Norwegian politicians sucked in to sob story- again

Canada: Ignorant Norwegian parliamentary members try to score quick political points without knowing what they are talking about

Odd Grydeland

Another delegation of anti-salmon farming activists are roaming the streets of Oslo and other Norwegian cities these days, pointing fingers at Norwegian fish farming companies and the way they run their businesses in Canada. And gullible politicians flock to their sides, eager to score a point or two from the ensuing, well organized media coverage. Little do they know that themselves, along with Indian Chief Bob Chamberlin, are being used only to drum up more funding for multinational Environmental Non-Governmental Organizations (ENGO's) like the Pure Salmon Campaign.

Claiming that Norwegian fish farming giants like Marine Harvest and Cermaq are operating in British Columbia under a slack regulatory regime is utterly false- any comparison with Norwegian regulations would show very similar standards in most areas of environmental protection. The one big difference is that in B.C., many farms have been moved away from areas of environmental concern, while Norway have yet to relocate a single farm. When Chief Chamberlin states the opposite, one can understand the level of misinformation that is being produced by the ENGO community.

Alexandra Morton continues to blame fish farmers for the inevitable, upcoming demise of the wild salmon stocks in British Columbia, while government researchers couldn't find any outmigrating wild pink salmon smolts with enough sea lice on them to kill them during any of the past two years' research acivities, looking at thousands of fish in the Broughton Archipelago- the focus area of Ms. Morton's activism. Meanwhile, commercial fishers are redying their boats this summer for one of the best salmon runs in years. 

Escaped farmed salmon is also being brought up by the Pure Salmon Campaign as a reason to quit farming Atlantic salmon in net pens in B.C.. The true story is that over the years, some 8.5 million Atlantic salmon have been deliberately let loose in B.C waters by governments, trying to establish a new sport fishing industry, but to no avail. Even icons like Campbell River-based Roderick Haig-Brown once complained in one of his many books that it was a shame that these fish did not take. Add to that the fact that Atlantic salmon can not cross breed with Pacific salmon, and the argument wears thin pretty quick.

Atlantic salmon is a resilient species when it comes to the usual diseases of Pacific salmon. The one exception is Infectious Hematopoietic Necrosis Virus (IHNV), or "Sockeye disease", which has caused large losses of farmed Atlantic salmon in B.C.. Most species of Pacific salmon are, however, very tolerant to the exposure to IHNV, again making another Pure Salmon Campaign statement unworthy of political or other attention.