timescolonist.com
Gillnetters near Sointula report catching Atlantic salmon.
A recovery vessel working for a fish-farming company recovered about 1,100 escaped Atlantic salmon yesterday, and will continue working over the weekend to catch more of the estimated 40,000 escaped fish.
The salmon got out late Wednesday evening after crews, using a pump system and pipe, removed dead fish from the two pens at Port Elizabeth on Gilford Island, said Clare Backman, director of environmental relations for Marine Harvest Canada.
The fish died because of low oxygen levels in the water, a phenomenon that occurs intermittently in the area, Backman said. "It was during that process that a hole in the net occurred," he said.
But the recapture vessel was not able to start fishing until Thursday and by that time, gillnetters in areas such as Sointula, about 40 kilometres from the Broughton Archipelago, were reporting catches of Atlantic salmon.
"The response time really troubles me," said Chief Bob Chamberlin of the nearby Kwicksutaineuk-Ah-Kwaw-Ah-Mish band.
"One of the only reasons we found out was because a commercial fishery was going on and they were catching Atlantics."
Chamberlin, who is also secretary-treasurer of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, an organization that's pushing for more First Nations involvement as regulation of fish farms passes from the provincial to the federal government in February, said assurances from the industry that Atlantic salmon won't affect Pacific salmon have been proved wrong.
"Where are these fish landing? Are they going into our rivers?" Chamberlin asked.
Will Soltau, salmon-farm campaign co-ordinator for Living Oceans Society, said despite initial assurances that Atlantic salmon could not survive or breed in B.C. waters, escaped farm fish have been found in 80 B.C. rivers. Populations of juvenile Atlantic salmon have been found in three rivers, including the Tsitika, in the same area as the latest escape.
"This demonstrates, once again, the urgent need to transition all open net-cage farms to closed containment systems," Soltau said. "This will be a major financial loss to the company and another blow to the health of our marine ecosystems and wild-salmon population."
Marine Harvest has been responsible for several major escapes in the last two years, but instead of moving to closed containment, the company puts Band-Aids -- such as improving net strength -- on 20th century technology, Soltau said.
However, Backman said most escaped Atlantic salmon either starve or are eaten by seals and sea lions. The escape will cost the company hundreds of thousands of dollars, since the fish weighed an average of 4.7 kilograms and were ready to be harvested, he said.
"We don't have a full count yet of the number of fish which escaped, but the loss will be significant." The escape was immediately reported to government and a company investigation is underway, Backman said.
Until this week's incident, Marine Harvest had seen only 19 escaped fish this year, he said. Escapes in the B.C. salmon-farming industry shrank to minimal numbers between 2003 and 2007, but shot up last year when more than 100,000 fish escaped, out of an annual total production of more than 35 million.
Source: timescolonist.com
