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Index of Subjects
>> exclusively under salmon pens; some may be abou
Thanks Dave P. & John. Good to learn about an objective study & hear from
the voice of experience. Start small is sound advice when doing something
new.
Perhaps the underlying problem is that both the wild fishery and salmon
farming can be too darn profitable ! A friend of Alison's from the Shetland
Islands lamented about 10 years ago that it was difficult to keep young men
in school there when they can earn enough in the fishery (no need for high
school) to retire by 30 or so.
Yt, DW
----- Original Message -----
From: "John and Nhung" <nhungjohn@eastlink.ca>
To: <naturens@chebucto.ns.ca>
Sent: Sunday, November 04, 2012 10:57 AM
Subject: RE: [NatureNS] re West coast:Fw: Farmed Salmon
> To: all
>
> From: John Sollows
>
> Date: Nov. 4/12
>
> (Hi, Dave!)
>
> Cannot resist chiming in, having spent most of my working life involved
> with
> low-tech aquaculture for the benefit of the poor in less favoured
> societies.
>
> I never did like salmonid culture much for two reasons: (1) Salmonids are
> carnivorous, so my vision of aquaculture as a reliever of pressure on wild
> stocks is not likely to be realized by culture of same. More the reverse.
> (2) My vision of aquaculture as a producer of high-quality protein for
> poor
> people is similarly not likely to be met by salmonids, which are
> relatively
> pricey.
>
> Thirty years ago, I didn't foresee sufficiently the potential of
> large-scale
> farms to pollute, but did feel very uncomfortable about introduction of
> Atlantic salmon to B.C. because they were exotics , with all the invasive
> potential that that might imply.
>
> I belong to an environmental group which does not support cage culture of
> salmonids and I personally support that stand. But more importantly, I
> feel
> strongly opposed to the rapid expansion currently underway. A few cages
> in
> an embayment may cause no noticeable harm, but things can change
> enormously
> if the size of the operation is increased tenfold, and I find proposals to
> drop tens of cages into virgin sites foolhardy and irresponsible. The
> sermon I always preached to anyone considering aquaculture always included
> the following: "Start small," and that should apply as strongly here as
> in
> the Third World.
>
> Isn't this just common sense, or am I missing something? And common sense
> aside, horror stories exist already of what may happen after an operation
> gets very large. We can argue till the cows come home about whether or
> not
> subsequent disasters are due to overly rapid expansion, and the naysayers
> can (somewhat disingenuously) shout that there is no evidence that there
> is
> a cause-and-effect relationship, but sometimes, common sense and
> experience
> similar to those discussed in the paper you quote, Dave, should carry the
> day.
>
> Time to shut up, for now!
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca [mailto:naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca]
> On Behalf Of David Patriquin
> Sent: November-04-12 10:03 AM
> To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca; James W. Wolford
> Cc: NatureNS
> Subject: Re: [NatureNS] re West coast:Fw: Farmed Salmon
>
> The paper by by Ford and Myers 2008 is relevant: "Since the late 1980s,
> wild salmon catch and abundance have declined dramatically in the North
> Atlantic and in much of the northeastern Pacific south of Alaska. In these
> areas, there has been a concomitant increase in the production of farmed
> salmon. Previous studies have shown negative impacts on wild salmonids,
> but
> these results have been difficult to translate into predictions of change
> in
> wild population survival and abundance. We compared marine survival of
> salmonids in areas with salmon farming to adjacent areas without farms in
> Scotland, Ireland, Atlantic Canada, and Pacific Canada to estimate changes
> in marine survival concurrent with the growth of salmon aquaculture.
> Through
> a meta-analysis of existing data, we show a reduction in survival or
> abundance of Atlantic salmon; sea trout; and pink, chum, and coho salmon
> in
> association with increased production of farmed salmon. In many cases,
> these
> reductions in survival or abundance are greater than 50%. Meta-analytic
> estimates of the mean effect are significant and negative, suggesting that
> salmon farming has reduced survival of wild salmon and trout in many
> populations and countries." The effects were largest for the Bay of Fundy.
>
> Jennifer S. Ford*, Ransom A. Myers? A Global Assessment of Salmon
> Aquaculture Impacts on Wild Salmonids 2008 in PlosBiology - the full paper
> is available here:
> http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.00600
> 33
>
>
>
>
> Quoting "James W. Wolford" <jimwolford@eastlink.ca>:
>
>> Interesting notes, Dave, and I'm responding off the top of my biased
>> head from that West, namely central B.C. I am biased about
>> open-net- pen salmon farming which is so wrong in so many ways. But I
>> think we in the East have a lot to learn from the history and
>> experiences of the salmon-farming industry in New Brunswick, about
>> which we in Nova Scotia seldom hear much, even from CBC News and
>> Maritime Noon etc. There is a lot of knowledge and expertise in
>> the Conservation Council of New Brunswick, especially Inka Milewsky?
>> who traveled to Shelburne in attempt to let the people in SW NS
>> communities the on-going environmental effects of salmon feedlots.
>> Also the history of the Inner Bay of Fundy Salmon should be somewhat
>> instructive in the chronology of the sharp demise from
>> 40,000 adults in various rivers in 1989? to less than 200 (100?) now.
>> (Figures from a sign in Miner's Marsh in Kentville from the Atlantic
>> Salmon Federation et al.) Finally, Jim Gourlay, who published the
>> magazine Eastern Woods and Waters for a long time, is very
>> knowledgeable about wild salmon as well as the history of salmon
>> farming in the Bay of Fundy.
>>
>> Cheers? from Jim in Burn's Lake, B.C.
>> --------------------
>>
>> Begin forwarded message:
>>
>>> From: David & Alison Webster <dwebster@glinx.com>
>>> Date: November 3, 2012 9:10:52 PM ADT
>>> To: NatureNS@chebucto.ns.ca
>>> Subject: [NatureNS] West coast:Fw: Farmed Salmon
>>> Reply-To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
>>>
>>> Dear All, Nov 3, 2012
>>> Further to my e-mail of June 9, I happened recently to run into
>>> an article about salmon on the West Coast (Natural History 104(9):
>>> 2