The apocalyptic scale of events in Japan has heightened my sense that the people running things have let matters get out of control. This has renewed my resolve to prevent loss of what I see as an essential food and ecological resource to BC. Given all that is going on on both sides of our planet does anyone really want to rely on fish in pens that depend on generators and food shipped from Chile? I am asking DFO to simply examine the health of farm salmon straight from the veterinarian records, or tell us that this is not possible.
Dear Dr. Laura Richards
In preparation for your appearance at the Cohen Inquiry on March 17, I am asking that you inform yourself by reading the salmon farm veterinarian reports.
Hutchings et al (1997) analysed DFO’s response to the plummeting North Atlantic cod stocks, which were one of humanity’s greatest natural food supplies. They report a DFO scientist had identified the problem and how to mitigate it, but was silenced. They conclude, “Government-administered science in Canada, and its potential for bureaucratic and political interference, merits examination in the wake of the biological and socioeconomic catastrophes associated with recent fishery collapses.”
Here in BC, beginning in the early 1990s, an epidemic of Salmon Leukemia swept up the BC coast in salmon farms. At exactly this time the Fraser sockeye began declining, behaving strangely, some runs dying by the millions in the river just before spawning. Today, when DFO scientist, Dr. Miller, reported Salmon Leukemia may be in these dying sockeye she was not allowed to speak to the media. Why?
If Salmon Leukemia is a factor in the millions of dying sockeye, it appears lethal enough that it should have extinquished itself. A 18-year sustained epidemic would require a reservoir source of infection.
Dr. Scott Hinch, a co-researcher on this project stated at the Cohen Inquiry last week that he does not know if farm salmon have been examined as a potential ongoing source of the purported virus. If salmon farms are a reserviour for this retrovirus the public needs to know, so they can decide which fish they want wild or farmed.
Dr. Richards, as the top Pacific Region DFO administrator of science, the public is paying you and relying on you to have all available facts when you take the stand on March 17 at the Cohen Inquiry to answer questions regarding a leaked ministerial briefing note on an emerging disease and the 2009 sockeye collapse.
Furthermore, Minister Gail Shea’s judgment is weak on the subject of ISA virus. In the face of the global ISA virus epidemic, she should have closed the BC border to Atlantic eggs and nets that may have been used to contain ISA infected salmon. The World Health Organization’s Animal Health division the (OIE) reports suspect cases of ISAV in Canada in 2008 – 2010. I am asking you to find out where these suspect cases occurred. You must realize the avirulent form appears to travel in eggs and then it is simply a matter of mutation before it goes viral. If that happens no one will ever be able to recall it from the North Pacific. The only time to stop it is now.
In discussions with colleagues throughout Canada, none have ever suggested that the DFO political interference identified as a significant factor in the collapse of the North Atlantic cod has ever been remedied.
Dr. Richards please contact the OIE to learn if BC is a suspect area for ISA and read the salmon farm disease records before you take the stand at the Cohen Inquiry on March 17. Please let us know if DFO does not have access to these records, so the public can assess the strength of your testimony when you speak about Salmon Leukemia, ISV virus and the Fraser sockeye.
Thank you,
Alexandra Morton
Comments
4 responses to “Dear Dr. Richards inform yourself”
Here’s part of a letter I emailed to Dr. Richards today:
Dear Dr. Richards,
I was raised on the Strait of Georgia my entire life, and have witnessed the decline of Sockeye, Chinook, and Coho salmon. My father taught me how to fish for them when I was just a few years old, and it’s a sport we enjoyed together until the mid 1990’s. At that point the salmon stocks seemed to decline to the point where catching a salmon together is near impossible… and so we don’t fish together anymore.
I know you operate in a complex system, where politicians tell you what they’d like to hear, and promise funding to different projects based on ‘toeing the line’. I also know that politicians come and go like the wind, but the impact of losing our wild salmon will have ripple effects for years. The Atlantic Cod, mismanaged to collapse, are still struggling years afterwards…
Please, please, during your stand, think of the ultimate greater good, rather than what the politicians are pressuring you to say. We all know the political pressure supporting farmed salmon is immense, but I believe you have examined the issue in depth and will act with transparency for the benefit of all who depend on the wild salmon.
Thank you so very much.
What has this got to do with what is going on in Japan? Thousands have died due to a natural disaster and many more are threatened during to possible nuclear meltdown. Dr. Richards does not require your coaching. Considering you have not kept track of Dr. Hinch’s work over the past 12 years like most of us in this field (called fisheries biology) perhaps you are the one that needs to get informed.
It seems to me that if the Canadian Food Inspection Agency was looking after the fish farms. The way it does with farms on land. Then we would not have a problem now. They would have gone in tested the fish in the farms if they were found to be diseased they would have been culed the same as the chickens, pigs, cows, ducks, turkeys and geese were. End of diseases end of problem. I don’t know what special rights (more than every one else) the fish farms have. They simply need to be held accountable for the health of their fish so that diseases do not spread to commercial, food and sport WILD SALMON.
Dear Steve,
When you accuse Alexandra Morton of “conspiracy theories” or lambaste her for standing up for salmon – you really have no credibility. Only people with a weak argument rely on words like hysterical or phrases like “the truth is…”
Dr. Richards requires Alex Morton’s coaching because Dr.Richards should be standing up for wild salmon before she does anything else… Wild salmon are the legal priority in Canada and any possible threat to wild salmon ought to have been examined by her – long before now.
If, as you say Dr.Hinch has been researching for 12 years and if Dr.Hinch hasn’t had information from the salmon farms – what does that say? It does seem that Dr.Hinch is not informed either.
I might have missed it but I didn’t see Ms Morton make any claim that she represented you. So why did you remind her that she didn’t represent you (Jan 30, 2011)?? Are you that important that I should read your rude comments on her blog? Who are you anyway? Steve who?
Why do you feel entitled to make assumptions and voice your opinions as though they are something important – they aren’t and you aren’t important to me or thousands of other people who believe they are represented by Alex Morton.
I would know nothing about wild salmon if Alex Morton wasn’t working on behalf of wild salmon – for simple people like me who love salmon and want our wild salmon to survive – Alexandra Morton represents me and thousands of other people in BC and around the world – one or two rude people who don’t want her representation don’t have to be represented – we are quite happy if you don’t have her representing you – your position doesn’t really matter to the rest of us.
It feels really good to stand up for Alex Morton – and really good to tell you that I don’t realy care what you think – you are not credible.
Sincerely,
Priscilla Judd