Articles and Current Issues

 WILD SALMON

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1. The WTA supports the precautionary principle in resource management and asks for a moratorium on the expansion of open net caged fin fish aquaculture on the coast of BC until peer reviewed science shows minimal or no impact on wild fish stocks; and,
2. the WTA agrees there is no other option but to close or fallow the salmon farms (located) on migratory routes such as in the Broughton Archipelago or proposed sites on the North Coast; and,
3. the WTA is confident the aquaculture and wilderness tourism industries can co-exist and flourish, provided both are operated in a sustainable manner. Therefore we urge the Province, the government of Canada and the industry to commit to a program exploring emergent technologies and work with First Nations and stakeholders in selecting the most ecologically and economically viable model for a full-scale operational trial.

Fish farms are causing a deadly collision between the vulnerable young salmon and sea lice. These smolts are not equipped to survive this, and independent research is proving that they don't. Over the years the number of farmed fish has increased. There used to be only a few farms, each holding about 125,000 fish. But now there are over 120 farms on the coast, some holding 1.3 million fish, providing a perfect habitat for lice that wasn't there before. Compounding the situation is the location of farms as many are located on the migration routes of the young smolts...
exert from WTA position paper

Complete Document Here
4 Pages; 192 KB; PDF Format;

People from around the world have come together out of a sense of urgency to sign this declaration. We are warning the world that industrial-scale salmon farming in net-pens is a very significant threat to our global oceans. Join us by signing on and help make a change that will help keep our oceans alive.
Follow this link to sign the declaration (www.ourglobalocean.org) or you may...

Preview the Declaration Document Here
2 Pages; 868 KB; PDF Format;

How? Wild adult salmon are clad in scales and so the naturally occurring parasitic sea lice do not harm them. Sea lice carried inshore on spawning adult salmon die in freshwater and this protects the young salmon that enter seawater the next spring. Fish farms upset this balance, by supporting lice infestations on salmon held in pens near salmon rivers.

Learn More with this telling graphic....
1 Page; 544 KB; PDF Format;