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Fish Farm Opponents File Petition Against Salmon Farms

Posted on: Tuesday, 6 May 2008, 21:00 CDT

VANCOUVER - Some of the most vociferous critics of fish farming on the West Coast filed a petition in court Tuesday, asking it to declare that the way fish farms are regulated in B.C. is contrary to the Constitution.

Marine biologist Alexandra Morton said she and an association of gillnetters, the Vessels Owners Association and the Wilderness Tourism Association filed the petition in B.C. Supreme Court.

But Agriculture Minister Pat Bell, the minister responsible for aquaculture, strongly suggested changes are in the works for an aquaculture industry that has been the focus of heated debate for more than two decades.

At a news conference outside the courthouse where the petition was filed, Morton summed up the petition in a single sentence.

"We think the oceans should be regulated by the federal government and not the provincial government."

Her lawyer, Greg McDade, said Morton, the Pacific Coast Wild Salmon Society, the Southern Area (E) Gillnetters Association and the Fishing Vessel Owners' Association of Canada are going to court because "the federal power over oceans and fisheries goes right back to 1867 and the BNA Act."

"We think there is a very strong chance of success in this (constitutional challenge) and we are turning to the courts because (federal Fisheries) has basically abdicated their responsibility over the fish."

While Bell refused to elaborate on specific changes, he suggested an announcement was in the offing.

"We have been working aggressively over the past year or so to develop a new regulatory regime," said Bell.

"We plan to take forward some significant changes and we want public confidence."

He indicated he is "certainly prepared" to make the changes necessary to restore public confidence in fish farms.

"We're looking at developing an aquaculture strategy that respects that and it's something I intend to implement as soon as I can."

The petition comes about a month after the latest scientific report on sea lice off the B.C. coast found the infestation near Campbell River fish farms has spread beyond pink and chum salmon to juvenile sockeye and herring.

The study says the spread of lice will have devastating implications for these other marine species.

Morton said the results were discovered during testing of 47,000 young wild salmon in 2005 and 2006.

A key clause in the 18-page petition reads: "The petitioners assert that the division of powers in the Constitution Act prohibits delegation to the province of the federal jurisdiction to regulate the public marine fishery and to manage and conserve the fishery in the public interest."

The Fisheries Department declined to comment on the matter.

If the fish farm opponents won, McDade said it would mean "the province would be out of the aquaculture business and (the federal Fisheries Department) would have to regulate the health of the wild salmon inside and outside the fish farms."

The problem under the current arrangement, said McDade, is that the "B.C. government doesn't have a responsibility to protect wild salmon and they regulate that way."

Brian Gunn, president of the Wilderness Tourism Association, said he feared that wild salmon might become extinct and that will "greatly impact the tourism industry."

His association, which represents nature-based operators throughout the province, said "closed containment" fish farms that use fibreglass tanks are an acceptable option.

He said many fish farms produce large volumes of sea lice and eradicate salmon fry as they leave the spawning channels.

But fry that leave spawning channels far from fish farms "have protection and they survive the sea lice."

Morton conceded that even if Fisheries took over, the situation might not be different.

"I don't expect they will do anything differently. This will be a chain of legal actions. Once we get this whole mess under one roof we'll go and clean up that house."

The opponents decided to file a petition instead of launching a lawsuit because a petition is a request for judicial review of the legality of specific government action.

Bell also suggested that there would be no increase in the current number of fish farms on the B.C. coast.

There are about 140 licenced sites now and about 70 to 80 of those are active at a given time, he said.

Source: Canadian Press

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