Dear Editor,

I read with interest recent reports of PR firm Hill and Knowlton’s ties to both Paul Martin and the BC Liberal party.  This same PR firm also touts aquaculture as a major client. This tangible link certainly clarifies why Premier Gordon Campbell continues to back one of BC’s most ecologically damaging and economically struggling industries.  It helps explain why Provincial Fisheries Minister John van Dongen waived fines against fish farms for illegal and reckless expansion.  It sheds light on the possible significance of RCMP investigation of van Dongen’s ties to the aquaculture industry in BC.

Fish farming threatens wild stocks with diseases, parasites and genetic mutation.  It devastates precious ecosystems with toxic sewage and pollution and reduces the world supply of fish by taking more fish out as feed than it creates.  It wreaks economic havoc on once successful coastal communities and wild fisheries. Not to mention, the final product is a health risk to consumers.  The ever-increasing number of highly credible scientific and socio-economic studies on this can no longer be ignored. 

Norway, Scotland and Ireland have all warned that BC is viewed as a weakly-regulated, unsuspecting haven for opportunistic aquaculture corporations seeking another conquest.  BC’s politicians, sold on some notion of short-term economic gain are conveniently blind to the tragic lessons learned by these countries.

All this risk for an industry that is struggling to survive in an intensely competitive global market.  An industry owned by foreign corporations that employs a few hundred minimum-wagers.  Profits leave the country and accountability is non-existent.  The writing is on the wall.  BC salmon farms cannot compete, cannot survive, forget thrive. Forecast for next year, continued downturn. 

In contrast, BC’s wild fisheries employ over 10,000 in communities coast-wide.  Locally-owned, these businesses and the people who run them strive to sustain the resource, diversify and compete.  They are the backbone of an industry to be proud of.

It’s simple.  Aquaculture has great economic potential but poses a huge environmental and socio-economic risk.  To do it right costs money and takes time.  This time and money can only come from true leaders with vision who will strive for a legacy of stewardship that all Canadians can be proud of.

Sincerely,

Eric Wickham

Executive Director