ASF says Canada Fish Farmers Assoc. claims of transparency are misleading and problematic.
Last week the Canada Fish Farmers Association publicly hit back at the ASF in defence of their accusations on the industry's lack of transparency surrounding farmed salmon escapes. The Fish Farmers Association rebutted that Salmon Farmers are already transparent and voluntarily report escapes to Provincial Regulators. Well, now the ASF is calling foul on that, citing the Fish Farmers Assoc.’s statement as misleading and problematic.
Quoted from the Article by ASF: "This is misleading and problematic. Escape reports in New Brunswick remain confidential. Government has to have company permission to release information. As recently as September 9th, ASF requested the latest escape report submitted by Cooke, in which the company downgraded its estimate of fish lost in the August 20 breach. The report was withheld, citing confidentiality.
In New Brunswick, the industry is shielded from public scrutiny of their operations. In the same year Cooke Aquaculture pleaded guilty to a campaign of illegal pesticide use, the New Brunswick Legislature added an exemption to the Aquaculture Act, protecting publicly held data on the industry from being released through Access to Information Requests.” - Atlantic Salmon Federation | September 20th, 2019.
As the single dominant salmon farm operator in the Bay of Fundy (and the North West Atlantic), this is relevant insight into Cooke Aquaculture’s business practices and their overarching influence on provincial regulators. With coastal communities around Nova Scotia facing aggressive expansion of salmon farms, orchestrated by Nova Scotia's (Liberal Party) Minister of Fisheries & Aquaculture, Keith Colwell, we all need to be deeply concerned.
Update on salmon escapes in Bay of Fundy: As of yesterday a total of 68 farmed salmon have been pulled from the Magaguadavic River, NB. The most since 2013. (reported by ASF).