Open Net-Pen Salmon Farms

There is abundant evidence that open net-pen salmon farms are not compatible with healthy wild salmon populations. Some of the best science on the topic has been conducted by or with DFO scientists. Like many issues where significant money is at stake, difficulty achieving evidence-based decisions and actions arises where politics comes into play.

A 1997 article in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences looked at the question “Is scientific inquiry incompatible with government information control?”. Citing research on Atlantic cod and Pacific salmon, the authors concluded that there was a need for a politically independent organization of fisheries scientists.

In 2011, DFO scientist Dr. Kristi Miller appeared at the Cohen Commission of Inquiry into the Decline of Sockeye Salmon in the Fraser River. Miller testified that she had been prevented by the Privy Council Office from speaking with media about her genomic research that pointed to a viral infection as a possible major factor in the decline of Fraser River sockeye salmon. Miller was escorted to and from the hearing room by a security person, who sat next to Miller during her presence at the hearing. No other DFO staff testifying in the hearings were treated in the same way. (Globe and Mail, 23 August 2011)

A September 2020 article in Ecological Applications, “Bias in self-reported parasite data from the salmon farming industry” found that industry’s monthly counts of sea lice were up to 1.95 times higher when counts were audited by DFO. The study concluded that underestimation of sea lice in non-audited counts likely led to fewer treatments and longer delays before treatments during sea-louse outbreaks, putting wild salmon populations at risk.

October 2020, an article was published in Proceedings of the Royal Society titled “Environmental DNA from multiple pathogens is elevated near active Atlantic salmon farms”. The authors, including Dr Kristi Miller, found that the probability of detecting pathogen environmental DNA (eDNA) was 2.72 times higher at active versus inactive salmon farm sites and 1.76 times higher per standard deviation increase in domesticated Atlantic salmon eDNA concentration at sites. The findings suggested that salmon farms serve as a potential reservoir for infectious agents and elevate the risk of exposure for wild salmon and other fish.

A study published in Science Advances in May 2021, “Aquaculture mediates global transmission of a viral pathogen to wild salmon” determined that Piscine orthoreovirus (PRV) originated in the Atlantic Ocean and spread worldwide through salmon aquaculture. Professor Jeffrey Hutchings, a leading Canadian fisheries scientist who was not involved in the study, commented that the study “provides the most compelling, scientifically objective evidence to date that wild salmon in BC are at increased risk of disease because of open net-pen Atlantic salmon aquaculture.”

In May 2022 written submissions to the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans’ Study of Science at Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Bob (Galagame’) Chamberlin of the First Nation Wild Salmon Alliance noted that a quote of Professor Hutchings comment about the aforementioned study was removed from a Question Period Note to the Minister at the suggestion of DFO manager Dr Jay Parsons. Chamberlin’s submission concluded that “Without significant change, DFO will repeat its shameful history, mismanage wild Pacific salmon to extinction and extinguish many First Nations’ Aboriginal right to fish for food, social and ceremonial purposes.”

In another submission to the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans, Dr Gideon Mordecai, a viral ecologist and geneticist at the University of British Columbia, cited a DFO Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat (CSAS) review that said that because PRV could be found in healthy fish on farms, “PRV is non-pathogenic”. Mordecai likened the CSAS statement to saying “that COVID does not cause disease because some infected individuals are asymptomatic.”

An article published July 2023 in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, revisited the 1997 question of scientific inquiry and government information control with “Is scientific inquiry still incompatible with government information control? A quarter-century later“. The authors found that DFO continues to allow industry lobbying and other non-science influences to interfere with advice processes, including science advice related to salmon farming.

If uncertainty remains around the effects of open net-pen salmon farms on wild salmon, the precautionary principle must be applied commensurate with the vital role of wild salmon. Salmon farms can produce food and profits. They cannot produce the food equity of traditional salmon harvesting, nor the ecological, cultural, and spiritual benefits provided by strong wild salmon populations.

---

This blog post published with gratitude for all who work for the well-being of wild salmon, and SFU’s Community Scholars program which provided access to journals I otherwise wouldn’t be able to read.

Explore posts in the same categories: Politics, Environment