Tribal council upset with yet another salmon forum

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The Musgamagw Tsawataineuk Tribal Council says the provincial government's new Pacific Salmon Forum is just a smoke screen and "a case of too little, too late."

Tsawataineuk First Nation Chief Eric Joseph said he is frustrated that the province is conducting yet another forum on the B.C. salmon industry instead of acting on previous studies, most of which say the same thing-salmon farming is bad for wild salmon and bad for the environment.

Joseph pointed to the 2001 Leggat Inquiry, which recommended the removal of all open net-cage farms from the marine environment by Jan. 1, 2005. Currently, there are more than 80 active salmon farms in British Columbia.

"I guess they think that people have short memories and they're just going to go through this process again so that they can say they're consulting and are trying to protect the wild salmon. But already there has been a lot of impacts to wild salmon and other species," said Joseph.

Environmental hazards of salmon farming include pollution from fish waste and chemicals into the waters, and the spread of disease and parasites, such as sea lice, to the wild salmon that pass the farms on their migration routes. The escape of Atlantic salmon from the net-cage farms also threatens the Pacific salmon runs.

John Fraser, the appointed chair of the Pacific Salmon Forum, said this forum is necessary as previous reports such as the Salmon Aquaculture Review are now out of date and do not consider the implications of the current size of the salmon farming industry. But he also agreed with the value of the Legatt Inquiry.

"It was in my view a model of objectivity. It had a point of view, which I thought was important and should have been taken into consideration by everyone who's concerned, or has an interest in the issue," said Fraser.

The Pacific Salmon Forum will be made up of six experts that will produce a paper that will analyze scientific and socio-economic issues in regards to fish farms, look at ways to increase public confidence in fisheries management and "is encouraged to consider traditional ecological knowledge in its work." The forum, which will not start until April, will cost $5 million.

"Five million dollars is a lot of money that could be used on scientific studies and also trying to look at the feasibility of costs to have closed containment cages," argued Joseph.

"We want to create a place for independent and open discussion on science, policy and regulatory issues to protect and enhance our wild salmon and support our coastal communities," said Premier Gordon Campbell in a press release announcing the forum.

But to the Musgamagw Tsawataineuk Tribal Council, there is no open discussion. The tribal council is upset that the province did not consult or involve them in the selection process for the forum.

"They could have consulted us because we have the highest amount of fish farms per square kilometre, per square mile, than anybody on the coast and there's a lot of migration routes that the salmon come through," said Eric Joseph. Part of the Musgamagw Tsawataineuk territory includes the Broughton Archipelago where a recent infestation of sea lice seriously damaged all 27 salmon farms in the area.

The premier's office selected the six forum members from a short list provided by B.C. ministries and government officials. Even Fraser did not have a say in their selection.

"When they had decided on who they wanted, I was asked if there was anybody there that I couldn't get along with, and of course there wasn't," said Fraser. "So in effect, they called me after they made up their minds and as a matter of courtesy."

The Musgamagw Tsawataineuk Tribal Council is also tired of what it feels is a constant disregard by government when it comes to their wishes for fisheries management.

"It's an ongoing battle for our interpretation, accommodation and consultation," said Joseph, adding that they are trying to contact thepremier and B.C. minister of agriculture to ensure participation in the forum process.

Fraser said that they will be consulted.

"We have already had a long meeting by conference call and I think every [forum member] is very aware of the necessity of a great deal of communication. I don't think the problem is that our forum won't consult. It's one thing to consult. You also have to listen and I think we will do both. After that when we make recommendations, we're not a legislative body, we can't prescribe, we can advise and we can try to persuade, and that's, of course, up to whatever government might be there at the time, either to accept or reject our recommendations. But I am confident that we will have some effect and we are going to work very hard to make sure that it's a useful effect," said Fraser.

One of the two Aboriginal forum members, Harry Nyce Sr., the fisheries director for the Nisga'a government, was also confident that the Musgamagw Tsawataineuk Tribal Council would have a chance to express their concerns.

"[T]he chair, John Fraser, is very, very keen on looking at and listening to anyone that wants to make a contribution to the paper that we will be developing. So no one is excluded ... I would not support that in any case," said Nyce.

University of Victoria biology professor John Volpe, who has studied the ecological effects and economic costs of salmon farming, is not so optimistic.

"I've seen so many panels and discussions happen through the years that I'm certain ... [the forum will be a] great opportunity for provincial and federal ministers to stand up and declare that it's a new day for salmon farming in Canada and a new day for sustainability, yada yada yada, and not a damn thing will change. And it can't because the industry as a whole is locked in a death battle with other salmon producing nations. The only way for this industry to remain profitable is to increase its production, adopt efficiencies of scale and offload it cost to the environment."

According to Volpe, a UBC economic/ecological impact assessment of the pending sablefish farming industry, which used the salmon farming industry as a guide, demonstrated that the economic gains of salmon farming are short-lived, if not already gone.

"Every effort is being made to try and cut costs; clumping the farms closer together to reduce marine transport costs. But the offshoot of that is when you clump farms closer together then they begin trading diseases and parasites more readily and you get these coast-wide events like we had in the Broughton Archipelago a couple of years ago," explained Volpe.

"Putting millions of fish in a small geographic area completely disrupts the parasite-host balance, disease-host balance along the coastline, which I think is the real ticking bomb here. We haven't even begun to see the full effects of this yet," Volpe added.

Although acutely aware of the environmental dangers of salmon farming, Joseph said that the tribal council has had to relax its stance on fish farming from a zero tolerance policy to advocating for closed-containment systems.

"I have a lot of friends and family who, unfortunately, no longer fish wild salmon. They have to work for fish farms, whether it's on the farm itself or at the plant. So now there's a lot of people that rely on that economy," said Joseph, who wants to make sure salmon farming is done in an environmentally friendly way.

Chile, the world's largest salmon producer, said Volpe, just announced it will be doubling its amount of salmon farms, which will drive down the already low salmon prices.

"There is no feasible scenario that would see a movement away from open net pens simply because the price of salmon today is so low and, as a result, the profit margins are so thin that any, even a miniscule increase in production costs, would render those companies that undertook those costs competitively inferior in the global market."

Volpe added tat current closed-containment practices are not much better than the open net pens.

"They've got a hole in the bottom and all they really do is concentrate all of the byproducts, not just uneaten food and fish waste but also these chemical additives that are used periodically in the net pens, and just concentrates at the point that they enter the environment," said Volpe.