Below is how the salmon farming industry failed to control their sea lice, breached their licences, applied for toxic drugs. No charges were laid. DFO awarded a farm that breached it licence permission to put even farm fish in their pens in Clayoquot Sound. Is this collusion? Maybe. But it is certainly the road to extinction for wild salmon. A link to the entire 314 - page ATIP document most of this came from.
During the 2022 juvenile wild salmon outmigration, 8 salmon farms breached their Condition of Licence, i.e. they reported more than 3 motile sea lice Mar 1-7, the single week of the year DFO requires salmon farms have their lice levels low enough to protect young wild salmon.
Aquaculture Management Division staff decided to only count 4 farms in violation.
On March 22, 2022, Kerra Shaw, Regional Manager, Aquaculture Fish Health wrote Cermaq, making it clear all 4 of these breaches of licence were in Clayoquot Sound
Download A-2022-00262 Draft noncompliance letter from Shaw to Cermaq
The draft letter states:
"Please note that if the information requested is not received as requested, this file may be turned over to Conservation and Protection Fishery Officers"
There is no request for information in this draft. It is unclear what information Cermaq could provide to avoid charges.
On April 23 a Fishery Officer appears to received some information and she says:
"Keep email chatter to a minimum on this topic and all conversations will be disclosable…"
When I asked whether charges were ever laid, I was told to check BC Provincial Court There is no record of any charges laid for these 4 breaches of licence.
For the record, this was not a minor breach - sea lice numbers in the Bawden farm were nearly 5xs over threshold at 14.22 adult-stage lice according to the DFO veterinarian.
Then unbelievably, DFO awarded Cermaq a licence to nearly DOUBLE the number of farm salmon in Bawden! More farm salmon = more lice = greater impact on wild salmon. Cermaq desperately needed this increase because every other First Nation has chased them out of their territories. If they couldn't expand in Clayoquot Cermaq would lose money. Perhaps DFO knew they couldn't help Cermaq stay in business in BC if they laid a charge...
Mowi was also unable to control their lice in their salmon farms in Quatsino. They stopped reporting lice at Monday Rocks when the lice were 3xs over threshold at 9.1:
When no sea lice treatment worked, Mowi decided empty their Monday Rocks and Mahatta West farms. Farm lice in Quatsino appear dangerously super-resistant. Mowi claims they emptied both farms within 42 days after breaching the lice threshold. There are no records anyone checked to confirm this was accurate.
Meanwhile Cermaq tried again to get permission to use Lufeneron to fight sea lice, DFO supported this application, but Health Canada refused based on human health concerns.
FYI - DFO detected this human health threat in 51/53 samples in a 1.5km radius around the Cermaq farm Rant Point in June 2019. Rant Point was never approved for use of this drug - hopefully no one was prawn or bottom fish around this site. No charges.
In Conclusion The salmon farming industry continues as one of the biggest impacts on the wild salmon of British Columbia. We can't believe the public statements that this industry is being regulated in way that protects our natural resource - wild salmon. When the Minister of Fisheries tells people she is going to apply "progressive minimization" of impact of salmon farms so they can stay in BC waters, she is risking our future on a myth, perhaps a lie that DFO has the ability or will to regulate salmon farms in a way that allows wild salmon to continue feeding this coast from trees to whales to humans.
https://alexandramorton.typepad.com/A-2022-00262%20Laura%20Sitter%20Sea%20lice%202022.pdf