Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Ottawa opens door to fish farm expansion, and applications flood in

OTTAWA — The Harper government has quietly opened the door to a major expansion of B.C.’s controversial fish farm sector despite warnings by the 2012 Cohen Commission about the effects of net-based farms on wild salmon.

The decision, revealed to fish farmers by Fisheries Minister Gail Shea in October, was laid out in letters to several B.C. First Nations last week.

An official in Shea’s department said Wednesday that Ottawa has already received 11 applications for expansions or new farms.

Shea’s letter said applications will be accepted for everywhere except the Discovery Islands archipelago between Campbell River and the B.C. mainland.

Justice Bruce Cohen’s 2012 report on the 2009 collapse of the Fraser River sockeye run urged Ottawa to maintain a ban on new farms in that archipelago.

Critics say the lifting of the 2011 moratorium violates the spirit of the Cohen report and could cause disaster for wild salmon stocks. And they condemned the lack of transparency by the government.

DFO spokeswoman Melanie Carkner said Wednesday the government is reviewing nine applications to expand production at existing sites and two new sites, for a total increase of 16,640 tonnes of capacity. Tonnage refers to the peak weight of fish a farm is allowed to have in the water.

“All applications … will continue to be evaluated through the lens of environmental sustainability and engagement with First Nations and other stakeholders,” said Carkner, who added that Canada has “some of the strictest regulations” in the world.

The letter to First Nations last week refers to the first of the new applications.

Norwegian company Cermaq Canada Ltd. wants to dramatically expand capacity, to 460 tonnes from 10 tonnes, at its Cypress Harbour broodstock facility in the Broughton Archipelago, a fish farm-heavy area near the northeast end of Vancouver Island. Cypress Harbour provides eggs and sperm for fish farms and Cermaq says they want to move production to this site from other operations.

Shea’s letter said the government is not putting wild stocks at risk. “Our government is committed to protecting and conserving fish habitat in support of coastal and inland fisheries resources.”

But critics said Wednesday Shea’s decision overlooks Cohen’s warning about the risks of fish farms, a warning that applies to all B.C. salmon stocks even though the judge was limited to making recommendations relating to the Fraser sockeye.

“The decision to expand destructive aquaculture practices anywhere along B.C.’s coast is a huge betrayal of the concerns raised in the Cohen inquiry,” said Watershed Watch Salmon Society executive director Craig Orr.

“They’re not applying the principles in Cohen that led to that moratorium (for the Discovery Islands) to our territories,” said Chief Councillor Bob Chamberlain of the Kwikwasutinuxw Haxwa’mis First Nation, based on Gilford Island in the Broughton Archipelago.

Orr noted that coho and especially young pinks and chums are far less mature than the Fraser River sockeye when they pass by the area’s fish farms. He said the pinks and chums weigh on average “barely a gram” when they exit rivers to pass by fish farms and are a tenth the size of young Fraser sockeye facing the same challenges in the Discovery Islands area.

Critics also condemned the lack of transparency.

Ottawa has not issued a news release on the fish farm decision despite producing a flood of statements since October on everything from the naming of a new hovercraft in B.C. to the donation of an old Canadian Coast Guard vessel in Nunavut.

Shea’s only public comment was an October statement that the Discovery Islands moratorium will continue indefinitely. Asked when Shea spoke publicly or issued any statements about the moratorium being lifted elsewhere, a spokeswoman said in an email that the minister “talked about it openly.” However, she was unable to produce any news releases, statements or quotations in the B.C. media to back up that claim.

One critic said the government deliberately down-played last October’s decision to avoid controversy.

“There’s an issue about transparency,” said John Werring, a science policy adviser at the David Suzuki Foundation. “It shows clearly the direction the government is taking on aquaculture. They do not want any opposition to their plans and I suspect their reluctance to release this information to the public is to mute any kind of concern that might be expressed by people opposed to the expansion of the industry in British Columbia.”

In 2011, the federal government ordered a moratorium on new and expanded fish farms that “would result in a significant increase in environmental footprint,” while Cohen was holding his inquiry.

While Cohen concluded said there was no single “smoking gun” to blame for the 2009 collapse of the Fraser River sockeye, he expressed concern about the risk that ocean-net fish farms might jeopardize wild salmon through the spread of disease and sea lice.

“I accept the evidence that management practices taken within net pens are intended to reduce the risk of disease as much as possible and to keep both farmed and wild fish healthy,” Cohen concluded. “However, I cannot determine on the evidence before me whether those measures ensure that the risk of serious harm from disease and pathogen transfer is a minimal one.”

Cohen singled out Discovery Islands, where the moratorium remains, because that’s on the key route for the young sockeye exiting the Fraser River, and it has the largest concentration of fish farms. Those fish are less mature and seen therefore as more vulnerable than those that later go through the Broughton.

Cohen called for more federal research into the effect of fish farms on wild stocks, and also said DFO is in a conflict of interest due to its dual role of protecting wild stocks and promoting fish farming.

While the Harper government ignored Cohen’s advice to end the promotional role, Shea did stress in its October statement that the government is making major investments in research. She cited the 2013 budget’s $57.5 million over five years to “bolster our environmental protection in the aquaculture sector through science, enhanced regulatory regime and improved reporting.”

The budget also included a program to support sport fishing conservation partnerships. The government also boosted the Pacific Salmon Foundation’s funding by $1 million annually.

Original Article
Source: vancouversun.com/
Author: PETER O'NEIL

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