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An Extract From –
Whales don't eat farm salmon why should we?
By Alexandra Morton, a whale researcher based in Simoom Sound, B.C
As I scanned the horizon looking for whales, a strange steel structure slipped passed my field of view. Closer scrutiny revealed floating pens used to raise salmon. It was a fish farm. Good idea, I thought to myself, raise domestic salmon for us and leave the wild ones for the whales.
But I was wrong. In a few short years the farms multiplied and the whales vanished. Wild salmon populations crashed and the pristine waters of the Broughton Archipelago turned red. Another ecosystem was dying.
I am a killer whale researcher. In 1984, I found the perfect place to study whales year round - an intricate cluster of islands called the Broughton Archipelago, on the west coast of Canada. I moved here fourteen years ago with my three-year-old son to begin the fascinating process of understanding whale communication.
First I lived on a boat, then a floating house, and now a tiny homestead surrounded by my vegetable gardens. My research broke new ground as I spent my life watching orca as they slept, foraged and played.
Then in 1993, the salmon farms began broadcasting very loud sounds underwater to repel seals. Although the sounds caused them pain, the seals continued attacking the sluggish domesticated fish.
The orca, however, who do not consider farm salmon edible, were repelled by the wall of noise.
Acoustic harassment devices are becoming popular with salmon farmers around the world, forcing whales out of increasingly large areas of essential coastal habitat. "Dispersing" whales violates the Canadian Fisheries Act, but I have been unable to inspire the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) to uphold its own Act.
My research ground to a halt when the whales departed.
Whales are not the only species impacted by salmon farms. The gunfire of farmers killing seals, sea lions, otters, herons, and even porpoise worries visitors and residents alike. They are afraid of being shot. Firing high-powered rifles over the water is outlawed because bullets skip unimpeded for long distances, however an exception has been made for this industry.
In 1994 we saw our first toxic algae bloom as the waste pouring out of the farms fed a deadly organism called Heterosigma. No one dared get wet as the crimson stain spread. While Japanese research reports toxic blooms are common near fish farms, DFO said the bloom was unrelated to the exponential increase in farm sites.
Who are these farmers and why are they allowed to defy Canadian laws and threaten human health? They are multinational corporations such as Weston Foods and Stolt-Nielsen, a chemical tanker corporation.
If farm fish can replace wild fish in the market, wild salmon habitat will be auctioned off. Wild salmon need more than politicians can afford to give them. They require functioning ecosystems - the same ones the wealthiest powers on earth are hungrily vying for.
Learn from the whales: Farm salmon is not food.
Click here to link to
Displacement of Orcinus orca (L.) by high amplitude sound in BC
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