Thoughtful About Food: Fw: [fishermenlist] DOJ Lays Charge Against Marine Harvest
Allison Huttton
Department of Justice lays charges against fish farm company
Unlawful
by-catch of wild salmon by Norwegian fish farm
company
(April 20, 2010, Port Hardy) Today, Todd Gerhart of
the Department of Justice, stayed charges laid by biologist Alexandra Morton
against Marine Harvest, the largest Norwegian fish farm company in the world,
for unlawful possession of wild salmon. In a landmark initiative Gerhart advised
the Court that on April 16, 2010, DOJ filed a new indictment against Marine
Harvest, including the original charges laid by Alexandra Morton as well as new
charges for unlawful possession of herring reported in October 2009. Mr. Gerhart
will be the prosecutor.
Morton and her lawyer Jeffery Jones are
relieved. “It is my strong opinion,” says Mr. Jones, a former Crown
Prosecutor for DOJ, “that this industry was given access to the BC coast and
appears to have been conducting itself as if it were above the law. Today’s
decision by Mr. Gerhart and the Department of Justice confirms that no
corporation is above the law. This is why private prosecutions are important
democratic safeguards. Ms. Morton’s prosecution has triggered enforcement
action by DOJ. I am extremely pleased by Mr. Gerhart’s decision.”
In June of 2009, young wild salmon were observed falling from a
load of farm salmon being off-loaded from Marine Harvest’s vessel Orca
Warrior. Some of these fish were collected and Marine Harvest admitted in
the newspaper to catching the wild salmon. “By-catch” is fish caught
without a licence in the process of fishing for other species. By-catch is
strictly controlled in all other fisheries and in some cases causes entire
fisheries to be shut down.
“For decades we have heard reports of
wild fish trapped in fish farms, eaten by the farm fish and destroyed during
harvest,” says biologist Alexandra Morton, “but when DFO was informed of these
offenses they would not, or could not, lay a charge. Canada cannot manage wild
fish like this. You can’t regulate commercial and sport fishermen and then allow
another group unlimited access to the same resource. BC will lose its wild
fish.”
In 1993, the Pacific Fishery Regulations exempted salmon
farms from virtually all fishing regulations. Unlike commercial fishermen,
salmon farmers can use bright lights known to attract wild fish. The oily food
pellets they use also attract fish and wildlife. Commercial fishermen are
required to pay for observers and cameras on their vessels that record by-catch,
so that fishing can be halted to preserve non-targeted stocks. No such
enforcement has been applied to salmon farmers, despite regular reports of black
cod, rock cod, herring, lingcod, wild salmon, Pollock, capelin and other species
in the pens, in stomachs of the farmed fish and destroyed at harvest time….Until
now.
“This is a ray of hope that we can work through the issue of
Norwegian salmon farming in BC waters. I am thankful to hand this over to the
Department of Justice. Aquaculture is not the problem. The problem is the
reckless way government sited it, managed it and gave it priority over the
public fisheries. I call on government to protect the families now dependant on
this industry as it undergoes the long overdue scrutiny of the courts, the
judicial inquiry and public opinion.“
Alexandra Morton
250-974-7086
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