Letter to the Editor:

We are coming upon that time of year when millions of juvenile salmon leave our rivers and streams and migrate out to sea. Their chances of returning to those rivers are greatly reduced by the many salmon farms plaguing their migratory corridors. The BC government has acknowledged the risks of open net cage salmon farming by implementing a moratorium on BC’s north coast. Yet they are considering allowing major expansion of the salmon farming industry on our south coast. Applications for expansion currently in process would triple the production at some farms sites in the northern Georgia Strait.

We know that sea lice from fish farms infect wild juvenile pink and chum salmon. Recent research has also found sea lice on juvenile sockeye salmon passing through the northern Georgia Strait, along major Fraser River sockeye out-migration routes.

If we do not take immediate action to protect wild salmon from the ravages of open net pen salmon aquaculture, salmon stocks will continue to dwindle and eventually disappear entirely. The expansion of any industry that is complicit in the destruction of our wild salmon cannot be allowed. We must stop the expansion of the open net pen fish farming industry, and instead provide opportunities and green stimulus for the industry to transition to closed containment.

Sincerely,
Michelle Young
Salmon Aquaculture Campaigner
Georgia Strait Alliance