Louise Dickson
Times Colonist (Victoria)
Feb. 3, 2005
An environmental
group is criticizing the provincial government for failing to publicly
report the escape of 33,000 juvenile Atlantic salmon in Nootka Sound in
May 2004.
Don Staniford, aquaculture campaigner for the organization Friends of Clayoquot Sound, said the group wants a public register of escapes as they happen.
"We want the information in a matter of months, not years. We want, and the public wants, to see how many fish are escaping, where they are escaping from, what infectious diseases they are carrying and whether they have parasite infestation," said Staniford.
Environmentalists worry that Atlantic salmon have the potential to live in B.C. waters and replace wild stocks of Pacific salmon.
Even if an escape is suspected, it should be publicized so all stakeholders can co-operate and participate in the recapture, Staniford said.
Tim Davies, the lease and environmental manager for the Grieg Seafood B.C. Ltd. which operates the fish farm in Muchalet Inlet near Gold River, confirmed Wednesday the 33,000 fish escaped through a hole in a net in mid-May.
"We reported it within 24 hours," said Davies. "Fisheries came out within 48 hours and inspected the site and collected the information records. They directed us to count the fish in November when we graded them. We confirmed the number of fish in mid-November and reported it to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries in early December."
The Friends of Clayoquot Sound says there is no trace of the escape in the federal or provincial data bases.
"These agencies have apparently been in receipt of this knowledge for months and have published -- indeed even campaigned -- on escape numbers they think are false," John Volpe, professor of environmental studies at UVic, said in a news release issued by the environmental group. "Public accountability with regard to fish farm escapees is sorely lacking."
In fact, in an article about the number of escaped farmed salmon in B.C. waters, published in the Times Colonist last June 15, Andrew Thomson, head of the Nanaimo-based Atlantic Salmon Watch Program funded by the federal and provincial governments, estimates 14 Atlantic salmon have escaped in the first six months of 2004.
Bud Graham, the assistant deputy minister responsible for aquaculture and fish, said the government is not trying to hide any information.
"We received a report in May and launched an investigation into that which is still underway," said Graham. "Until the investigation is complete, we can't comment on the nature of it. It's just like any other enforcement investigation."
Graham would not confirm the number of fish that escaped.
"As soon as the investigation is complete, we will publish the details in the 2004 compliance reports," he said, adding that it's not unusual to have an investigation that takes seven or eight months.
"It takes a while to make sure you have all your facts," he said.
Davies said the fish weighed about 250 grams and were between 15 and 20 centimetres long. Only 300 to 500 of the juvenile salmon are expected to survive to adulthood, he said, and only a portion of those may mature and return to a freshwater environment.
It's a harsh environment they are encountering."
Meanwhile, he said, Grieg Seafood B.C. Ltd. knows how the escape happened and has change its protocols to prevent it from happening again.
"We believe it was a combination of equipment and human error."
Atlantic salmon escapes
hit a record high of 89,268 in 1998. Since 1991, slightly more than 452,000
Atlantics have escaped because of storms, predators and equipment problems.
In 2002, B.C. introduced tougher escape-prevention regulations. An estimated,
37 farmed fish were reported to have escaped in 2003.
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