Friends of Clayoquot Sound: News 041214

Immediate Release - Tuesday December 14, 2004

Cermaq Record in Clayoquot Sound Abysmal

"Clean Up or Clear Out" say Friends of Clayoquot Sound

Tofino, BC - The Norwegian multinational Cermaq, operating nationally as Mainstream Canada, had its abysmal operating record in the Clayoquot Sound revealed in a report released last week. Friends of Clayoquot Sound is now calling on Cermaq to "clean up or clear out" from Clayoquot Sound's UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

"Cermaq has been fined more than any other company in B.C., racking up fines approaching $100,000 and numerous regulatory violations in only four years of operations," said Theresa Rothenbush, Aquaculture Specialist from Raincoast Conservation Society, which commissioned the report Diminishing Returns: An Investigation Into the Five Multinational Corporations That Control British Columbia's Salmon Farming Industry. "This is not a track record one would expect from a company that is 80% owned by the Norwegian government."

Cermaq (formerly Pacific National Aquaculture and EWOS Canada) already has 15 salmon and 6 sablefish tenures within the Clayoquot Sound. Cermaq have only been operating in Clayoquot Sound since the fall of 2000 when it purchased Pacific National Group, Prime Pacific Seafarms and Pacific Aqua Seafarms. Two of Cermaq's salmon tenures are located within Sulphur Passage Provincial Park, a marine extension to Strathcona Provincial Park that lies in the heart of the Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

Don Staniford, Friends of Clayoquot Sound (FOCS) aquaculture campaigner, said:

"Cermaq must 'clean up or clear out' of Clayoquot Sound. The Norwegian multinational is leaving a lethal legacy of marine pollution, infectious diseases, chemical contamination, mass escapes and sea lice infestation in their wake across British Columbia. Any company guilty of such a catalogue of crimes against the marine environment and wild salmon has no rightful place in an UNESCO Biosphere Reserve."

FOCS has now sent Cermaq head office in Norway and Mainstream Canada, based in Tofino and Victoria, letters requesting an immediate end to their destructive practices and their commitment to move toward closed containment. To date, Mainstream Canada has refused to either meet with FOCS or agree to a site visit at any of their farms in Clayoquot Sound.

"Whenever customers buy farmed salmon products from Cermaq they are contributing to the destruction of wild salmon and to the pollution of the pristine waters of Clayoquot Sound," said Dom Repta, FOCS's Markets Campaigner. "Consumers wanting to protect Clayoquot Sound should abstain from eating salmon farmed in cages within Clayoquot Sound."

Clayoquot Sound was designated a Biosphere Reserve by the United Nations Environmental, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2000, in recognition of its global ecological and cultural importance. Clayoquot Sound's ocean-forest ecology is home to over 50 at risk and endangered wildlife species.

Friends of Clayoquot Sound and Raincoast Conservation Society are members of the Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform. For more information on Clayoquot Sound: www.focs.ca

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For more information please contact:

Don Staniford, FOCS Aquaculture campaigner, (250) 725-4218, don@focs.ca
Dom Repta, FOCS Markets campaigner, (604) 699-0065, domrepta@telus.net
Theresa Rothenbush (Raincoast) (250) 360-6930, theresa@raincoast.org

Backgrounder:

[1] "Diminishing Returns - An Investigation into the Five Multinational Corporations that Control British Columbia's Salmon Farming Industry" was published on 9th December by the Raincoast Conservation Society: www.raincoast.org

The Raincoast report includes other details regarding Cermaq:

Cermaq had more fines than any other B.C. salmon farming company in 2003 with 11 guilty pleas for regulatory violations including failure to prevent escapes and to keep drug records
In 2002, Cermaq was served with 19 counts of provincial regulator violations
Cermaq was ordered to pay $90,000 in fines in for fish oil spills in B.C. one of which lead to damage to wild salmon spawning habitat
Cermaq made $41 million profit in 2003
In 2002, Cermaq lost 700,000 fish in Clayoquot Sound to IHNV. The following year, disease had forced Cermaq to slaughter 9,000 tonnes of B.C. farmed salmon
The discovery of IHNV in nine Cermaq pens marked the first time the virus had ever been found in fish farms on the west side of Vancouver Island
In 2001 five farms in Clayoquot Sound were found to be in violation of the Waste Management Act

[2] Don Staniford is co-author of "A Stain Upon the Sea - West Coast Salmon Farming", published by Harbour Publishing (with Stephen Hume, Alexandra Morton, Betty Keller, Rosella M Leslie and Otto Langer). A book reading and signing for "A Stain Upon the Sea" will take place in Tofino Community Theatre at 7.30pm on Thursday 16th December. More details via: www.focs.ca

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PO Box 489, 331 Neill St., Tofino BC V0R 2Z0
250-725-4218 info@focs.ca