David Suzuki gets pretty scatological when he talks about his problems with open-net salmon farming on B.C.’s coast.
“As a scientist, it makes no sense to grow animals in open nets where you use the ocean as a shithouse,” the famed environmentalist told reporters Monday. “Not only are you pooping in the ocean, but you’re also sharing the growth of sea lice and infections that explode in the enclosures.”
Suzuki has joined forces with actor Pamela Anderson, biologist Alexandra Morton and First Nations leaders to launch Operation Virus Hunter, a mission that will see scientists observing fish farms along the path of the Fraser River sockeye migration all the way to northern Vancouver Island. Along the way, they will be checking for diseased fish and other wildlife near aquaculture operations, searching for toxic algae blooms and looking at the waste that flows out of the marine net pens.
A key focus of the voyage will be testing for piscine reovirus (PRV), an infection that Morton claims is “strongly linked” to heart and skeletal muscle inflammation disease (HSMI) in salmon. HSMI is associated with mortality rates of up to 20 per cent in other parts of the world, and it appeared at a salmon farm in B.C. this spring.
Bethany Lindsay – Vancouver Sun – July 18, 2016.
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