Debate continues as farmed salmon enter rivers

The controversy over the escape of approximately 100,000 farmed salmon, following sabotage at two fish farms off Deer Island in November, and their possible interaction with wild salmon in the rivers is continuing.

Following the escape of the fish, Atlantic Salmon Federation (ASF) researchers have recovered 45 farmed salmon from four streams and rivers in Charlotte County at the height of spawning season for wild salmon. ASF reports that 43 of the salmon are definitely sexually mature.

"The record needs to be set straight," says ASF's President Bill Taylor. "These 100,000 plus farmed escapees recently released from Cooke Aquaculture have the potential to greatly harm wild salmon, especially those that are already struggling for survival in the Bay of Fundy and Gulf of Maine rivers."

However, Nell Halse, director of communications for Cooke Aquaculture, maintains that the majority of fish in the pens from the two fish farms were not sexually mature. "There may be a small percentage that were mature," she says. She notes that out of the 100,000 fish that escaped, only 45 were collected in the rivers. "It is a serious concern," she says. "But it's not surprising some were mature and went up the rivers."

Halse met recently in Maine with representatives of the Atlantic Salmon Federation, the Atlantic Salmon Commission and Maine government agencies to discuss the issue. "I asked them to provide information to us and advice on how to solve this crime," adds Halse. "The whole community needs to work together to solve this issue."

The debate has also included discussion about whether the offspring of farmed and wild fish would be able to survive. ASF points to research released in 2003 by Dr. Philip McGinnity of the Marine Institute and Professor Andy Ferguson of the School of Biology and Biochemistry, Queen's University, Belfast, Ireland. Their research concluded that "as a result of domestication over several generations, genetic changes have reduced the capability of farm salmon to survive in the wild, especially during the marine phase. Overall, farm salmon showed an estimated lifetime success of 2% of that of native wild salmon. In the second generation of hybrids, some 70% of the embryos died in the first few weeks." They also concluded that "genetic changes leading to reduced survival in the wild is a feature of all domesticated salmon and trout and consequently hybrids between farm and wild fish also have reduced survival."

However, Halse notes that some people argue that since the wild stocks are so low, farmed salmon should be allowed to breed with wild fish. And she notes that ASF previously stocked in the rivers salmon from many different sources. Taylor, though, argues that over the past 25 years, and many generations of salmon, fish farmers have genetically changed the make-up of the farmed salmon through selective breeding. The instincts needed for survival in the wild have been replaced with passivity and faster growth, characteristics needed to get them to market more quickly.

"Let the scientists work this out, and we'll try to keep the fish in the cages," Halse comments on the risks of interaction between wild and farmed fish. Cooke Aquaculture has increased security and surveillance at its sites to prevent any future sabotage, but Taylor says, "This is welcome, but it is like closing the barn door after the horse has escaped."
According to Halse, very few if any fish that escaped were recovered by the company. By the time Cooke Aquaculture had obtained a license from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to try and capture the fish a day and a half had passed since the incident, and the fish had disappeared.

Taylor says that ASF does not have the resources "to work on all the rivers and streams that flow into the Gulf of Maine and the Bay of Fundy, where dozens, maybe hundreds, more escapees will enter and swim upstream. The obvious question is: What are government and the industry doing to mitigate this environmental disaster? The public would like to know, but government continues to operate behind closed doors with no sense of obligation to report.

No leads yet
So far there are no leads in the investigation of who cut the nets at the two fish farms off Deer Island on the night of November 9-10. Along with the RCMP's team of investigators, Cooke Aquaculture and its insurance company have hired private investigators to look into the sabotage. The company has issued a $125,000 (Canadian) reward for information leading to the conviction of the individual responsible. The reward is divided up by the four incidents of sabotage. Two Cooke Aquaculture sites were hit in August and two in November.

"We're getting a lot support from the community," says Halse. "They're saying they would give us the information without the reward. Everyone wants this never to happen again."