Check environmental impact of fish farms

Re: “Fish farms get four more years to win First Nations approval,” June 20.

Allowing four years to get agreement from First Nations leaves the industry to continue to carry on, with time to buy out First Nations if they can.

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But the real issue is impacts on the ocean and the salmon. These impacts are what caused most of the concern.

The fish farms need to be out of the water. Representing the B.C. Wildlife Federation, my position to government is that they be “terrestrial with closed systems.” I have been involved with fish farms since the came into B.C. about 30 years ago and their record is not good from an environmental position. We know that the science is in and fish farms need to be out of the water.

It is not just B.C. The industry has been a disaster wherever it has operated. In Norway, because of water-borne diseases that spread to wild salmon, they flooded 24 rivers with the pesticide Rotenone.

The fish-farm industry collapsed in Chile. I watched a documentary on towns there that had fish farms that are now destitute, left with the remains of what was a thriving industry.

I also have in my files a letter from the government of Scotland to the British parliament complaining that the fish farms around the north of Scotland put more pollution into the ocean than do the five million residents of Scotland.

Ed Mankelow

Past president

B.C. Wildlife Federation

Chemainus

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