http://www.westcoaster.ca/modules/AMS/article.php?storyid=3476
Published Date: 2008/1/21 0:10:00Article ID : 3476
Version 1.00
By Keven Drews
Published Date: 2008/1/21 0:10:00Article ID : 3476
Version 1.00
By Keven Drews
The Ahousaht First Nation will ask one of B.C.’s largest aquaculture companies to relocate a Clayoquot Sound fish-farm raising Atlantic salmon.
The Central Region Board heard late last week that the Ahousaht First Nation will not support Mainstream Canada’s application to renew a fish-farm tenure at Dixon Bay.
Angus Campbell, a board member from Ahousaht, delivered the news, just as his colleagues learned wild-salmon returns in Clayoquot Sound are at “alarming levels,” and a program set up to monitor sea lice has yet to interpret four years of raw data.
Campbell said his band is concerned with the low wild-salmon returns in the Megin River, and it wants the Mainstream farm moved elsewhere so it can determine cause.
“There is something wrong in the Megin,” he said. “The salmon count is down compared to past years. We support salmon farms but in this area we’d like to see what the difference may be.”
Dixon Bay is located off Shelter Inlet, north of Flores Island, on the way to the Megin River.
In 2007, only 13 chinook returned to the Megin, 43 to the Bedwell/Urses, 112 to the Moyeha and 226 to the Tranquil, according to documents provided to the board.
Meantime, 653 and 7,535 chinook returned to the San Juan and Nitnat Rivers, respectively.
In a report to the board, Peter Ayres, the CRB’s secretariat, called the returns “alarming.”
The board also received an email from Josie Osborne, a registered professional biologist, stating data collected by the Clayoquot Sound Sea Lice Monitoring Program between 2003 and 2007 must still be analyzed.
The program is run by Nuu-chah-nulth fisheries, the Tla-o-qui-aht and Ahousaht First Nations, as well as Creative Salmon and Mainstream Canada.
Osborne, however, indicated sea lice infestations may be related to salinity.
“There is virtually no sea lice infestation near most of the Creative Salmon farms because the surface water is of very low salinity, and in fact the infection rates are so low that the Tofino Inlet has pretty much been dropped from the program,” she wrote.
Board members, nonetheless, criticized the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for allowing wild-salmon stocks to drop to such levels.
“We’ve let it go far too long,” said Roland Arnet, a board member from Tofino. “I criticize federal fisheries for most of this.
“I believe they have had the mandate to protect the natural runs and they haven’t. I still think we should be very, very careful about fish farms, particularly those raising Atlantic salmon, a species that is not native to B.C.”
Arnet said the only people who are saying sea lice isn’t a problem are fish farms and federal fisheries officers.
“Maybe in the future you won’t have to worry about it because wild salmon will be gone.”
Mike Kokura, a board member from Port Alberni, warned his colleagues not to count on DFO.
“If you’re waiting for the federal government to solve something for you, you’re going to be waiting for a long, long time,” he said. “They destroyed the fishery on the east coast and they are destroying the fishery on the west coast.”
Al Anderson, also a board member from Tofino, blamed fish farms for poor salmon returns.
“Clayoquot Sound has had the least logging on the Island,” he said. “We have one of the most pristine areas in the world.
“We should have really good salmon returns here. The only fact that’s different here is we have one of the highest concentrations of fish farms anywhere.
“Those numbers seem to me to indicate something that has to do with fish farming.”
Ayres told board members he discussed the issue with representatives from DFO.
“They do recognize the numbers are dangerously low,” he said. “They’re looking at unspecific but significant actions.”
Ayres also told members that DFO may be looking at other “causal factors” such as the pressures wild salmon are facing from commercial and sports fisheries.
Ayres said salmon are exposed to significant commercial pressure in the Gulf of Alaska, and as they move down the West Coast of Vancouver Island they also come under pressure from B.C. commercial and sports fishermen, too.
“We’re at the bottom of the chain in Clayoquot Sound.”
At the same time, he said, salmon enhancement programs in Clayoquot Sound are not getting the same level of assistance other programs may be getting.
The board tabled Mainstream Canada’s application and is awaiting a formal letter from Ahousaht. They also decided to write to the Clayoquot Sound Sea Lice Monitoring Program, urging the evaluation of sea-lice data.
The CRB was set up under the Interim Measures Agreement and allows First Nations and non-First Nations to manage resources and lands jointly until treaty negotiations are completed.
Mainstream Canada is owned by Norway’s Cermaq, which also has operations in Scotland and Chile.
The Central Region Board heard late last week that the Ahousaht First Nation will not support Mainstream Canada’s application to renew a fish-farm tenure at Dixon Bay.
Angus Campbell, a board member from Ahousaht, delivered the news, just as his colleagues learned wild-salmon returns in Clayoquot Sound are at “alarming levels,” and a program set up to monitor sea lice has yet to interpret four years of raw data.
Campbell said his band is concerned with the low wild-salmon returns in the Megin River, and it wants the Mainstream farm moved elsewhere so it can determine cause.
“There is something wrong in the Megin,” he said. “The salmon count is down compared to past years. We support salmon farms but in this area we’d like to see what the difference may be.”
Dixon Bay is located off Shelter Inlet, north of Flores Island, on the way to the Megin River.
In 2007, only 13 chinook returned to the Megin, 43 to the Bedwell/Urses, 112 to the Moyeha and 226 to the Tranquil, according to documents provided to the board.
Meantime, 653 and 7,535 chinook returned to the San Juan and Nitnat Rivers, respectively.
In a report to the board, Peter Ayres, the CRB’s secretariat, called the returns “alarming.”
The board also received an email from Josie Osborne, a registered professional biologist, stating data collected by the Clayoquot Sound Sea Lice Monitoring Program between 2003 and 2007 must still be analyzed.
The program is run by Nuu-chah-nulth fisheries, the Tla-o-qui-aht and Ahousaht First Nations, as well as Creative Salmon and Mainstream Canada.
Osborne, however, indicated sea lice infestations may be related to salinity.
“There is virtually no sea lice infestation near most of the Creative Salmon farms because the surface water is of very low salinity, and in fact the infection rates are so low that the Tofino Inlet has pretty much been dropped from the program,” she wrote.
Board members, nonetheless, criticized the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for allowing wild-salmon stocks to drop to such levels.
“We’ve let it go far too long,” said Roland Arnet, a board member from Tofino. “I criticize federal fisheries for most of this.
“I believe they have had the mandate to protect the natural runs and they haven’t. I still think we should be very, very careful about fish farms, particularly those raising Atlantic salmon, a species that is not native to B.C.”
Arnet said the only people who are saying sea lice isn’t a problem are fish farms and federal fisheries officers.
“Maybe in the future you won’t have to worry about it because wild salmon will be gone.”
Mike Kokura, a board member from Port Alberni, warned his colleagues not to count on DFO.
“If you’re waiting for the federal government to solve something for you, you’re going to be waiting for a long, long time,” he said. “They destroyed the fishery on the east coast and they are destroying the fishery on the west coast.”
Al Anderson, also a board member from Tofino, blamed fish farms for poor salmon returns.
“Clayoquot Sound has had the least logging on the Island,” he said. “We have one of the most pristine areas in the world.
“We should have really good salmon returns here. The only fact that’s different here is we have one of the highest concentrations of fish farms anywhere.
“Those numbers seem to me to indicate something that has to do with fish farming.”
Ayres told board members he discussed the issue with representatives from DFO.
“They do recognize the numbers are dangerously low,” he said. “They’re looking at unspecific but significant actions.”
Ayres also told members that DFO may be looking at other “causal factors” such as the pressures wild salmon are facing from commercial and sports fisheries.
Ayres said salmon are exposed to significant commercial pressure in the Gulf of Alaska, and as they move down the West Coast of Vancouver Island they also come under pressure from B.C. commercial and sports fishermen, too.
“We’re at the bottom of the chain in Clayoquot Sound.”
At the same time, he said, salmon enhancement programs in Clayoquot Sound are not getting the same level of assistance other programs may be getting.
The board tabled Mainstream Canada’s application and is awaiting a formal letter from Ahousaht. They also decided to write to the Clayoquot Sound Sea Lice Monitoring Program, urging the evaluation of sea-lice data.
The CRB was set up under the Interim Measures Agreement and allows First Nations and non-First Nations to manage resources and lands jointly until treaty negotiations are completed.
Mainstream Canada is owned by Norway’s Cermaq, which also has operations in Scotland and Chile.
Keven.drews@westcoaster.ca