Biologist Alexandra Morton today released information showing that fish farms tried as early as 1995 to keep outbreaks of sea lice -- and the use of drugs against them -- secret from the public.
In a post on the Wild Salmon Are Sacred blog, Morton posted copies of emails from the fall of 1995 documenting a serious outbreak of sea lice at a farm on Okisollo Channel, on the migration route of the Fraser sockeye.
The farm had requested permission to use hydrogen peroxide to treat its fish. But it withdrew its request when told by the NDP government's Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks that the application would have to be made public.
After summarizing the emails (and providing the full texts), Morton wrote:
These documents reveal heroes among our MELP bureaucrats who tried to protect our wild salmon from salmon farms. Gordon Campbell disbanded MELP as soon as he took office in 2001, and he renamed MAFF, MAL and gave them control of allocation of Crown Land. The fish farm industry did not develop a sea lice action plan, the public lost their government biologist advocates, sea lice outbreaks continue with lethal infection underway today rates on wild juvenile salmon on the Fraser migration route (Okisollo Channel) (photos available) and Fraser sockeye stocks migrating through Okisollo Channel are in steep decline.
Speaking to The Tyee, Morton said: "I think there's been a cover-up from day one of the Campbell government. The people in the Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks were made to go away. They supported fish farms, but for them, the wild salmon came first."
On June 16, Morton will receive an honorary Ph.D. from Simon Fraser University for her work in sea-lice science.
Crawford Kilian is a contributing editor of The Tyee.
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carfreecity
1 year ago
fishy
same story everywhere. BP,Shell, Wall Street. Banks, .
Corporations play hide and seek.
They LIE.
Spin,babies spin.
Ting tang wallawallabingBANG!
Tar and feather them all.
doggone
1 year ago
Alexandra gets an Honorary doctorate
and so she should!
She walked while I holidayed.
I wish I was a better person - at least good enough to walk with her.
We will see
ken
blackie
1 year ago
sorry
I don't believe anything Alexandra Morton says. Her sea lice research, specifically the "pink" extinction hypothesis, has been discredited by dozens of scientists. Now she's dredging up 15-year-old memos. Looks like she's getting pretty desperate. Give this a few days, and the rest of the story will come out.
paisley
1 year ago
Send us a link blackie
Nothing like backing up what you say there blackie. If it is true what you say it should be no problem to enlighten us others. I'm sure that SFU just hands out honorary degrees to just about anyone. It seems to me the only ones looking desperate these days are these life sucking corporates whom care about nothing except their bottom line. They will lie and manipulate at the drop of a hat to protect the bottom line. I think the public is on to them and we have had enough.
crankypants
1 year ago
Fish farms
The fish farms are our version of what is taking place in the Gulf of Mexico. The damage they are wreaking on our wild fish stocks are just as deadly, just not as visible.
Illahie
1 year ago
I think that I have a solution to the sea lice crisis
It is now abiundantly clear that there is no actual problem involving sea lice.
The fish farm industry would normally have the option to litigate to repair the harm that this hoax has caused.
However Morton lives a minimialistic lifestyle. She appears to own very few assets other than her boat. Litigation against Morton would only give her another soapbox to stand on.
But that does not mean that the Fish Farm industry cannot litigate to repair the harm that this hoax has caused.
G West
1 year ago
There won't be any backup
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morechatter
1 year ago
Dirty Tricks
If Liberals were alleged to have started the fish farm protest a cover up seems right up their alley. And Morton obviously is not in it for the money but the fish as fishy as that may seem.
blackie
1 year ago
Can't handle the truth
OK. here's a quick and dirty look; I'm sure there's more but I don't have time. Try the Pacific Salmon Forum research reports.
Paper by Brooks/Jones responding to the extinction theory. (Full text costs big bucks, but the abstract gives you the gist)
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a792379117~frm=titlelink
Excerpt: "Contrary to the conclusions reached by Krkosek et al. (2007a), Broughton pink salmon returns have steadily increased since then, with no indication that they are threatened with extinction. Other unsubstantiated assumptions used in Krkosek et al. (2007a) are also discussed in light of additional scientific reports and theoretical considerations."
Or try this one:
Comment on "Declining Wild Salmon Populations in Relation to Parasites from Farm Salmon"
Brian E. Riddell,* Richard J. Beamish, Laura J. Richards, John R. Candy
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/sci;322/5909/1790b?maxtoshow=&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=riddell+lice&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&resourcetype=HWCIT
Excerpt from paper:
"Krkoek et al.'s statements of extinctions and 99% loss of production are erroneous. They examined a subset of the BA streams but excluded the largest pink salmon production system."
When Morton/Krkosek did their analysis on pinks, they excluded the Glendale system which accounts, on average, for about 75% of the returns in the Broughton. Morton's obsession with fish farms is a big reason why research dollars that could have been applied to a multitude of other potential reasons for declining wild stocks were instead thrown at lice from farms.
Needless to say Krkosek/Morton et al have responded to the critiques with a withering attack of their own -- but they can't get around the fact that they excluded the biggest salmon stream in the region in producing their extinction hypothesis. But forget the warring scientists -- pinks in the Broughton have been returning in record numbers. Not bad for a species on the road to extinction.
G West
1 year ago
A little further reading
http://icesjms.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/63/7/1159
Willy P
1 year ago
Disregard Illahie
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