It's time for action on fish farms
Times Colonist
Published: Sunday, October 22, 2006
There is a "war of words" between those who support and are employed by fish farms and those who oppose them.

The chief defence of the fish farms is to discredit anyone and anything negative that is said about them.

To push aside studies done by those who do not come to favourable conclusions, simply labelling them "environmentalists" is not good enough.

Why have they not used scientific peer-reviewed studies to refute Morton's and Frasier's studies instead of trying to discredit them as their means of defence? Why has the Department of Fisheries and Oceans not done its own peer-reviewed and comprehensive study on this issue?

If the Morton and Frasier studies are correct, the farms represent a serious threat to our wild fish. DFO is charged with protecting wild fish and it appears they are afraid of what the results of such a study could uncover.

Worldwide studies have pointed directly to fish farms as a source of lethal lice infestations, so there is basis for such a study.

Dwindling wild stocks would suggest that we have sat on the fence about this issue long enough. Now is the time to act and precaution is the way to go.

Owen Landry,

Black Creek.