Aquaculture Threatens Native B.C. Steelhead and Salmon

Under s.61(2) of the Canadian Environmental Assessment (CEA) Act, the Federal Minister of the Environment is responsible for the CEA Agency and the referrals, but the Commissioner for Aquaculture Development is now in charge of the aquaculture net-cage site applications and has dictated that the applications should go through a screening process only, not a full review, due to: “predictable and mitigable environmental effects”, which then omits mandatory public involvement and scoping (determining geographic boundaries of impacts) during the assessment process.

This means that the government agency in charge of Aquaculture Development (i.e. business development) is also in charge of the application and approval process and will not be conducting any environmental review of how a rapidly expanding net-pen farmed Atlantic salmon industry along B.C.'s North Coast could affect native steelhead and salmon.

Aquaculture projects along the southern B.C. coast have released tens of thousands of Atlantic salmon into the Pacific and many of them find their way into rivers and streams where they compete with native fish. They are also a source of concentrated pollution and known to spread disease and parasites. For more information on Atlantic salmon in Pacific waters, see Dr. John Volpe's research. See also "Fish Farm Flap" a news report availabe on-line from the Canadian Broadcasting Company.

Please e-mail or fax the following people and let them know this fast-track procedure is unacceptable. Use this link to email all the people on this list at once with a predetermined message you can edit.

Bill Belsey
Member of Parliament, North Coast
255 Third Avenue
Prince Rupert, BC, V8J 1L2
Tel: (250) 624-7734 Fax: (250) 624-7737 bill.belsey.mla@leg.bc.ca


Canadian Alliance Fisheries Critic
John Cummins
Delta-South Richmond
4871 Delta St.,
Delta, BC V4K 2T9
Telephone: 604-940-8040
Fax: 604-940-8041
cummins@canadianalliance.ca


John Herron MP
Canadian Alliance Environment Critic
Room 879 Confederation Building
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6
Phone: (613) 996-2332
Fax: (613) 995-4286
herroj@parl.gc.ca


Honourable Geoff Regan
Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Canada
House of Commons
Parliament Buildings, Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
Tel : 604-666-0384
Fax: 604-666-1847
Min@dfo-mpo.gc.ca


Prime Minister Paul Martin
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street, Ottawa K1A 0A2
Fax: 613-941-6900
pm@pm.gc.ca


The Honourable David Anderson, P.C., M.P.
Les Terrasses de la Chaudiere
10 Wellington St., 28th Floor
Hull, Quebec
(819) 997-1441
(819) 953-3457 (fax)
david.anderson@ec.gc.ca


Ms Allison Webb
Commission for Aquaculture Development
Fisheries and Oceans Canada
340 - 555 West Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC V6B 5G3
Telephone: (604) 837-6223
Facsimile: (604) 666-3295
webba@pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca