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NOTICE TO AMERICAN SABLEFISH INDUSTRY
June 9, 2004
Dear Fellow Sablefish/Blackcod Fishermen:
You have a double-barrel shotgun pointed
at your industry and Canadian fish farmers are ready to pull
the trigger.
One barrel is loaded with massive volumes
of farmed sablefish intended for your price-sensitive, Asian
markets. Proposed production will exceed 100,000 tons, or
three times present world supply, making a market crash inevitable.
The second barrel is loaded with parasites,
diseases and genetic threats to your wild sablefish. No studies
have yet been conducted to determine the biological, ecological
and genetic impacts of sablefish farming on the wild sablefish.
We represent the Canadian sablefish fleet
and we are writing to alert you to the urgent and imminent
threat to your livelihood posed by the blind development of
sablefish aquaculture in BC. Americans have been unusually
quiet on this so far but there is still time to make a difference.
What can we tell you? For starters:
- High-density farms stocked with cultivated
sablefish are proposed to be located in wild sablefish juvenile
rearing areas.
- A preliminary environmental assessment
of sablefish farming has identified 20 diseases and 20 parasites,
as well as genetic risks that could damage the wild stock.
- Salmon farming has proven that aquaculture
can damage the wild stock through parasite transfer, disease
spread, genetic risks and habitat destruction.
- Sablefish are long-lived and highly migratory.
Many of the juveniles that mature in BC inlets will migrate
to American waters, putting the entire species at risk from
California to northernmost Alaska.
- As one prominent sablefish scientist warns,
"It's not a matter of if farm sablefish will
harm the wild stock. It's a matter of when and how
the damage will occur".
- Over 40 salmon farms have been given approval
to diversify to sablefish farming.
- The first commercial sablefish hatchery
is preparing to transfer selectively-bred, farm juveniles
to salmon farms up and down the coast this summer.
- A market study of supply effects on sablefish
market prices concluded that an increase of 100,000 metric
tons would drive the price of sablefish down to nearly zero.
TO PROTECT YOUR SABLEFISH/BLACKCOD QUOTA:
- Political Action:
Demand that your politicians put pressure BC and Canadian
governments and hold them accountable to the precautionary
approach they so strongly promote. Alaska had the sense
to ban aquaculture but sablefish know no borders. Tragically
your resource is at risk from our country's selfish and
irresponsible actions. Americans must insist that Canada
take the time required (approximately five years) to conduct
proper environmental studies, BEFORE any hatchery sablefish
are released to open-water net pens. To learn more go to
www.canadiansablefish.com
- Financial Support:
Canadian sablefish fishermen have already contributed $5,000
each or in excess of $200,000 total to a trust fund dedicated
solely to protecting the wild sablefish resource from irresponsible
aquaculture. So far we have funded independent research
on environmental and economic impacts, provincial and federal
lobbying, public awareness and media campaigns, alliances
with environmental, native and other stakeholder groups,
and legal challenges to the sablefish hatchery development.
Please send your cheque, payable to:
Schmidt, Berg & Company in Trust
101-15399 102A Avenue
Surrey, BC, Canada
V3R 7K1
It is disturbing to say the least that we must appeal to you
for help in protecting a joint Canada/US resource from our
own government's negligence. Yet without your support we may
ALL lose our fishery and investments.
Canada's annual catch is worth $27 million.
The US catch is valued at $120 million. We hope it is clear
that we are not asking you to help us, we are asking you to
protect your livelihood.
Sincerely,
Eric Wickham
Executive Director
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