Madam Speaker, I am following up on my earlier question this year about the Liberal government's decision to appeal the Federal Court decision to ban fish farms in B.C. from using diseased Atlantic salmon in open net pens. I simply could not understand why the Liberals would continue with this Conservative approach and put wild B.C. salmon at risk.
The minister responded that he would discuss the matter with the Minister of Justice. Following my question and mounting public pressure, the government announced it would be postponing the appeal hearing until October.
Well, it is now October and I would like to know if the government will be continuing with its appeal or if it will do the right thing and protect wild salmon?
Stopping the transfer of diseased fish is very important because heart and skeletal muscle inflammation, or HSMI as it is known, is a serious disease that devastates farmed salmon populations.
Scientific evidence suggests that HSMI poses a serious threat to wild populations. It causes severe lethargy, ultimately robbing salmon of their ability to feed, swim upstream, spawn and rendering them helpless against predators.
Open net farms are located on critical wild salmon migration routes, including in the Discovery Islands. If this disease were to spread to wild salmon, which are already under threat, the results could be catastrophic.
When biologist Alex Morton first discovered the piscine reovirus, or PRV as it is called, which is believed to be the precursor to HSMI in farmed salmon in B.C., the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the B.C. government insisted the virus was harmless.
Alex Morton, with the help of Ecojustice, took the department to Federal Court over its aquaculture licensing practices. The department insisted PRV did not threaten wild salmon.
The court ruled in favour of Alex Morton and ordered the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to stop granting licences that allowed companies to transfer disease-carrying fish into open net salmon farms in the ocean.
The government appealed this decision and was set to return to court on May 26. That is when the government claimed that it needed more time to review the case and announced that it would be delaying its decision until October.
Days later, DFO scientist Dr. Kristi Miller confirmed the presence of HSMI by testing Atlantic salmon samples collected at a B.C. fish farm. This finding confirmed action must be taken to prevent the spread of this deadly salmon disease.
Even if it has dropped its appeal, I hope the parliamentary secretary can clarify a few things for me with respect to the dangers posed by diseased farmed Atlantic salmon.
The government claims to embrace the recommendations of the Cohen Commission of Inquiry. Recommendations 18 and 19 state that if salmon farms in the Discovery Islands pose more than a minimal risk of serious harm, those farms should cease operations, and no new farms should be created.
Will the department respect the precautionary principle and prohibit salmon farming in the Discovery Islands? If not, why does HSMI not qualify as more than a minimal risk?