Biologist lays charges against salmon farming company
North Island researcher says fish farm released sea lice into ocean

Jeff Rud
Times Colonist
June 9, 2005

A Vancouver Island biologist has personally laid charges against a salmon farming company as well as both the provincial and federal governments over what she describes as illegal discharge of sea lice in the Broughton Archipelago.

Alexandra Morton, a well-known opponent of fish farms, laid the charges this week against Heritage Salmon, Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the provincial Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries.

The charges target the company's Burdwood fish farm.

"The evidence I have published from my research indicates that the owner of the farm in question, Heritage Salmon, is responsible for releasing sea lice into the ocean and that the federal and provincial government have allowed this to happen, leading to the infection and mortality of wild salmon,'' Morton said in a release.

In an interview, Morton said she has a July 27 date in Port Hardy provincial court, at which time a judge will decide whether to proceed with the case.

Calls to Heritage Salmon regarding the charges were not returned. But executive director Mary Ellen Walling of the B.C. Salmon Farmers' Association, of which the company is a member, said Department of Fisheries and Oceans data doesn't support Morton's charges.

"We're quite baffled, actually, by this approach,'' Walling said Wednesday. "All of the farms here have sea lice monitoring and management plans in place. I know that the farm in question was inspected before the smolt out-migration this spring and didn't have a problem.''

Agriculture, Food and Fisheries Ministry spokesman Shawn Robins said "it's pretty hard to comment on what (Morton) is alleging when you don't know what the specifics of the allegations and the basis for her case are. But having said that, the ministry really takes action on sea lice on fish farms.''

Robins said government has an "active monitoring and action plan" in place that calls for either treatment or removal of farm fish with a certain level of lice infestation.

"The threshold is very low. As a matter of fact, it's the lowest of all aquaculture jurisdictions in the world,'' he said. "We feel that we have the situation with lice on fish farms under control. Our observations in the Broughton Archipelago this year are that lice loads on farms are very, very low to non-existent.''

But Morton said even a small amount of sea lice from farms can affect young wild salmon.

"I'm very uncomfortable taking legal action but I've tried everything else,'' she said. "I've done five years of research specifically on sea lice ... This year, I feel the pink and chum salmon are actually going extinct because of the sea lice.''

Sea lice are infecting young, wild salmon which have no protection, Morton said.

"At the size that's getting infected right now, these fish don't have scales. They're basically naked. It's eating holes in their flesh, they're bleeding, they're emaciated, they're dying.''

Walling said Morton's claims "make no sense.''

"The pink salmon returns that are happening up in the Broughton are near historical averages,'' she said, citing DFO data. "We're not seeing anything that's giving us any cause for the kinds of concerns that she's expressing.''

Morton said filing charges is not a public relations move and that she wants the farm shut down.

"I'm out to save these salmon. And I'm very concerned that the proceedings may be stayed before we go to trial. But I really, really hope that's not the case.''

The federal Fisheries Act provides for a private citizen to lay such a charge, she added.

According to its website, Heritage Salmon is a wholly owned subsidiary of George Weston Limited, one of North America's largest food processing and distribution companies. Morton said she chose Heritage Salmon because its farm in question is at the heart of the archipelago and salmon from several rivers converge there.