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Greenpeace has issued an update to their report ranking US retailers on their sustainability initiatives. As salmon farmers, we recognize the importance of managing our farm operations in a sustainable way.  It is important to ensure that our customers have accurate information. To assist, this fact sheet highlights key concerns raised in the Greenpeace report, and the key actions already under management by the Canada’s west coast salmon farming industry.

Issue #1. Nutrient Pollution

Greenpeace claim: “Organic wastes from fish or crustacean farming include uneaten food, fecal matter, urine and dead fish.”

The facts:

• In British Columbia, Finfish Aquaculture Waste Control Regulations administered by the Ministry of the Environment ensure monitoring at critical times, such as peak biomass or prior to smolt-entry, to ensure that environmental parameter levels do not exceed the limits set under the regulations.

• West Coast salmon farmers employ state-of-the art feed monitoring systems that use real-time technology, such as underwater cameras, to measure uneaten feed and adjust feed delivery to the appetite of the salmon.

• Regular dives at farm sites ensure that fish mortalities are removed from the pen for disposal at fish composting facilities

Greenpeace claim: “Impacts of nutrient pollution, whatever the source of nutrients, can include foaming and murky seawater; low dissolved oxygen levels; killing of wild fish or farmed fish or seabed animals; increased abundance of micro-algae leading to harmful algal blooms; and changes in marine food chains.”

The facts:

• West Coast salmon farmers are closely regulated for environmental quality. BC Salmon Farmers are required to submit an elaborate and costly environmental review for each new farm site under the federal Navigable Waters Protection Act, Fisheries Act and Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, as well as the provincial Ministry of the Environment administered Finfish Aquaculture Waste Control Regulation.

• Ocean floor impacts are minimized by site selection that favours higher current and deeper hard-bottomed sites.

Greenpeace claim: “In coastal areas, salmon farms are often placed in important coastal fish spawning and nursery areas, and thus farms can therefore have a negative impact on local productivity, fisheries and livelihoods.”

The facts:

• In British Columbia, all approvals for salmon farms are subject to an intensive environmental review, including a thorough analysis of impact on other fisheries and habitats according to rigorous federal and provincial government standards. To view the “Guide to Information Requirements to Apply for New Finfish Aquaculture Sites and Facilities” as well as the “Management Plan Form” click here.

• Salmon farming in British Columbia utilizes the three pillars of sustainability (environmental, economic and social) as its framework for daily operation and ongoing development. Salmon farming is the largest agricultural export in British Columbia with an economic output of over $800 million in 2006. The BC salmon farming industry employs over 6,000 people with the majority of jobs located in the smaller coastal communities that have been hardest hit by reduced employment opportunities in traditional resource industries.

Issue #2. Effects on the Seabed

Greenpeace claim: “Significant impacts have been reported to extend up to 100 meters from cages…”

The facts:

• On Canada’s West Coast, farm siting processes require environmental assessments to ensure that farms are not located in areas of sensitive habitat.

• British Columbia salmon farmers regularly fallow farm sites, similar to crop rotation, to allow the ocean-floor to naturally decompose the waste – this process that can take anywhere from several weeks to a few months.

• The impacts of salmon farming are short-lived, in part because nets and other structures that make up the farms are portable. The effects on the ocean bottom begin to naturally reverse as soon as the fish are fully harvested from a site.

• The area impacted by salmon farms is quite small. Effects diminish rapidly as one moves away from the farm pens, and there are no effects once a distance of between 30 and 225 meters from the pens is reached (Burd, 1997; Brooks, 2001).

• Underwater cameras at farm sites ensure that fish are fed only until full, thereby, reducing the amount of waste feed falling to the bottom. Considerable work has also been done to develop feeds that the fish can digest more efficiently, also resulting in less waste generation.

• Fisheries and Oceans Canada confirms that the area affected by wastes is generally limited to the area directly beneath the net pen, or in the immediate vicinity. In most cases, the area returns to a neutral state within months of harvesting the fish. (http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/aquaculture/sheet_feuillet/waste_e.htm)

Issue #3. Effects on Algae

Greenpeace claim: “…as a result of nutrient pollution, in combination with other poorly understood factors, may lead to dense ‘algal blooms’ …”

The facts:

• On Canada’s West Coast salmon farms can be affected by algae blooms, but they are generally not the cause of them. The amount of algae-supporting nutrients generated by a salmon farm is generally negligible compared to the natural nutrient levels in BC waters (Burd, 1997).

• Nutrients added by a farm are so small in comparison that they are usually undetectable within 10 to 30 meters from the farm site. Several studies and environmental reviews have looked at the effect of salmon farms on algae blooms and have concluded that there is no evidence that farms cause harmful algae blooms (Burd, 1997).

• Several farm companies participate in HAMP, the Harmful Algae Monitoring Program, which is coordinated by the Pacific Biological Station (a Fisheries and Oceans Canada facility).

Issue #4. Escaped Farmed Salmon

Greenpeace claim: Farm-raised salmon “can compete with wild salmon for food and space putting pressure on wild populations. Moreover they can interbreed with wild populations.”

The facts:

• Improved farming techniques have reduced escapes dramatically. There have been no significant escapes in the past five years. All escapes must be reported and that information is made public. To find out more about the Atlantic Salmon Watch Program, cooperatively operated by Fisheries and Oceans Canada and BC’s Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, click here.

• Farmed salmon live a pampered life. All of their needs are met; they are protected from predators and are fed as much food as they care to eat every day. A farmed salmon that escapes into the wild is poorly adapted for survival, and only small proportions of escaped salmon ever survive to be caught or found in rivers. Of the escaped Atlantic salmon recovered from BC waters, 94% have nothing in their stomachs (McKinnell, et al., 1997), clearly demonstrating their poor ability to obtain food.

• Specific measures to reduce escapes include: improved net management, better farm anchoring, and guidelines for vessel operation near farms. The BC Salmon Farmers Association developed its own Code of Practice with respect to escape prevention, setting out standards for minimum net strength, net testing, and escape-response plans. All BCSFA members adhere to the Code, and several of its sections have now been adopted as a regulatory requirement for all salmon farm operators in BC.

Issue #5. Disease and Parasitic Infestations

Greenpeace claim: “…there is evidence that disease incidence in wild populations has been increased by salmon farming.”

The facts:

• British Columbia salmon farmers expend a great deal of time, effort and resources to ensure they have healthy fish stocks.

• Farmers screen all their broodstock for disease, provide good water quality and nutritious feeds, and vaccinate the juvenile fish to stimulate their natural immune systems before they are brought to the ocean. Imported eggs undergo strict quarantine and multiple, redundant levels of protection and testing to ensure no exotic diseases are ever brought into BC.

• British Columbia farmed fish are generally healthy and have a much higher survival rate than wild stocks. The only diseases that have been recorded on BC salmon farms are diseases that naturally occur in native BC fish populations (Kent & Poppe, 1998; Stephen & Iwama, 1997).

• On Canada’s West Coast, sea lice (a natural parasite of salmon and many other fish species) levels are monitored bi-weekly or monthly to ensure that they do not become a health management concern for farmed fish or their wild counterparts. If the farmed salmon require treatment, a medicine, SLICE, is prescribed by a licensed veterinarian.

• In British Columbia, all fish health data is maintained and is audited by the BC Ministry of Agriculture. For information on Fish Health Management Plans or Sea Lice Monitoring click here.