Humpback found dead in salmon farm

[Rockfish]

I know how this goes rock fish. I post as an individual with my opinion and some facts then you and other post how I am employed by industry to make posts and with this thought you try to make it appear as if I am the whole industry world wide and you attack. You do this anonymously which suggest to me that you and all the other anonymous posters have something to hide. I don't care who you are but I am interested in what you do for a living. Some how I feel that most of the secrets will be closely guarded. Fair enough. Your secrets are safe here. lol

You are struggling now. I am rather well known in the sport fishing community and certainly no more anonymous than yourself and every bit as much of an individual poster as you are. My opinions are my own, I am nobody’s mouthpiece. There are no secrets as you imply, I don’t work for some rabid environmental organization and oppose much of their more radical ideology. I don’t make a dime and never have directly or indirectly from my opposition to Atlantic salmon in open ocean net pens. I am a angler and a retired professional in a completely unrelated area of expertise who is concerned about the well being of our Pacific Salmon and believe that negative impact of Atlantic Salmon being introduced in open net pens into our coastal waters and now the further expansion of that industry which has been recently announced has a number of negative impacts.

I give you credit for being a actual angler and not just a single issue public relations professional poster that we sometimes have turn up here to protect one industry or another. No, I don’t believe that you are specifically paid by the industry to work in public relations and communications and make posts. Forgive me but if you were you would likely be better at it. You do however wade into the debate in defense of the industry from time to time and you do work in industry management and thus have a personal financial self interest in defending the industry, that is just a fact. The industry pays you, you are dependent on it and it is somewhat natural that you are motivated to defend it. I have some empathy for your situation as everyone has to pay the bills and don’t think there is a lot of value in others pilling on at this point of discussion would seem to have reached its natural conclusion.

 

[Birdsnest]

Well that certainly is a different tone than your other post:

I am sure the industry, your employer, is most happy to have you continuing in your roll conducting pro fish farm public relations posts on this forum for the open net pen industry whenever they feel the heat.

They aren't having me do anything.

Anyways, I am an angler and a fish farmer. Its true. And some will plug their ears and shout bla bla bla as to not hear anything I say about it. Then there are those who will realize that I do have a voice and my opinion is from experience as a salmon farmer. There are many false claims out there about salmon farming. The article that opens this thread is a prime example. It opens by saying " another reason to not eat farmed salmon" and then admits it doesn't know why the whale died. IT claims the whale was inside the system which is not true then it goes on to david suzuki, sealion deaths, and thens mortons bit. Really?

 

[Birdsnest]

Who really cares if birdsnest is paid to post stuff up on here... He gets paid to raise net pen Atlantic salmon on our coast..... And appears to be totally ok with that.

Another assumption. Do you know that for a fact? Not that it matters. I will speak in favor of atlantic farms based on what I know. I may not agree 100% with the situation but when it comes to all the drivel and non truths that are presented to the public about salmon farming I will speak up.

 

[agentaqua]

.... IT claims the whale was inside the system which is not true then it goes on to david suzuki, sealion deaths, and thens mortons bit. Really?

Birdsnest - you just finished claiming that other's posts were "deflections". Your attempt to smear Suzuki and Morton - while negating to engage on the original topic - is a prime example of "deflection".

For the record - I too do not belong to any environmental NGO, nor am I employed by the open net-pen industry. I have many years experience in dealing with fish and salmon and all the associated issues. I am familiar with the science - and I have read almost all the publically-available peer-reviewed reports and most of the so-called grey literature over cultured/wild stock interactions, and many other fisheries/marine-related literature. I have lived and worked all my life on/near the ocean, and earned my living from it either directly or indirectly. I have lived/worked in many remote coastal communities. I have lived/worked deep in the heart of the open net-cage industry areas, and outside of those areas. I am not unfamiliar with your industry.

I am supportive of aquaculture in general - but not of the open net-cage technology due to the inability to mitigate wild/cultured stock interactions. I am particularly disturbed by the lack of scientifically-defensible siting criteria - which is far more critical of an issue now that a-hole Harper has gutted most of our environmental checks and balances. I am dismayed, upset, and far beyond frustrated about how our regulators defend your industry and fail to provide due diligence over these issues.

I could live with siting open net-pens in areas of low numbers of outmigrating juvenile salmon - but that precludes their operation in areas of large numbers of outmigrating juvenile salmon - like the Discovery Islands and the Broughtons - as 2 key examples. Jackson Passage in Kitasso territory is one example of reduced wild/cultured stock interactions through a better siting criteria. There are sea lice issues there for the industry - but much lower numbers of migrating juvenile salmon.

To date: in their rush to cover-up and support the open net-cage industry - the government regulators have REFUSED to have this conversation about siting criteria - instead claiming that salmon only swim 1 km, and refusing to accept that there is critical nearshore habitat that needs to be identified. This is from our senior Federal Department tasked to protect wild stocks, and which is supposed to know fish and use science. Their response is inexcusable.

A humpback got killed - which is what started this post. I don't know why/how a humpback got entangled in the netcage assembly. Usually they can avoid quasi-transparent salmon gill nets - maybe it was a young, inexperienced whale. Maybe it was chasing herring. For me - it is unfortunate - but normally a very rare occurrence.

The bigger issue for me is what impacts the open net-cage industry is having on our wild salmon populations.

 

[seadna]

To be fair to Birdnest, it's not clear if a humpback was killed or if a humpback died and then washed into the net. I agree that anytime a dead humpback is found in a net, the more likely hypothesis is that the net was causal for the death. However, without other data, it's just a hypothesis. Supposedly a necropsy was going to be done on the Friday following the posting of the blog that started this thread. The blog was published on March 29 so I'm guessing that the necropsy results are available. Also, while I despise the net pens in the wild and believe that the data strongly indicates that they negatively impact wild fish populations, I feel no need to accuse Birdnest of being a paid shill for the industry. Sure he works there, we all know that. We also expect that he will present a counterpoint that is more positive towards the industry in which he works. Still he has some firsthand experience and observations that could provide useful insight to all of us. While I doubt he and I will ever agree on the the benefits/detriments of his industry, I think we're better off if we focus on facts and data rather than on attacks on each other. We don't have to agree but we also don't have to be disagreeable in the process.

Now back to that whale. I'll do some poking around to see if the necropsy results are public.

 

[GDW]

The necropsy results most likely will not be public if the finding is that the salmon farm had anything to do with its death. The muzzle is tight.

 

[seadna]

BTW - the original poster linked us to an blog post that was published in March of 2013. Much of the discussion including mine seems to have missed that fact.

 

[Birdsnest]

Or are they going to close this thread?

 

[rendraW]

BTW - the original poster linked us to an blog post that was published in March of 2013. Much of the discussion including mine seems to have missed that fact.

oops, missed that too

 

[agentaqua]

Increase in humpback whales in B.C. waters results in record number of entanglements in fishing gear
Larry Pynn
More from Larry Pynn
Published on: December 1, 2016
http://vancouversun.com/news/local-...sults-in-record-entanglements-in-fishing-gear