Here's the latest global news update including reports from Chile, Canada, Scotland, Ireland, New Zealand and Norway (download in full as a PDF online here):
“Fish
farm at centre of mystery illness was warned over safety by US agency” (The
Sunday Herald, 28 October)
“Don
Staniford: “Norwegian Fish Farms: Stop Killing Wild Salmon!” (You Tube, 27
October)
“Deadline
looms for report into Fraser Valley’s sockeye salmon collapse” (The
Canadian Press/The Province, 26 October)
“Salmon
inquiry spawns opportunity” (The Vancouver Sun, 26 October)
“Salmon
Stocks Declining” (CTV, 26 October)
“Council
investigation follows sickness outbreak in all staff in Argyll fish farm
processing” (For Argyll, 26 October)
“Statement
from Scottish Sea Farms” (Fish Update, 26 October)
“Marine
Harvest's Salmonopoly Loss – Q3 $$$$$s drop 86%!” (Green Around the Gills,
26 October)
“Marine
Harvest fails to consult with locals over Isle of Skye expansion plans”
(BBC Radio Scotland, 26 October)
“2-star rating
a first in BC – Marine Harvest Canada achieves BAP certification” (The
Courier-Islander, 26 October)
“Japan
to ban expansion of bluefin tuna farms” (Hindu Business Line, 26 October)
“Fish
farms to pilot new environmental performance standards” (ABC News, 26
October)
“King
Salmon seeks consent for work” (Marlborough Express, 26 October)
“Sterling
Prize winners Richard Routledge and Alexandra Morton” (Simon Fraser
University, 25 October)
“Mystery illness strikes Argyll fish
processing plant” (The Oban Times, 25 October)
“Probe
into mass sickness at processing plant” (The Daily Mail, 25 October)
“Scottish Sea Farms
staff walk out over sickness: an investigation into the cause is underway”
(Intrafish, 25 October)
“Salmon
Farming is Sickening: FDA warning for "adulterated" Scottish farmed
salmon "injurious to health"” (Green Around the Gills, 25
October)
“We
must protect Scotland’s seas” (Scottish Wildlife Trust, 25 October)
“Sobeys to
Canadians: sea lice case nothing to worry about: removal of salmon ‘completely
unnecessary’” (Intrafish, 25 October)
“Will
Justice Cohen Protect Wild Salmon?” (Wild Salmon First, 24 October)
“Alexandra
Morton Receives Two Academic Honours, Forces Farmed Salmon Recall”
(Common Sense Canadian, 24 October)
“Marine Harvest
Canada gets BAP two star rating” (Intrafish, 24 October)
“Scottish
Sea Farms staff walk out over sickness” (Fish Update, 24 October)
“Anti-salmon
farm campaigners call for Dáil support” (West Cork Times, 24 October)
“Clare
salmon farm plan draws interest from 17 firms” (Irish Times, 24 October)
“Atlantic
Salmon Trust Highlight Three Key Salmon Survival Issues” (Fish & Fly,
24 October)
“Warnings
of Caligus increase in salmon farms: sea lice poses concern among Chilean
authorities because its incidence rose in farming centres” (FIS, 24
October)
“Cermaq
plans 35% production increase” (Intrafish, 24 October)
“Cermaq
tables 37% volume increase for 2013” (Undercurrent News, 23 October)
“Disease
takes chunk out of Cermaq profits”/“Cermaq
Q3's 'satisfactory' results despite complicated salmon market” (Seafood
Source/FIS, 23 October)
“Sobeys
investigates handling procedures after sea lice found on Atlantic salmon”
(Yahoo News, 23 October)
“Sobeys:
salmon removal only temporary” (Intrafish, 23 October)
“Cultivos
Marinos acquisition creates bumpy path for Cermaq” (Intrafish, 22 October)
“Dr Alexandra Morton
speaks in Halifax” (Radio 4 All, 19 October)
“Fish
Controversy Nets Sterling Prize” (Simon Fraser University, 17 October)
“Not
defamatory enough” (Seafood Executive, October)
Including
from Elena Edwards of Wild
Salmon First speaking before her visit to Scotland & Ireland (28
October):
“May
the global voices for wild salmon unite to deliver the message to Norway that
Norwegian salmon farms are not welcome and must go! The flag and declaration will be travelling
to Scotland and Ireland to support efforts to stop Norwegian owned salmon farms
from killing wild salmon. The more names
on the flag the stronger the message which will be brought to Norway next
year. Your voice matters!"
From
Damien Gillis writing in The
Common Sense Canadian (24 October):
“It's
been a busy couple of weeks- for salmon biologist and anti-fish farm activist
Alexandra Morton. In between receiving two prestigious academic honours on
opposite sides of the country, she found the time to drop by a few Sobeys
grocery stores in Halifax, discover clumps of sea lice on the farmed salmon
they were selling and create a national media story that prompted the retailer
to yank all the whole farmed salmon from their maritime stores. All in a week's
work for the indefatigable defender of wild salmon.”
From
The
Canadian Press (26 October) on the final report from the Cohen Commission:
“There's no justification for them getting the report on
Monday and excluding the public and the participants from having copies of that
report," said Ernie Crey, an adviser to the Sto:lo Tribal Council. "I can't think of a single reason that
they could come up with to justify that.
It's up to them to explain why they want to sit on it.”
From Jeffery Young writing in The
Vancouver Sun (26 October):
“The most startling and noteworthy evidence was related to
political influence within Fisheries and Oceans Canada- from hiding revelations
of a foreign disease from fish farms found in wild salmon to the muzzling of a
scientist whose results weren't favourable to industry……Will it let its
scientists talk again so we can have an open discussion about issues ranging
from disease and parasite impacts from open net-cage salmon farms to protecting
lakes and streams from pipelines and mines?”
From
FIS
(24 October) on increasing problems in Chile with sea lice:
“The head of the Undersecretariat of Fisheries and
Aquaculture (Subpesca), Pablo Galilea, warned about the "significant"
increase in Caligus in salmon companies in the country. In addition to expressing concern about the
health status of the local salmon farming, the undersecretary considered that
private initiatives to modify the health regulations are "insufficient,"
Diario Financiero reported.
"What concerns us most is Caligus, which had its prelude in the
crisis caused by the infectious salmon anemia (ISA), which has increased
considerably," he pointed out.”
From
The West Cork Times (24
October):
“The Save Bantry Bay (SBB) committee have, this week, contact all 166 TDs
in an effort to outline their opposition to the proposed licensing of Marine
Harvest Ireland’s plans to create a 14 cage salmon farm off Shot Head in Bantry
Bay. “We are calling on all our TDs, all
166 of them, to look to the future. For a handful of jobs now, we will all pay
for the damage this will cause to Bantry Bay and we will see hundreds of jobs
lost in the years ahead,” SBB chairman Kieran McCarthy.”
From the Atlantic Salmon Trust via Fish
& Fly (24 October):
“There are two activities of man that, in
the context of the survival of the Atlantic salmon cannot continue. The first
is salmon farming as currently practised on both sides of the Atlantic which,
beyond any doubt, is causing serious damage to wild salmon and sea trout in the
aquaculture zones.”
From
Andrew Zimmern writing in The
Huffington Post:
“Instead
of farmed imported salmon, try eating small fish, whole, with the heads, and do
so seasonally. From mackerel to trout to sardines, weaning ourselves off of the
luxury fish makes sense environmentally, ecologically, economically and
culturally. By making just these small changes, we will ease the pressure off of those
commodity farms, and by voting with our wallets and our mouths we send a large
message to all of Big Ag and Big Food.”
From
Alexandra Morton and Professor Richard Routledge on winning the Sterling
Prize in Support of Controversy at Simon Fraser University (24 October):
“What
they don’t understand is the more we get attacked the higher our credibility
rises,” says Morton. “I simply remain
dedicated to using science to measure and define the impact of farm salmon
pathogens on wild salmon. My observations suggest the impact is very serious
and government is afraid to do anything about it.”
“The
controversy has been very counterproductive,” says Routledge whom fish farmers
have labeled an activist. “It has delayed vitally important regulatory changes
that are needed if we are to reduce the currently unacceptable risks to the
preservation of abundant runs of wild Pacific salmon.”
From
The
Courier-Islander (26 October):
"Right
now, we are providing our customers with a continuous supply of BAP certified
salmon," says Clare Backman, Sustainable Programs Director at Marine
Harvest Canada. "We are delighted that our feed supplier has also achieved
BAP certification, as this is a key element of sustainable production that will
be welcomed by our valued customers."
From
Fish
Update (24 October):
“An
investigation is continuing into the cause of a sickness which
saw staff in the processing plant of a west coast of Scotland fish farm walk
out over fears for their health. Staff
at Scottish Sea Farms site in Connel, left their posts on October 11 after
feeling ill and coughing and vomiting.
One Scottish Sea Farms employee, who did not wish to be named, said the
sickness had been ongoing for ‘two to three’ weeks.
He said: ‘Everyone in the processing area is
coughing, vomiting and feeling like their chest is tight. Over 20 people are
feeling ill on a daily basis. There is
usually at least seven people off per day. We tried to talk to bosses but were
told it is because people smoke but some of the people getting ill don’t
smoke.’”
From The
Sunday Herald (28 October):
“The revelation the plant had been investigated
earlier by the FDA has sparked fierce criticism from an anti-fish farming
campaigner. "It's now official – salmon farming makes people sick,"
said Don Staniford, from the Global Alliance Against Industrial Aquaculture. "I'd rather eat my own vomit than eat
Scottish farmed salmon. The ugly truth is that consumers should avoid farmed
salmon like the plague. Cheap and nasty farmed salmon leaves a bad taste in the
mouth."
Staniford
claimed it must be "stomach-churning" for staff at the Argyll plant
to discover the FDA had warned that its fish could be harmful to health. "Scottish
farmed salmon, like cigarettes, should carry a government health warning,"
he argued.”
Support
Alexandra Morton’s testing for salmon diseases – please donate online here now!
Sign
a petition calling on supermarkets to stop selling disease-ridden farmed salmon
– sign online here!
Best
fishes,
Don
Read previous Global News Updates online here
Global News Archive:
Global News Updates include the 'Salmon
Wars' raging against filthy feedlots in Canada, Chile, Norway, Scotland,
Ireland, New Zealand, United States and Australia:
28 October – “Deadline Looms”/“Mystery
Illness”/“Mass Sickness”/“Not Defamatory Enough” – online here
23 October – “Halt Fish Farm Growth”/“Disease Hits Cermaq”/“Like Cancer”/“Is Truth a Tactic?”- online here
19 October – “Sobeys Yanks Salmon”/”Sea Lice Scare!”/“Death Toll Rises”/“Direct Action Vs. New Fish Farm” – online here
18 October – “Teen
Fights Salmon Farms”/“Lawsuit Threat”/“Cermaq Appeal”/”Health Indicators
Worsen” – online here
15 October – “Sicko
Salmon”/“Farms & Disease”/“PR Disaster”/“Passionate Pleas” – online
here
3 October –
“Salmonella Outbreak”/Activist Wins”/“Boaties Protest”/“Lynch Mob” - online
here
28 September –
“Judgment Day”/“Salmon Sludge Fouls Hearing”/“Students Oppose Farms” - online
here
24
September – “Flotilla Protest”/“Shooting Seals Row”/“Farm Not
Welcome” – online
here
11 September –
“Dirty Secrets”/“FishyLeaks: Toxic Toilets”/“Disease Risk” - online
here
29 August – “Virus
Trackers”/“Compensation Culture”/“Say No to 9 New Salmon Farms” - online
here
8 August – “Legal
Strategy”/“Wave of Controversy”/“IHN Virus” – online
here
3 August – “Fatal Virus Detected in BC”/“Fish Farm
Quarantined” – online
here
31 July – “IHN Virus Spreads”/“Norway’s Olympic Mascot”/”Playing With
Fire” – online here
20 July – “Norwegian Fish Farm Virus Found in BC”/”ISA Confirmed”/“A
Fishy Tale” – online
here
17 July – “FishyLeaks”/“ISA in BC”/“Scotland’s Secrets” – online
here
13 July – “Aquaculture PR Wars”/“Beware Mother Nature”/“Trouble
Brewing” – online
here
11 July – "Salmon Wars Are Here"/"Smoking
Gun"/"Canada disease cleanup" – online
here
9 July –
"Killer Panda"/"Quarantined Salmon to be Destroyed"/"PR
War Waged" – online
here!
6 July – "CFIA quarantines fish farm"/"Parasite found in
Norwegian-owned salmon" – online
here!
4 July – "Parasite-ridden salmon sold in BC stores"/"95%
of BC salmon is BAP certified" – online
here!