elevated levels of mercury in rockfish, up to three-fold in some cases (near farms only), was attributable to food web changes and higher mercury levels in rockfish prey near salmon farms. The fish and invertebrates eaten by rockfish obtained mercury via waste feed and fish feces, and through the action of bacteria which transform elemental mercury under farms into methylmercury, a form of mercury that accumulates in aquatic food chains.
Pure Salmon Questions Panfish and Marine Harvest Merger
The Pure Salmon Campaign asked competition authorities in Norway, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the European Commission to exercise special rigor when considering the merger of Panfish and Marine Harvest. The merger of two of the largest salmon farming companies raises concerns that a monopolized industry, by nature, will be less responsive to consumer and community concerns than a competitive industry.
Find out more:
FTC Petition Slams Salmon Ad Promoting Unsafe Food to Pregnant Women
Pure Salmon has filed a truth-in-advertising complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) against the trade association of farmed salmon producers for deceptive advertising that appeared in the New York Times Sunday Magazine encouraging pregnant women to eat chemical laden farm-raised salmon.
The six-page ad, paid for by the trade association Salmon of the Americas (SOTA), made extensive claims about the health benefits of farmed salmon for pregnant women and their babies. The ad proclaims "Ocean-Farmed Salmon — just what the doctor ordered" under a picture of a pregnant woman.
Pure Salmon submitted a petition asking the FTC to stop SOTA from using false and misleading information in their ads and has dozens of scientific studies cited to support its claim, including a peer-reviewed paper published just last year in the Journal of Nutrition.
This study was a follow-up to the ground-breaking January 2004 study of toxins in farm-raised salmon in the journal Science. The Journal of Nutrition study found that women of childbearing age, expectant and nursing mothers, and young children should minimize their consumption of farm-raised salmon in favor of other sources of omega-3 fats.
More than 30 Scientists from Around the World Express Concern About Current Farming Methods
At the same time, the Pure Salmon Campaign will release a statement signed by more than thirty U.S., European, Canadian, and other international scientists communicating their concerns about the salmon aquaculture industry.
Salmon of the Americas ad is enough to make you sick!
For more on Health and Contaminants:
"Boston Legal" Features the Problem of Sea Lice in British Columbia
You saw it on Boston Legal, now get the science behind the ugly parasitic problem that is plaguing salmon all over the world. Salmon farms with open cages of densely packed salmon are a breeding ground for parasitic sea lice. Schools of sea lice spread out around salmon farms and infect wild juvenile salmon as they pass by the perimeters of the farms.
Sea lice feed on the mucus, scales, and blood of the host fish and can be fatal to salmon, especially to the young fish that are more vulnerable because of their size. For more, read what scientists have to say about sea lice and the other environmental problems associated with salmon aquaculture. Or, view a video clip of an expert putting the problem in human terms ("...it would be the same as you having a fifty-pound lice chewing through your back.") [.mov, 2.8 megs]
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