Final Advisory Letter
Final report of the Pacific Fisheries Resource Conservation Council in its role as advisors on wild Pacific salmon and steelhead stocks and habitat.
Salmon Aquaculture in BC: Independent Conservation Council Urges Caution, Offers Recommendations to better protect wild salmon
Vancouver, January 20, 2003 - Today, the Pacific
Fisheries Resource Conservation Council (PFRCC) released an Advisory to
Canada's and BC's Ministers of Fisheries urging care and expressing
concern with the interaction of netcage salmon farming with wild
Pacific salmon in British Columbia. The Advisory, entitled Wild Salmon and Aquaculture in British Columbia, builds on a consultant's report released last week by the PFRCC. That report and its Executive Summary, entitled Making Sense of Salmon Aquaculture Debate
(available at www.fish.bc.ca), documented that salmon farming in BC "is
rife with uncertainties" (Executive Summary, page 1). To obtain a copy
of the PFRCC advisory, go to: www.fish.bc.ca
This Advisory is aimed at helping governments, at a critical time,
make more informed decisions about the future of the aquaculture sector
in BC and, in the process, better ensure the long-term health of
British Columbia's wild salmon populations.
As the PFRCC Chair, the Honourable John A. Fraser, notes in his
covering letter to Ministers, this Advisory presents recommendations on
measures "we believe should be taken to deal with the risks to
wild salmon stocks, the management of the fisheries and aquaculture
industry, and the public perceptions of a confused and contradictory
government role in the encouragement of aquaculture and protection of
wild salmon".
In its Advisory, the Council makes the following recommendations to governments:
1. The precautionary principle should be applied in a much more
rigorous way than is currently used in the evaluation of interaction
risks between farmed and wild salmon stocks.
2. The aquaculture industry and governments should undertake a
wide-ranging research and monitoring program on wild/farmed salmon
interaction, and develop means and practices to mitigate salmon farming
impacts (i.e.: single year class stocking; marking of farmed Pacific
salmon; adopt environmental standards such as ISO 14001).
3. The Government of Canada should proceed immediately to
formulate and implement a comprehensive wild salmon policy that
explicitly states that wild salmon will be given priority in government
decision-making.
4. Government supervision and regulation of wild and farmed
salmon, especially for fish health and disease surveillance, should be
integrated into single-bay or area management units.
5. The Pacific Fisheries Resource Conservation Council is
proposing the creation of a Salmon Aquaculture Forum, including a
multi-stakeholder scientific panel, to build public consensus about the
future direction of the industry and identify ways to reduce the risk
to wild salmon from British Columbia's netcage aquaculture operations.
For full explanations of these recommendations, please refer to section 6 of the Advisory.
In the Council's view, these 5 recommendations, if acted on, would
ensure that government policies, either Provincial or Federal, reflect
the salmon conservation principle most valued by Canadians: "Wild
salmon must come first; they cannot be replaced. Their survival
depends, in large part, on the actions we take and care we exercise...
The wild Pacific salmon represents a significant part of our natural
heritage which we are bound by duty and by conscience to protect for
future generations," concluded Mr. Fraser in his covering letter to Ministers.
The Pacific Fisheries Resource Conservation Council was established
in 1998 to provide advice to the Governments of Canada and British
Columbia and the public on matters dealing with the conservation of
Pacific fish populations, specifically salmon and steelhead, and their
freshwater and ocean habitat.
It was created to assist the governments to take a more
comprehensive conservation approach and contribute to a better
understanding of complex freshwater and marine ecosystems and the
requirements of Pacific fish populations. Its reports and
recommendations have been intended to provide an overview perspective
on long-term strategic priorities and present information about wild
salmon and steelhead stock status and habitat conditions.
For more information, contact:
John Paul Fraser
Media Liaison Pacific Fisheries Resource Conservation Council
604-775-5789
fraser@fish.bc.ca
Dr. Brian Riddell
Science Advisor Pacific Fisheries Resource Conservation Council
250-714-5599
Dr. Jeff Marliave
VP Marine Science Vancouver Aquarium
604-659-348
Related Reports:
Wild Salmon and Aquaculture in British Columbia: Council Advisory 2003