Ottawa accused of fish farm bias
B.C. fisheries minister's letter is among package of leaked documents

Judith Lavoie
Times Colonist
Wednesday, May 11, 2005

In the midst of controversy over fish farm expansion, Fisheries Minister John van Dongen wrote an irate letter to his federal counterpart charging that Ottawa was biased against B.C. fish farmers.

A package of letters and cabinet briefing notes leaked to the Times Colonist includes the December 2002 letter from van Dongen to Robert Thibault, in which van Dongen complains bitterly about the federal government's lack of approvals of salmon farm sites and relocations.

"Both my staff and credible industry spokespersons point to . . . causes for the impasse: 1. Extreme application of the precautionary principle. 2. Habitat staff in the Pacific region who are opposed to aquaculture -- they look for any reason to say no," the letter says.

The documents also include details of an Alaskan senator's trip, jointly funded by the B.C. Salmon Farmers Association and provincial government, to a B.C.salmon farm shortly after Alaska passed a resolution urging B.C. to reinstate a moratorium on fish farming. The province lifted the moratorium in 2002.

Environmental groups allege the government was working to expand the fish farming industry, despite opposition to the practice. They point to a briefing to van Dongen from the ministry's legal services branch, which had been asked whether the province was guilty of "regulatory negligence."

"I don't see that B.C. has a legal duty to prevent persons from putting into the water substances that might harm others," the opinion says.

But Van Dongen scoffed at the idea B.C. would turn a blind eye to water pollution. "Lawyers give advice about what the law is and politicians and public servants make the decisions," he said, adding government has stringently enforced fish farm regulations.

The mass of documents showing active government support for fish farming and political management of the issue has even startled foes of aquaculture expansion.

Jennifer Lash of the Living Oceans Society said the idea that there could be "extreme" application of the precautionary principle is alarming.

"You act with precaution on things like sea lice because we don't even know where juvenile salmon migrate," she said. "They are saying they are committed to expanding the industry come hell or high water, whether it affects the environment or other people."

NDP Leader Carole James said the papers raise questions about whether taxpayers financed the trip to a salmon farm by Alaskan Senator Fred Dyson.

MLA Barry Penner accompanied Dyson as part of his task of improving trade and relations with states in the Pacific Northwest, van Dongen said.

Mary Ellen Walling of the Salmon Farmers Association said the organization frequently organizes trips to salmon farms at the request of government agencies.