Dear Colleen Dane (BC Salmon Farmers Association)
In response to your BC Salmon Farmers Association posting yesterday, I am curious how your association can say the placement of salmon feedlots on wild salmon migration routes is a "myth?" http://www.salmonfarmers.org/active-salmon-farm-map-shows-small-footprint
According to your map there will be active salmon feedlots in the narrow passages off Campbell River where the majority of Fraser sockeye will be out-migrating. There are active salmon feedlots along the migration routes of the Glendale, Kakweikan, Ahta, Wakeman, Kingcome and Embly rivers in the region between Knight and Kingcome Inlets. Then there are more salmon feedlots along the mainland shoreline and the islands across from Port Hardy where virtually all east Vancouver Island salmon will be out-migrating. Along west coast Vancouver Island, all the salmon exiting Quatsino, Nootka and most of the salmon exiting Clayoquot will also be swimming through the blizzard of feces that come out of each feedlot because your members are perhaps the only farmers in North America who refuse to shovel their manure.
Please explain how your map suggests the wild salmon of BC are not running a gauntlet through salmon feedlot pathogens.
And for the record I cannot believe your Association can be still repeating that billions of larval lice in inshore waters are "naturally-occuring." Any louse hatched from an Atlantic salmon is unnatural. Are you saying farmed Atlantic salmon in BC have no lice?
Also please send a break down of the where the 6,000 jobs are exactly, because Aquaculture North America (volume 2 issue 6 2011) reported Marine Harvest (the biggest salmon feedlot corporation using BC to raise fish) cut staffing and cut production by 30% in 2012 and 2013. In the Marine Harvest Annual Report: "The first action was to reduce the smolt stocking by 3.8 and 7.5 million smolt for 2011 and 2012 respectively."
I believe your feedlots hold 600,000 fish, so this means approximately 12 fewer sites were stocked in BC in 2012? Or do you have 1,000,000 fish per site? In any case, 7.5 million fewer Marine Harvest fish in the water in 2012 is going to translate into fewer jobs in the processing plants, etc this year and next. Your 600,000 jobs is a from a Price Waterhouse Coopers 2007 report, I now question it accuracy.
It does not look like Marine Harvest's outlook has improved since 2011 "Analyst: Marine Harvest earnings 'major disappointment" INTRAFISH-yesterday Jan 16, 2013. And it doesn't look good for the two other Norwegian companies using BC waters to raise their fish "Marine Harvest Americas result points to weak Q4s for Cermaq , Grieg (undercurrent news, Jan 16, 2013 )."
So please provide your answer to how the map in the above link suggests BC wild salmon are not swimming through a gauntlet of salmon feedlot feces and how the industry can possible have the same number of jobs with 7.5 million fewer salmon in the water?
Thank you,
Alexandra Morton
