Transcript
Speaker: Hello and welcome to today's episode of Red Eye. I'm Jane Williams. In this episode, Lorentzism talks with Dan Lewis of Clockwork Action about the need to ban fish farms on the west coast of B .C. At the beginning of March, the annual wild salmon juvenile out migration period begins.
Speaker: At this moment in Clackwood Sound, when the young fish are heading out to sea, they're coming under threat by a mega fish farm operated in their waters by the global corporation, CIRMAC. There's been a long fight against salmon farms in BC waters, and recently we've seen some success in closing them down. But the fight is not over, and the continued existence of wild salmon is at stake. I'm joined by Dan Lewis. He's executive director of Clackwood Action. Hello, Dan. Really great to talk to you again.
Speaker: Good morning, Lorraine. Now, before we dive into what's happening in Clackwick, can you bring us up to speed on where there have been winds on closing salmon farms? Yeah, for sure. There's some serious momentum towards getting fish farms out of the water. 10 years ago, the industry wanted to expand fourfold.
Speaker: 2017 saw an occupation of a fish farm up near Alert Bay. That led to the province negotiating with the Nam Geese First Nation and the nations that live up that way. And they agreed to phase out about 20 fish farms. That phase out would be ending this year. There's two farms left in the Broughton Archipelago at the north end of Vancouver Island. And then in 2019, the federal Liberal Party promised to remove salmon farms from B .C. waters by 2025.
Speaker: And they've been working hard at doing that. Last year, all the licenses in BC came up for renewal. They were only renewed for two years instead of six years. So for a major industry like this, that's a significant signal that things are changing.
Speaker: So the minister will have her plan complete by this June. And this is a really crucial time to be having our voices heard. And just about a week or two ago, she canceled 15 more licenses near Campbell River, right at that choke point where all the salmon coming out of the Fraser River past Vancouver, they have to swim up
Speaker: through the narrow channel between Vancouver Island and the mainland to get to Alaska. And there's 15 fish farms in that narrow area there, the Discovery Islands, that were just removed by the Minister. And what she said was that her job is to protect wild salmon and she has to take a precautionary approach when the science isn't certain.
Speaker: So Washington State just banned fish farms from their waters, and the seashelf First Nation just banned fish farms from their waters. So now British Columbia is the only jurisdiction on the west coast of North America with opened up hen salmon farms in the water. Well, this is some really good news. Last September, I had the absolutely incredible experience and joy of watching wolves fishing salmon at dawn.
Speaker: in a river estuary on Northern Vancouver Island. Why should we care about wild salmon so much? Well, you know, that must have been amazing to see that I've never witnessed that myself. Our logo is a painting done by someone who witnessed that. But you know, yes, salmon are the backbone of the BC coast. And so even for people who live in the cities, people who might be vegetarian,
Speaker: You know, the salmon are crucial for everybody on the coast from people, First Nations, eagles, bears, wolves. There's about a hundred different species that rely on salmon in the fall. So they're crucial for everything. And of course, the problem is that wild salmon are in collapse. The numbers are at historical lows, and every year they smash the records for
Speaker: going lower again. So, you know, here in Clackwood Sound, we're in a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. We have protected rainforests. We have beautiful habitat for these fish. And still, our salmon populations are collapsing. And so it's pretty obvious that it's the fish farms that are doing it. And I'm quite confident that we will get them out. And the day they come out, we're already seeing wild salmon coming back in the discoveries and brotins not covered in sea lice. So we know what will happen when the farms come out.
Speaker: So let's dig into what the problem is with fish farms. I know we've talked about this before, but what's the problem with sea lice at the farms and how does it threaten wild salmon?
Speaker: Yeah, so sea lice are just a little parasite that live in the water. They're natural. But in nature, when the salmon come back to spawn, they might have a few lice on them. But when they enter the rivers, sea lice can't live in fresh water. So they fall off and they die. So next spring, right about this time of year, when the eggs are hatching and the little wee fish come down to the ocean,
Speaker: In nature there would be no sea lice around and so nobody to attack them right now we have fish farms each farm has around half a million fish they often have three or more lice per fish so you know a million or more lice per farm is not at all unusual and the baby salmon they literally don't have scales.
Speaker: They have nothing to protect them from these sea lice and so the sea lice dig into them and they just can't survive. You know, if you see a baby salmon with more than two or three lice on it, it's not going to make it. Let's turn our focus to Clockwork Sand right now. Last year there was a count of lice at Cermax Farm. What do we know about that situation?
Speaker: Yeah, so one of their farms had 14 lice per fish that was counted by a DFO vet. She reported it and said this looks like a violation. The Ministry, the Department of Fisheries did some very fancy footwork and they rewrote the regulations and it looks like they might have applied them retroactively to say that the farm was in compliance. DFO hasn't really answered that question yet.
Speaker: still waiting to hear. They're telling us to be patient. Well, they try to figure out which law was in effect last March the 2nd. But the farm exceeded the LICE limits by, that's five times over the limit. And rather than being penalized for that, they were rewarded with an expansion permit. So they've actually been allowed to make that farm 50 % bigger.
Speaker: Is there an explanation for how CIRMC was permitted to expand their operations when other operations are being closed down and it appears they were in violation of regulations that protect wild salmon?
Speaker: Well, I mean, what's happening from the industry perspective, CIRMAC doesn't have many other fish farms left because they've lost their farms in the discoveries and rodents. So they are moving infrastructure over. We're seeing houses show up with the names of fish farms from the other side of the island. We're seeing the farms getting bigger. Basically, if CIRMAC can't expand their production in Clackwood Sound, they won't be able to be economically viable. So that's why they want to expand. From the ministry side,
Speaker: I think that we've really kind of caught them here because their own vet said that the lice were at 14 lice per fish and yet they expanded that farm. And what they did was they did it by saying, well, this farm is in compliance because if the new regulations had been in effect, there was a loophole that they wouldn't have had to count them. So it's this weird
Speaker: bureaucratic juggling where they're saying, we wouldn't have had to count them if the new regs had been in effect, so therefore they were in compliance and therefore they can expand. What kind of questions does this raise about how the DFO is dealing with this threat to wild salmon?
Speaker: Well, this is, yeah, this is the ministry, not the minister. So the minister, Minister Joyce Murray is a west coaster. She's from Vancouver. And, you know, she very clearly understands what's at stake. And she is actually fighting really hard for wild salmon right now. People need to know that and we need to have her back.
Speaker: Where is the ministry they are a captured regulator. They believe that their boss is not the minister but the industry and they do what the industry wants them to do. That happens in a lot of different ministries across the board but DFO in particular is a very bad example or I guess a good example of a captured regulator where they are not really listening to government or listening to the industry.
Speaker: Dan, I don't really know if this is a fair question, but I actually went to CIRMAC site just very briefly this morning. And they say right up front, CIRMAC is a leading global salmon producer driving transition of our food system towards healthier and more climate friendly food. What do you say? It's just all lies. You know, we go out and we look at these fish farms on a weekly basis.
Speaker: And the more I go up there, the more I see, the more horrified I am. Like right now, there are sea lions trapped in one of Cermak's farm. They've been there for three months, and they have not been able to get them out of there. This is an ongoing problem. But this is a global industry. It's food ink.
Speaker: And they don't care about the impacts on the environment to produce the food. And, you know, they actually use pictures of fish farms in clockwood sound to sell their product. Because when you look at the fish farm floating on the surface, it doesn't look that bad. There's beautiful mountains, clean rivers.
Speaker: It looks pretty good, but when you go under the water and you start to see the sea lice, the pathogens, the actual salmon sewage, and just all the other impacts, this industry is, there's no question in my mind, they are about to kill off the last of our wild salmon if we let them.
Speaker: Well, I understand that this is a critical time of year for the juvenile salmon, but also we're at a critical point for when we can put pressure on the government to end fish farming. How and where do we need to put that pressure? It's really support. We need to be supporting Minister Joyce Murray. And I think the way to do that is by emailing her, writing her, phoning, dropping by her office if you live in her in her writing.
Speaker: and just making some noise. There's a lot of challenges in our world. It's pretty overwhelming when you start listening to the news, but this is one that's gonna matter a lot in the future for British Columbia, for everybody here, including the First Nations that are in these occupied territories. And we actually are winning. We have an opportunity here. Sometimes you think, if I click on that petition, will it really matter? And right now, it really does matter. Every petition, every click is being counted.
Speaker: and they're being used to justify the minister making some hard decisions for this industry. Well, I know there's a link to write that letter right at the bottom of your recent blog post on your website, and I wrote it in less than 20 seconds, and I am a slow typist. Brilliant. Yeah, we have a website, claquentaction .org, and the web page is Take Action, and we've made it super easy to get your voice heard.
Speaker: I'll endorse the super easy part. Yeah. Well, you know, I think in a democracy, one of the, uh, you know, typically people give their power away by believing that their voice doesn't matter. And that's what the power holders want you to believe. And that's where they want you sitting at home, feeling alone, feeling like I can't do anything. But, uh, you know, this is the time to, to ignore that kind of messaging and get active and, and, uh, make your voice heard.
Speaker: Well, thank you so much for joining me and for all your work on this. It's always a real pleasure to talk to you, Dan. Well, I look forward to the interview when we can celebrate the last farm coming out of Clackwood Sound. Thanks, Lorraine. Okay. We're going to do it. Cheers. I've been speaking with Dan Lewis. He's Executive Director of Clackwood Action, and you can find their website at clackwoodaction .org. I'm Lorraine Chisholm.
Speaker: The Red Eye Collective is based in Vancouver. You can check us out at coopradio .org slash redeye.
