Watch for this slogan from the industrial salmon farm industry -- "farm fresh salmon"

Next, they'll be calling it "natural."

Now, slightly off-topic, but not for many of us here in BC -- so sad, so shocked to hear David Grierson died on the weekend. Truly one of the good ones. Just wanted to spread the word beyond Vancouver Island. I can't imagine what weekday mornings will be like without him. The world can ill afford to lose someone of his calibre so early in his game.

Unfortunately, in economic terms, the wild salmon fishery is not that big. The farmed fish industry, on the other hand, has the potential to be a huge cash cow. That is why politicians do not want to take an indepth look at the issue. I believe that we are on the way to no wild salmon fishery in BC. I pray that the species lives on.

"Guide to Verse Forms" at http://www.noggs.dsl.pipex.com/vf/ "Omnificent English Dictionary in Limerick Form" at http://www-b.oedilf.com/db/Lim.php?

Salmon on my plate,/Fresh from a fac-to-ry farm,/No thank you, waiter.

"Fish Farms" (with a list of restaurants serving only wild fish) at http://www.ubcic.bc.ca/fishfarms.htm ~~~ People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) at http://www.peta.org/

Salmon on my plate,/Fresh from a fac-to-ry farm./No, thank you, waiter. (correction)

Hey there anonymous - great haiku, but if you want to enter, please send it to

! Otherwise we have no way of getting back to you if happened to win.

Anyone who would eat a farmed Atlantic salmon would kiss a politician. Where? Your choice! You have no taste anyway!

Alexandra, I think it's amazing that only 2% even ATTEMPTED to feed. Let alone that only 0.8% managed to successfully feed. This leads to the obvious question. What does your sample actually represent? Perhaps half (70%?, 90%?) of the escapes already died becasue they didn't feed. Thus the 14% implies that only 2310 (1386?, 462?) fish could possibly survive to reproduce. What was your sample size anyway?

Ecotrust published an issue of SectionZ about the benefits of wild salmon and the dangers of farmed salmon. We can send anyone wanting to redistribute them (fishers, advocates, citizens) up to 100 SectionZ for just the cost of shipping. Check it out online at http://www.sectionz.info/Issue_1/ We also sell Salmon Nation t-shirts ;).

While it's true that the wild salmon commercial fishery has shrunk in recent years, it is still far more valuable than the netcage farm industry. What's more, the large and valuable sports fishery depends entirely on wild fish. Those miraculous salmon runs are a vital part of our heritage and culture and a measure of our quality of life. It has been said that our governments tend to know the "bottom line" of everything, and the value of nothing.

To get right to the basics the problem we, the public, are having with the wild salmon question is political screwing around with the Unemployment Insurance Fund. The original mandate for the fund is lost and gone. Lose your job through no fault of your own and you get benefits to the politicos throwing money at constituents for reelection purposes and subverting the fund for political gain. The politicians just could not keep their hands off the money. The tax deduction is now a cash cow for Ottawa to play with as it sees fit. Too much being paid out to fishermen? Ruin the fisheries on both coasts and drive the fishermen from the waters. Cheaper to 'lease' out the fisheries to offshore draggers, ie the Poles and Russians on the West Coast and to encourage fish farms with their minimum wages and minimum employees. The Eastern Cod fishery was lost for one reason only - the Federal Government paid off big business at the price of the inshore fishery, which employed the most fishermen. Big business whined about the UIC fund and Ottawa caved to business demands. The quickest way to ruin the cod fishery was to let the scallop draggers scoop during cod spawning season, and it worked. Blame the seals, inshore fishermen, foreign fishermen, etc. but not DFO policies MANDATED by Ottawa politicians. Now we have the West Coast Salmon stocks being depleted by Ottawa's policies in conivance with the BC Liberals. Can you say 'campaign donations' and 'political payoffs?' Yes we will have small stocks of wild salmon as the apologists keep saying but we may never see the historic stocks that enriched and fed the natives and first settlers of this Province. Why do our wild salmon stocks have to be canned in Alaska? For every farmed salmon employee we have seen the loss of a dozen or so jobs in the wild fishery. The present government in our Province has mandated that BCHydro can no longer construct hydro generating facilities - WHY? When the salmon are no longer in the Fraser River can the dams be far behind? Who really stands to gain from the daming? Not the residents of BC but the power barons of Howe Street. Too bad we are about to repeat the mistakes of California and Ontario, both jurisdictions that have warned us against privatization. We lose our fish which have been in the rivers forever because of political wheeling and dealing.

Alexandra - are aware of any reproducing wild stocks of Atlantic Salmon on the west coast? That is to say, can you name any rivers that have returning runs of Atlantic Salmon? I think our west coast fisheries are the most abused resource and they need proper conservation.

I've been fighting the floating feed lots for fifteen years, and have seen BOTH the NDP and the current Fiberals fuck around with wild fisheries in ways which are tantamount to sin. Taking 500 to 800 metric tonnes of krill out of the St. of Georgia has so impacted the herring that this year they were all too small , the fleet was sent over here to, of course, overfish the resource on this side of the Island..krill are the basic food for all the fish which are in turn eaten by salmon...they will starve the wild fishery out of the St of Georgia...clear the way for more feed lots...now they're trying the same foolishness near Saltspring, with black cod... Alexandra, I am sure you often feel you are being gnawed to death by toothless newts as the nit-pickers and bullshitters try to attack your work. Please know, you have provided wonderful statistical ammunition to those of us who are trying to make these pirates move their "farms" to properly set up solid sided tanks on shore...if "farming" is such a great thing, if it really is even half what they say then they can FARM and take care of the effluent..it would make great commercial fertilizer if it were sterilized..and if anybody wanted to put hormone enriched anti-biotic riddled fish crap on their fields. Hang in there, woman. "Let them eat crayons"......

I'm wondering if the 7 1/2 lb. salmon Campbell owes McGuinty on losing the Grey cup bet is farmed or wild. I'm putting all my money on farmed.

'He'did say 'wild salmon' but then he is also a liar.

Kudos to Morton! For years, she has been exposing the 'salmon farming' industry for exactly what it is---an abomination on every level. Include me as one of the conspiracy theorists who believe that the DFO would like nothing more than the extinction of wild stocks on the West Coast --it would make their job so much easier without those pesky fishermen and their uncomfortable questions.

When salmon "farming" was first touted in B.C. the salmon feed lot people were quoting "the norwegian experience". It didn't take much research to find out they had come here because Norway was bringing in regulations and restrictions which made feed lot production more difficult and more expensive. They came here to do what they were no longer allowed to do over there. Since then EVERY government has kissed their asses. Yes, we have restrictions, regulations and no, they don't get enforced. The FIberals even GAVE BACK the fines which had been imposed on this industry. The feed lot apologists prattle on about jobs , jobs..well, there aren't many and they're all minimum wage and the working conditions are terrible... and the feed lot industry is playing one desperate small town against another, closing plants here and opening them in places where they get tax benefits...then blaming the environmentalists for the job losses in communities which didn't give tax incentives... I farmed for years. You would hardly believe how nit-picky the inspectors were when it came to cow shit.. where the cow could dump, where I could store it...how long I had to store it before I could spread it on my hay field...but the feed lots can just let it fall where it does, in the ocean, spreading all manner of antibiotic, hormone and disease...if they want to farm, let them FARM. I had to BUY my land, let them buy land, too. I had to build my barn on MY land..let them put their solid sided tanks on land they bought...I had to do proper manure treatment, fine, let them do it, too. And if they won't FARM the way farmers farm, then stop calling them fish farms and call them what they are. Feed lots. Stinking, polluting, disease spreading blights which are going to absolutely wreck what was once a very fertile and productive coast. YES DFO is willing to get rid of fishers and their goddam unions and their goddam knowledge of the coast, the tides, the weather, the conditions, the health and the numbers of every kind of fish. Then they can all get high-paying jobs in the feedlot industry.

Aquaculture only accounts for approx. 1900 jobs in BC, compared to 5400 fishing jobs. The whole industry is a joke. The fish sucks, I don't even consider it real salmon. No one should buy it, stores should stop selling it and restaurants shouldn't even put it on their menu.

the saddest comment is that escaped farm salmon are being included in the "wild salmon" catch, and if the escaped farm salmon are feeding on wild resources the distinctive taste difference will not be so pronounced... Will we be able to tell the difference (in a restaurant) between wild pacific and escaped atlantic salmon in two or three years?

http://www.fishbase.org/search.cfm

"Straight.com: Coastlines" ("Human Impact Threatens Sakinaw Sockeye") at http://www.straight.com/content.cfm?id=6701

It all boils down to an old saying: "The love of money is the root of all evil" If we can't get it right with valueing and maintaining our precious gift of wild salmon, I sadly don't have much hope for us as a species long term.

I suggest those of you who mistakenly believe that salmon farms are the cause of the downturn in the wild salmon stocks take a look at the data; wild salmon stocks have been in a general decline in BC since the early 1970's. Salmon farming started in @ 1985. Maybe you should start barking up a different tree. As well, in the years since salmon farms have been in the Broughton area, there have also been some of the best pink salmon returns on record; check out www.farmfreshsalmon.org for details. Of course, the data is from the DFO, so many of you will think it is a conspiracy.

On the topic of fish quality, here's my ranking: sockeye, coho, farmed Atlantic, chinook, pink, and lastly chum. Steelhead aren't on my list as they are endangered. I have eaten all of them. People that diss farmed Atlantics should consider that they are overwhelmingly preferred by the people that buy salmon. According to the Environmental Working Group people who prefer the taste of Pacific salmon are in the minority, with 60% of salmon consumed being Atlantic.

Que bono? Who benefits from the farm salmon controversy? Alexandra Morton, Suzuki and the Alaskans. The enviros get big money from US groups which is directed towards them by the Alaskans who are trying to attack the competition- BC farmed salmon. Heres the joke- the Alaskans are the worst kind of salmon farmers there is- they grow their fish in cages on medication and let them all go to interbreed and compete with the wild. Alexandra and Suzuki endorse this because the Alaskans pay their bills. Suzuki supporting Alaskan fishfarming as responsible makes as much sennse as trying to save the wild salmon by refusing to eat farmed!!! Ah well we will all look back on this and laugh one day when our grandkids ask: "why didn't you save the wild salmon?" and we can say "We did try! It just turned out that eating them all wasn't such a great idea"

"Que bono?" I believe that's Spanish for "what bond?" The Latin phrase for "who benefits" is "cui bono." On the other side of the debate, Ms Morton used the Dylanism "prophesized" instead of "prophesied." Forty years ago my dad's business partner used to bring us wild Atlantic salmon, and it was wonderful, firm flesh. The farmed stuff is bland mush.

Found this article on this story today... A Stain Upon The Science

“Opponents Of Proposed Sablefish Farms Charge That Disease And Parasites Will Devastate Wild Stocks. Sound Familiar?” at http://www.straight.com/content.cfm?id=7070

“The Truth About The Science Of Fish Lice” at http://www.straight.com/content.cfm?id=7071

GREAT NEWS - PINK SALMON STOCKS REBOUND IN BROUGHTON ARCHIPELAGO "Better than expected pink salmon returns – pleasing Kwakiutl fishermen December 10, 2004 Port McNeill, British Columbia, 10 December 2004 - The Kwakiutl Territorial Fisheries Commission (KTFC) has received the Department of Fisheries and Oceans update reporting on pink returns in the Broughton and was pleased to note the strong returns for 2004. Even year returns are generally strong but this year's numbers are a significant improvement over the low brood returns of 2002 particularly in the Kakweiken and Glendale systems. Survival of pink salmon originating from the 2002 brood was extremely high, ranging from approximately a two-fold increase in the Wakeman streams to almost a 37 fold increase in the Glendale systems. Combined returns to date are slightly better than average. “We are very pleased to see a stronger than expected return of pink salmon in the Broughton - an area that has been the focus of much attention,” said Fred Glendale, a member of the KTFC board of directors. 'While we need to continue to closely monitor this area and continue to work to sustain wild salmon populations we are relieved to see this year's numbers and we’re confident that with the help of our partners in our newly formed Coastal Alliance for Wild Salmon (CAWS) we will significantly improve the wild salmon habitat resulting in even greater returns in the future years.' Methods of analysis were maintained from previous years to ensure a consistent report. In most cases for the mainland inlet systems, numbers of returns (known as escapement estimates) are collected through aerial and foot inspections. The key indicator streams used to determine the number of returning pinks include the Glendale, Kakweiken, Ahnuhati and the clear tributaries on the Kingcome (Atlazi and Clear) and Wakeman (Atway and Wahpeeto) Rivers. The KTFC assisted the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans by providing stream inspection information in the area." Source: KTFC (Kwakiutl Territorial Fisheries Commission)

A Stain Upon The Science On Nov. 21st The Tyee published an excerpt by Alexandra Morton of an essay she had published in A Stain Upon The Sea: West Coast Salmon Farming, a book published by Harbour Publishing. In this essay, Ms. Morton claims to have proven that escaped farmed Atlantic salmon can survive in BC waters. But her conclusions are a little fishy. source:http://canstats.org/readdetail.asp?id=719