Serious Breach, Now What?

May 31, 2022

 

Dear Kerra Shaw, Brenda McCorquodale and Minister Joyce Murray,

 

Below is a series of events clearly demonstrating the current state of salmon farm management in British Columbia. 

 

On March 3, 2022 Aquaculture Management Division veterinarian Dr. Laura Sitter wrote the an email to Kerra Shaw reporting the Cermaq farm Bawden Pt, Clayoquot Sound, was infected with almost 5 times over the DFO sea lice limit set for the 1st week of March.  March 1 - 7 is the one week of the year that conditions of licence require all BC salmon farms to have less than an average of 3 motile sea lice per fish.

 

On March 7, Howie Manchester wrote to Kerra Shaw reporting that the Cermaq farm, Ross Pass, also in Clayoquot Sound, had breached its licence with 11.53 motiles.  Most of his email is redacted.  There is no other DFO audit information for other salmon farms on the BC Coast.

 

Cermaq hid this high infection of the fish in their farms.  They did not report any numbers for Bawden or Ross during the 1st week of March, saying "Sampling delayed due to poor environmental conditions".  It is unclear why the company could not count lice on these farms, when DFO did.

 

On March 14 Cermaq reported there were only 3.02 sea lice per fish at Bawden and stated mechanical de-licing treatment was planned. There was no mention of any treatment between March 2 - 14.  Kerra, you explain that no treatments can occur during poor environmental conditions.  How did sea lice numbers decline from 14.22 - 3.02 in 12 days with no treatment?

 

The information Cermaq posted on their website shows their boats were already treating other farms around this time period.  On Feb 28, 2022 "Mechanical delousing" was under way at Mussel Rock and Rant Point and "Hydrogen peroxide treatment was underway" at Plover Point.  Cermaq only has 2 mechanical delousers and they were borrowing Grieg's well boat Ronja Islander for the treatment at Plover Point. Lice treatments take many days depending on the number of pens - which are treated individually.  Did Cermaq even have a boat available to deal with the lice at Bawden and Ross?  

 

Brenda, on March 3 you ask Kerra to alert DFO Comms saying - "We should decide if we want to be proactive or reactive?"  While you suggest being "proactive", DFO was not and did not tell the public about this.  For context, Clayoquot wild salmon runs are in a state of utter collapse and exposure to farm salmon lice infections five times over threshold is a serious threat to these remnant populations.  As well, though they don't enforce it, the Ahousaht threshold for these farms is 1.5 motile sea lice.

 

Brenda - why are there zero emails about what should be done to minimize the impact this was going to have on extremely vulnerable wild salmon populations?  Whose job in DFO was it to stop the literally billions of larval lice, a wall of lice, that young Clayoquot Sound salmon were about to swim into?  Where are the emails tasking staff to ground - truth lice numbers on the other farms during March 1 - 7?

 

Did Cermaq or DFO inform Ahousaht?  I realize Ahousaht just signed a 5 year agreement with Cermaq, but were they informed of what was about to happen to the wild salmon of Clayoquot Sound?  And what about neighbouring Tla-o-qui-aht?  Were any measures taken to protect the last of their fish from this gross breach of licence? Was the minister briefed on these extraordinary numbers?  Did anyone in DFO think to audit all the farms given the discrepancies at Ross and Bawden?  

 

Making matters worse, in an email from DFO biologist Nathan Blasco tells Kerra Shaw that the reason sea lions are now in salmon farms in Clayoquot is because of the mechanical and well boat lice treatment vessels.  The US Marine Mammal Protection Act has regulations about killing marine mammals if you intend to sell your product in the US and so it is unclear how this issue can be resolved.  Having these powerful animals in the farms for weeks on end is a serious accident in the making - large Atlantic salmon escapes, harm to industry staff, inability for divers to enter the pens, culling large numbers of pinnipeds as more learn this behaviour. 

 

Minister Murray, the salmon farming industry is currently under the most intense scrutiny in the 35 years of its operation on the BC coast.  Collectively Mowi, Grieg and Cermaq have stated in the media that they have spent tens of millions of dollars to control their lice.  Because all their licences are about to expire, the week of March 1-7, 2022 was the most important seven days in the history of this industry to have their lice under control.  I believe that if they could have, they would have.  But they couldn't and they didn't and wild salmon were killed.  DFO has already decided sea lice numbers on salmon farms have to remain below 3 motiles for one week of the year to protect wild salmon.  To revisit this regulation now would appear disingenuous. 

 

The industry hid how many lice were in their farms, DFO hid these numbers from the public and no one did anything to stop the lethal lice infection of young wild salmon, being documented today in Clayoquot Sound.  I think it is important to inform Canadians what action was taken by DFO.

 

I know of no reason to hope  that the salmon farming industry is going to do better next year and the year after that.  They are pressuring Canada to approve use of pesticides that Health Canada has said "no" to for years because of their toxicity to people.

 

I view the DFO Aquaculture Management Division as a risk to wild salmon, but only because  DFO put no one in charge of protecting wild salmon from exactly what happened this year in Clayoquot Sound.  There is no counter balance, no one looking after the fish impacted by Mowi, Cermaq and Grieg.  However, the bigger issue right now is what will happen next year if you allow this industry -  which is demonstrating no semblance of capacity to control lice, sea lions, infectious viruses or bacteria - the licences to continue.  Even if staff were appointed at this late date to protect wild salmon from this - what would they do?  The only apparent solution would have been a rapid cull to reduce the lice in the farm.  Does DFO even have the power to do that?  

 

Wild salmon died, the public was duped, First Nation regulations ignored as if they didn't exist, the salmon farming industry looks dishonest and the federal liberals look like they are not in control of this escalating situation.  

 

This is not good for anyone.  

 

Thank you for reading this email,

 

Alexandra Morton

 

 

Chum Salmon Clayoquot Sound April 2022 photo - Julia Simmerling