Salmon farming in B.C. could be regulated to prevent impacts on the marine environment and wild salmon stocks.

A good starting point would be to fully implement the 49 recommendations that came out of an independent environmental review in 1997. That review called for tough escape prevention measures, strict disease control, seabed pollution prevention regulations, comprehensive marine use planning and precautionary siting criteria. It also called for local input into siting decisions. To date, few of the recommendations have been implemented as set out in the environmental review.

We believe that salmon farming could be made environmentally sustainable by:

• using closed containment farming technologies that eliminate the risks of disease transfer and fish escapes
• stopping seabed pollution through tougher regulations
• developing fish feed that doesn't deplete global fish stocks
• ensuring that marine mammals are not harmed or killed as a result of fish farming
• eliminating the use of antibiotics and pesticides in fish farming
• banning fish farms in areas opposed by First Nations and local communities or in sensitive habitat such as salmon migration routes

Mandatory labelling of fish as "farmed" would ensure that consumers can make informed choices about the seafood they buy.

There are at least two closed containment salmon farms being planned for the B.C. coast with likely installation by the fall of 2007. They would practically eliminate sea lice and disease transfer to wild salmon and will likely treat some or all of the solid waste effluent.

The real stumbling block preventing more closed containment farms is funding support: government programs are needed to fund innovative solutions and help new technology developers get through the first few years of trials and setbacks. Such programs exist for developing alternative energy production like solar, wind and tidal power. The same support is needed to move the salmon farming industry from destructive technologies to commercial scale closed containment.