Douc
COLLINS

° get this straight ¢

THE THINGS a fellow doesn’t know aout, even though

they may be going on right under his nuse. And I’m not
talking about shelf games. I’m talking about that fish farm
in Indian Arm, which I didn’t even know existed until the

story hit this newspaper.
Mention fish farms and eyes
tend to go glassy. That’s because
nobody cares. Nobody, that is, ex-
cepi someone who wakes up one
day to find he has a fish farm right

at his front door. And don’t laugh.

It has happened. Ask some of the
folk up in Sechelt.

People on my favorite island
began to care when they heard a
fish farm or two would be opening
up in the vicinity. ‘‘Do you have
the foreshore rights?’’ asked a
friend who has a malicious sense
of humor. ‘‘If you don’t, he said,
“they can have one of those

‘<.-when fish
farms arrive, the
peasants start
holding their
noses, Selling their
houses, and
making the sign
of the cross, so as
to ward off
devils.’

stinkpots right in front of you and
there’s nothing you can do about
it.” .

It was with some satisfaction,
then, that I read that Pacific
Aquaculture Ltd. was putting its
plans to extend its Indian Arm fish
farm on hold. Because from what I
hear, the locals believe that
another 12 fish pens in yon water
would be exactly what the doctor
didn’t order.

It could be, of course, that that
company runs a perfect operation.
Not being a Fisheries Department
inspector, I wouldn’t know. All I
know is that when fish farms ar-
rive, the peasants start holding
their noses, selling their houses,
and making the sign of the cross,
so as to ward off devils.

Trouble is, you see, that there is
a lot of trouble witu them, despite
the propaganda dispensed by the
industry.

Consider, for instance, this
statement by Professor J.T. Staley
of the University of Washington’s
Department of Microbiology and
Immunology, who was writing
about fish farms in the San Juans:
“Intensive fish rearing results in

the introduction of large amounts
of organic material into the im-
mediate environment of the pens.
This organic matter is derived
from the feed used for the fish,
from the wastes excreted by the
fish, and finally from the cleaning
wastes which are commonly
discharged ... upon harvest of the
fish.”

Wastes excreted by the fish
means fish-poo, of course, and
there can be masses of it, depen-
ding on how many fish are cram-
med into a pen.

The prof continued: ‘‘The
organic loading will result in
deterioration of water quality. The
most apparent effect will be a
reduction of oxygen concentration
and an increase in turbidity due to
a resultant bacterial growth ...
This may pose serious problems
for existing marine life and fish-
eries as well as for the commercial
fisheries themselves. Furthermore,
aesthetic vaiues will be dramatical-
ly affected — (because of) turbidi-
ty in waters and smells, in addition
to unsightly pens.”’

The fish farmers swear they are
the purest of the pure. It would be
news if they admitted they weren’t.
All the same, I got a laugh out of
Pat Moore’s protestations.

Remember Pat? He used to run
arouid with Greenpeace, making a
nuisance of himself when U.S.
warships hove into view, etc. Now
he’s working for a living, having
become a fish farmer. In June, Pat
was slagging the Fisherman’s
Union, which says that fish farms
in Norway ‘‘have spawned an
ecological monster’’ and that we
could breed the same thing here.

Said Pat, who floats around as
president of the B.C. Salmon
Farmers’ Association: ‘‘The en-
vironment in my fish pen is cleaner
and safer to swim in than water
coming out of the Fraser River.”’

That ain’t saying much, Pat.

Those who oppose salmon farm-
ing say that the incidence of
disease in fish raised by such
means is high, and presents a
danger to the wild stocks. Moore
claims that disease is under better
control on the farms than it is in
the wild. But if that is so, how
come the salmon did so well before
we appeared on the scene? Not on-
ly that, but in Norway it is thought
that farming has led to the
depredation of sea salmon there.

There are bucks in fish farming,
of course. And I’m not against
bucks. But spare us the bull.
Please ®

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9 - Sunday, November 27, 1988 - North Shore News

NORTH VANCOUVER RCMP @
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