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Cohen orders fish farm data released
Courier-Islander; with files from Postmedia News
Friday, December 10, 2010
BC salmon farmers have lost another battle to withhold fish health data, this time from the Cohen Commission.
Details of sea lice infestation and disease outbreaks at individual B.C. salmon farms will be made public for the first time following a ruling Wednesday by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Bruce Cohen, head of the commission investigating the 2009 collapse of the Fraser River sockeye run.
Cohen has ordered the B.C. Salmon Farmers Association to submit documents on fish health, disease, stocking and mortality for 120 farms, dating back 10 years, by Jan. 21.
Previously, in an interim ruling, Cohen had said data should be produced for 21 farms, dating back five years.
The association, on behalf of the companies, had argued that finding historical data would be difficult and expensive, but a coalition of conservation groups argued that a decade of information was needed.
In a 22-page ruling Cohen said: "While I understand the approach of commission counsel to limit the request to 21 identified fish farms along the out-bound northern migration route, I have concluded that information from fish farms in proximity to other potential migration routes (such as the western or southern portion of Vancouver Island) would be relevant and contribute to a full and informed investigation of this issue."
However, Cohen, wrote: "This ruling is not to be construed in any manner as a finding on whether aquaculture is a cause for the decline of Fraser River sockeye salmon."
The role of aquaculture and, particularly, concerns about sea lice and disease, dominates much of the debate over wild salmon and, during Cohen Commission hearings, many presentations focused on fish farms. Nowhere was that more true than at Cohen's Campbell River hearing last August, which turned into a two-and-a-half-hour aquaculture debate.
Mary Ellen Walling, Salmon Farmers' Association executive director, said the association is consulting members as it reviews the order.
"This ruling speaks to 120 farms with data back to 2000. Our database goes back to 2002, so we are looking into how we will be able to respond," she said. "To be clear, this information has been provided to our regulators [the provincial government] since 2002." There are a multitude of factors affecting wild salmon returns and the most recent Fraser sockeye run came in at a record 35 million fish, Walling said.
Biologist Alexandra Morton, an opponent of open-net fish farms and one of the applicants asking for the information, said: "It is clear there are some very serious disease issues specific to the sockeye salmon travelling through the waters where salmon feedlots are releasing their waste. This order by Justice Cohen tells us he is serious about getting to the bottom of what happened to our sockeye."
Judah Harrison, Ecojustice staff lawyer, acting for the conservation coalition, said the documents will give the first real look at the impacts of fish farms on the B.C. coast.
"This is huge. This is finally going behind the veil," he said.
Information was previously given to the BCSFA by companies and then the association reported to the province on aggregated information from farms in a large zone, meaning information on specific farms was not available, Harrison said.
"If there was a massive outbreak and mortality at one of the farms it was hidden in the [aggregated] data," he said.
Salmon farmers lost an earlier battle to withhold fish health data back in March, when the Office of the BC Information and Privacy Commissioner ordered the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Lands (MAL) to turn over to the T. Buck Suzuki Foundation sea lice monitoring data gathered from fish farms in 2002-2003 under the ministry's Fish Health Audit and Surveillance Program (HASP). MAL had refused the information request, saying fish farms supplied the information in confidence and disclosure could hurt their competitive positions. Marine Harvest Canada, Mainstream Canada, Grieg Seafoods, Creative Salmon and the BC Salmon Farmers Association had argued the information should remain confidential.
Courier-Islander; with files from Postmedia News
Friday, December 10, 2010
BC salmon farmers have lost another battle to withhold fish health data, this time from the Cohen Commission.
Details of sea lice infestation and disease outbreaks at individual B.C. salmon farms will be made public for the first time following a ruling Wednesday by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Bruce Cohen, head of the commission investigating the 2009 collapse of the Fraser River sockeye run.
Cohen has ordered the B.C. Salmon Farmers Association to submit documents on fish health, disease, stocking and mortality for 120 farms, dating back 10 years, by Jan. 21.
Previously, in an interim ruling, Cohen had said data should be produced for 21 farms, dating back five years.
The association, on behalf of the companies, had argued that finding historical data would be difficult and expensive, but a coalition of conservation groups argued that a decade of information was needed.
In a 22-page ruling Cohen said: "While I understand the approach of commission counsel to limit the request to 21 identified fish farms along the out-bound northern migration route, I have concluded that information from fish farms in proximity to other potential migration routes (such as the western or southern portion of Vancouver Island) would be relevant and contribute to a full and informed investigation of this issue."
However, Cohen, wrote: "This ruling is not to be construed in any manner as a finding on whether aquaculture is a cause for the decline of Fraser River sockeye salmon."
The role of aquaculture and, particularly, concerns about sea lice and disease, dominates much of the debate over wild salmon and, during Cohen Commission hearings, many presentations focused on fish farms. Nowhere was that more true than at Cohen's Campbell River hearing last August, which turned into a two-and-a-half-hour aquaculture debate.
Mary Ellen Walling, Salmon Farmers' Association executive director, said the association is consulting members as it reviews the order.
"This ruling speaks to 120 farms with data back to 2000. Our database goes back to 2002, so we are looking into how we will be able to respond," she said. "To be clear, this information has been provided to our regulators [the provincial government] since 2002." There are a multitude of factors affecting wild salmon returns and the most recent Fraser sockeye run came in at a record 35 million fish, Walling said.
Biologist Alexandra Morton, an opponent of open-net fish farms and one of the applicants asking for the information, said: "It is clear there are some very serious disease issues specific to the sockeye salmon travelling through the waters where salmon feedlots are releasing their waste. This order by Justice Cohen tells us he is serious about getting to the bottom of what happened to our sockeye."
Judah Harrison, Ecojustice staff lawyer, acting for the conservation coalition, said the documents will give the first real look at the impacts of fish farms on the B.C. coast.
"This is huge. This is finally going behind the veil," he said.
Information was previously given to the BCSFA by companies and then the association reported to the province on aggregated information from farms in a large zone, meaning information on specific farms was not available, Harrison said.
"If there was a massive outbreak and mortality at one of the farms it was hidden in the [aggregated] data," he said.
Salmon farmers lost an earlier battle to withhold fish health data back in March, when the Office of the BC Information and Privacy Commissioner ordered the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Lands (MAL) to turn over to the T. Buck Suzuki Foundation sea lice monitoring data gathered from fish farms in 2002-2003 under the ministry's Fish Health Audit and Surveillance Program (HASP). MAL had refused the information request, saying fish farms supplied the information in confidence and disclosure could hurt their competitive positions. Marine Harvest Canada, Mainstream Canada, Grieg Seafoods, Creative Salmon and the BC Salmon Farmers Association had argued the information should remain confidential.
