Salmon Farming in the Broughton Archipelago – A Look at the Emotional Battle Zone

I had the opportunity to visit several research sites in the Broughton Archipelago yesterday. We flew in and around the area in a small Beaver airplane for most of the day and set down first at a farm site that is currently fallow, but where University researchers are looking at the physiology of juvenile pinks salmon infected with sea lice. These researchers are finding very little impact on swimming ability and overall fitness of fish infected by levels of lice previously reported to be lethal.

Next we stopped in at Echo Bay and took a boat up to a site where another research group, concerned that farms will result in the extinction of pinks salmon, were sampling wild fish and doing lice counts. Interestingly, these researchers are finding few juvenile pink and chum salmon, as well as very few lice on the wild fish.

Lastly, we flew down to Well’s Passage and boarded a DFO contracted vessel and went for a seine to see what was happening with the juvenile pink and chum salmon and see what lice levels were showing up on the fish. They have been having difficulty capturing fish this year compared to other years, and what they do catch is virtually lice free.

It was a fascinating trip that left me without any particularly different feelings towards the industry than I have ever had. Systems are far more complex than the black and white picture the media and some groups would like to have us believe. Are the farms causing the lice problems int he Broughton. I would argue no, they are certainly not , and several separate, independant groups, including some of the researchers that have been the bell ringers, are not finding the link they thought they would.

I was glad to finally get a chance to visit the region and take a look for myself. There are those who would have us all believe that there are wall to wall farms that plug the waterways. The reality is quite different from what is painted for us. The farms are few and far between in the region and the footprint is surprisingly small, particularly when you compare them to the coverage and fallout from the log booms that litter our coastline.

However, the salmon are losing ground in the wild, and the reasons extend far beyond the easy target of an industry that some have had a vendetta against since its inception. Perhaps we need to examine our own personal habits and misuse of the environment before we look for easy scapegoats. Our daily dependence on harsh cleaning chemicals, detergents, antibiotics and garbage that end up in our water systems via toilet, landfill, or sheer negligence is inexcusable and we all need to think a little more consciously about what goes into the environment…both for its health and our own.