Aquaculture

Salmon aquaculture in Canada has been an important issue for CWF for several years. CWF remains unconvinced that aquaculture is developing in an ecologically sustainable manner.

Open net cages allow waste from feces and uneaten feed pellets to accumulate under cages, altering the chemical and physical environment; antibiotics, pesticides, paints and disinfectants can accumulate on the seabed; diseases can transfer from captive fish to wild populations; sea lice associated with farmed fish threaten to increase the mortality rate in juvenile pink salmon; and non-indigenous species continue to escape from farm sites.

In the summer of 2008, CWF sent a petition to its supporters in reference to the 30,000 farmed Atlantic salmon that escaped from a Frederick Arm farm site in British Columbia on July 1, 2008. With over 1,750 signatures, the petition was sent to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans to prompt federal government to better protect fish and fish habitat.

In June 2008, CWF awarded the Roland Michener Conservation Award to Alexandra Morton of Simoon Sound, B.C. for tirelessly campaigning for the health of wild salmon. It is thanks to her that we have crucial scientific information to help us understand the damage caused by Canadian salmon farming, which is the main source of sea lice.  

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