October 25, 2004

Ms. Gail Sjuberg
Managing Editor
Gulf Islands Driftwood
328 Lower Ganges Road
Salt Spring Island, BC
Canada V8K 2V3
gsjuberg@gulfislands.net
Fax: 250 537-2613

Dear Ms. Sjubergr:

Response to October 21, 2004 Article by Ellen Yeung: Alaskan government calls for sablefish farming delay

Recalling an earlier Driftwood article on how fragile the Walker Hook tombolo is and its rarity as a geological formation, I couldn't help but remember the words spoken at the 2003 Islands Trust Executive meeting " I did not know what a tombolo was". Well it seems a lot of us did not know of its rarity or its archeological uniqueness. And as always, we didn't know what we had until we were at risk of losing it.

Fortunately, in the case of Walker Hook, it's not too late. Now that we have recognized its environmental significance and invaluable archeological history, it is certain that waste treatment would be a tragic misuse of this tombolo. The millions of tiny shell pieces have made it unique in its ability to preserve the past chemically. It is an archive of natural history supporting a sensitive ecosystem. Like the banks of a river, tombolos should be protected.

Putting aside the fact that no industry should be permitted to dump sewage in a graveyard, let's discuss the effects the sablefish hatchery will have on the marine environment

Essentially the problem is the lack of information on what will happen to the receiving environment. Exactly where will the wastewater go? What will be in it? While these questions remain unanswered, we do know that the size of the suspended particles will be larger than Ganges sewer's tolerance and the volume is four to five times greater. At best guess, the waste will release into the salt water just south of the public swimming beach. And apparently the microbes and other organisms common to hatchery effluent can live for a week or more in the sand underground and could likely wash up on the beach or in your food if you eat shellfish.

One thing is for sure - nothing positive is going to come from it. The Georgia marine basin is fully taxed with eight million people; and on a planet where half the people who have ever lived are alive today, we need to be more vigilant. Walker Hook's tombolo is not the Arabian Desert.

For those that think this hatchery is for wild sablefish enhancement, let's be clear - BC's sablefish stocks are as strong as when the fishery began decades years ago. They are not in need of enhancement. Sablefin Hatchery is producing farm sablefish, millions in fact, which have been selectively bred for domestication, ie. genetically-distinct. They plan to introduce these "exotic organisms" to commercial scale open-water net pen farming operations coast wide - apparently blind to the fact that these same waters are the juvenile rearing areas for wild sablefish.

And contrary to Sablefin Hatchery developer Gidon Minkoff's claim the wild sablefish fishery is a monopoly - there are hundreds of fisherman that depend on a healthy sable fish stock. This does not just include the one hundred sixty licensed sablefish vessels and their crews but all groundfish vessels in British Columbia. A stock collapse due to disease transfer from farmed sablefish would be disastrous. The Canadian Sablefish association, local islanders, the Hul'qumi'num First Nations and Governor Murkowski of Alaska all believe for different reasons that the appropriate science must be done prior to sablefish aquaculture development.

To date there has been no science done whatsoever. The risk assessment for sablefish aquaculture, which is required by law, has yet to be developed by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Unlike salmon which spawn and die every few years, sablefish can live up to eighty years. So if a selectively-bred hatchery sablefish that has a disease or is genetically defective escapes into the wild, it could easily adversely impact the healthy wild stock. There is no way to retrieve escaped farmed creatures. It will only take one fish to put all fishermen's jobs on the line! The aquaculture industry as well as the government has constantly misled the public in their effort to promote this industry by denying the risks. Until adequate research determines the potential impact on fish resources and the marine environment, sablefish farming should be land-based.

For those who question the importance of a precautionary approach here, consider the disastrous impacts of avian flu, mad cow disease, lungworm in sheep, tuberculosis in wild buffalo, chronic wasting disease in deer and elk, sealice on Broughten Archipelago pink salmon, just to name a few.

For more information visit us at www.canadiansablefish.com where you can use our Action Center to send letters to Saltspring's Trustees and appropriate politicians.

Sincerely,

Chris Acheson
President, Canadian Sablefish Association
(250) 537-9649