by Jillian Dickens
The Westerly News
Nov. 19, 2003
Aquaculture company Creative Salmon has lost a major buyer due to heavy environmental protests, said Spencer Evans, general manager.
This has a huge impact on Creative Salmon, said Evans, who thinks this loss is only the tip of the iceberg for the fish farming industry in BC.
"We cancelled the harvest yesterday," said Evans. "Creative Salmon are the collateral damage in the environmentalists' war to remove aquaculture from Clayoquot Sound. And [this recent event is] just the beginning unless the industry defends itself. It's a very frightening situation."
"I am convinced [the buyer cancelled the order] because of the environmental pressure," said Evans.
However, Dick Jones, the national seafood buyer at Whole Foods Market, the company that recently cancelled the 68 tonne order from Creative Salmon, claims their decision to cancel had nothing to do with environmental protests. Whole Foods has over 140 stores in North America and specializes in natural and organic foods. "We will continue to use farmed salmon," said Jones. "We just found a different source."
But Spencer is not convinced. The cancellation of Whole Foods' order came during many fish farming protests held across North America following a New York Times advertisement against BC salmon farms, taken out by the Coastal Alliance Against Aquaculture Reform (CAAR).
CAAR representative Jennifer Lash said Whole Foods' cancellation is a step in the right direction. "It's definately a step for our cause, but we have a long way to go," said Lash.
CAAR's aim is to change the way fish farms operate to make them more environmentally responsible by adopting new measures such as closed-type systems rather than open net cages, and not "to put a band-aid on a broken system," she said. "This is not about getting them to leave BC alone, it's about changing the way we farm salmon."
CAAR tried to work with Creative Salmon to come to an agreement but they did not want to cooperate, said Lash. "We wish we could have worked with [Creative Salmon] for a solution, but they did not want that."
Spencer believes environmentalists such as the Friends of Clayoquot Sound (who are in coalition with CAAR) and CAAR have pinpointed Creative Salmon because the company is an "easy target," due to its small size.
Creative Salmon pride themselves in their forward thinking and environmentally conscious approach to aquaculture in Clayoquot Sound.
"Creative Salmon has taken the initiative to raise the bar of salmon farming. We have our own environmental monitoring program which assesses the impact our farms have on Clayoquot Sound," said Spencer, adding their results imply their farms have little impact. He added they were the first company to implement this program, and it has since been adopted by the province as a good example for other farms to follow.
"Creative Salmon are important members of the BC Salmon Farmers Association," said Mary-Ellen Walling, executive director of the BC Salmon Farmers Association. "They were the first company to look at organic standards in fish farming."
It is unfortunate
they have to take this hit, she said.
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