TOFINO - Friends of Clayoquot Sound are calling on the federal and provincial governments to shut down Pacific National Aquaculture's fish farms. An IHN disease outbreak is the latest in a series of environmental calamities at Pacific National Aquaculture salmon farms in Clayoquot Sound, a UNESCO designated Biosphere Reserve. In the last nine months there has been a toxic algae bloom resulting from fish farm sewage, three separate escapes of thousands of Atlantic salmon into the wild and Atlantic salmon found in several rivers in Clayoquot Sound. PNA is not able to manage their business in an environmentally safe manner.
"Government has made a commitment to conserve the beauty and integrity of Clayoquot Sound through the Biosphere Reserve designation," said Melissa Nelson, FOCS spokesperson. "The events of the past year show clearly that the company is unable to maintain operational standards appropriate to the area. They've used up all their strikes. It's time to shut them down."
An outbreak of the Infectious Hematopoietic Necrosis (IHN) virus was confirmed Wednesday at a Pacific National Aquaculture farm in Clayoquot Sound. Three of twelve pens at the site are known to be infected with the disease and dead fish are being removed from the pens. However, approximately one hundred thousand infected fish remain in open netcages in the marine environment.
"We're concerned that the sick fish are still in the ocean," said Nelson. "We don't want high concentrations of diseased fish putting wild fish at risk of infection. We also want to know how the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the B.C. Ministry of Fisheries is ensuring that when the fish are removed, infected blood and mucous are not being released into the water."
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Friends of Clayoquot Sound
PO Box 489, 331 Neill St., Tofino BC V0R 2Z0
Tel: 250-725-4218 Fax: 250-725-2527
Email: info@focs.ca
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