Why I think salmon farm disease is harming Fraser sockeye

In a world of perfect storms, we in B.C. spent a summer in awe of a perfect miracle. Something went very right. As 34 million sockeye swept in from the open Pacific they gave us a $500 million fishery, then swam through the city of Vancouver carrying 50 million kg of nutrients that they are now distributing throughout the interior of BC from Alaska to the Alberta border. Tens of thousands of people stood beside them as they entered the Adams River, the people of Takla Lake wind dried them, the people of the Stellaquo stood guard over them as they spawned, the people of Lumby are trying to get them past the Wilsey dam.

How could the Fraser sockeye have made such a big comeback after such a collapse? Why has the “productivity,” (which is the number of adults that comes back per parent fish) been in decline for 18 years and suddenly reversed. I think the cause of these fluctuations is salmon feedlot diseases and here is why.

Eighteen years ago in July 1992 a salmon farm in the narrowest marine corridor used by the Fraser sockeye was stocked with IHN virus infected salmon. IHN is lethal to sockeye. Government was secretive about this and let the infected salmon stay in the ocean. As a result, the disease spread to 13 salmon feedlots (9 million farm salmon) over three years in a 20 km radius exposing 6 generations of wild salmon to extremely high and unnatural levels of virus.

This is exactly when Fraser sockeye productivity began to fail. A second IHN epidemic raged in the feedlots for 3 years from Campbell River to Bella Bella via their smolt transport vessels. Again DFO did nothing to protect our wild salmon and the Fraser sockeye continued their decline. (See graph below).

Salmon epidemics are extremely rare in the wild, because predators keep pathogens low by removing sick fish. Every wild salmon that swims between Vancouver Island and mainland is now passing feedlot effluent over its gills, like running livestock through sheep dip. If they do not die directly they become carriers as they join other populations of salmon further north.

This 92% Norwegian-owned industry is highly secretive about disease, but Norwegian scientists tracking the spread of farm salmon disease worldwide warn that BC is “guaranteed” to get the Norwegian virus Infectious Salmon Anemia if we continue to import eggs from the Atlantic. The Minister of Fisheries, Gail Shea, is deaf to reason even though scientists report ISA from Norway is now raging in salmon feedlots in Chile.

DFO research underway since 2003 reports Fraser sockeye appear to be dying of a new virus:

“… A potentially novel disease, possibly viral in origin, has been affecting a high proportion of juvenile and adult Fraser sockeye salmon that may weaken fish and directly or indirectly enhance mortality.”

This paper has not been released, nor has DFO told us what this virus is, but a “novel” virus could not have come from the wild salmon, it had to be introduced. During this time period the Fraser sockeye decline accelerated.

In 2001, a bureaucrat with the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands signed an understanding with the BC Salmon Farmers Association agreeing to pay $70,000 to create a salmon feedlot disease database, but the information is so secret that even the provincial enforcement officers are not allowed to see it.

The Freedom of Information Commission ruled in March 2010 that salmon feedlot disease was public information and on April 1 a notice on the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands website said the fish farmers would no longer allow provincial vets to test for disease out on the sites!

As a participant in the Cohen Inquiry I have requested the disease records of all salmon feedlots on the Fraser sockeye migration route, but the industry is stonewalling us.

So lets recap. Disease has spread everywhere salmon feedlots occur worldwide; DFO has done nothing to remove diseased farm salmon from our biggest wild salmon migration routes, even as exposed wild stocks began collapsing. The Minister of Fisheries has left the BC border open even though Norwegian scientists say we are guaranteed to import lethal salmon disease and DFO’s own science says it looks like a new virus is killing Fraser sockeye.

These are the reasons I think salmon feedlot disease is driving the boom and bust cycles of Fraser sockeye. I think the fish farmers cleaned up temporarily in 2008 and that is why we got so many sockeye back this year.

The only way we are going to find out if this is accurate is if thousands of people support Justice Cohen in his sockeye inquiry and tell him we need the salmon feedlot disease records. Please walk with me to the Cohen Commission opening on Oct 25th to state we want the reign of corporate secrecy to end and to tell him we are watching this closely and expect nothing less than the complete truth. Chiefs, fishermen, people of all walks of life are joining us in this effort. Without you, they fish farmers will continue to operate in secrecy pouring all their effluent into our most valuable wild salmon migration routes. See the Itinerary at www.SalmonAreSacred.org