| 40,000 Atlantic salmon escaped into British Columbia's waters from a Gilford Island fish farm last week, after an accident occurred while workers were removing dead fish from two pens. The accident? A hole in the net.
As if that wasn't enough of a problem, it seems that the company may have taken their emergency response procedures directly from FEMA's playbook, circa 2005 -
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."
Marine Harvest, the company who runs this particular salmon farm, has also been responsible for other major previous escapes. Escaped farm fish have been found in 80 rivers in the province, and over 100,000 farmed salmon escaped into British Columbia's waters in 2008. Gilford Island, where the escape occurred, is also home to a large First Nations population, many of whom rely upon subsistence fishing in the area.
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. |
