Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Fishy Politics about Fish

Recently there has been considerable debate about the role of open net fish farms being possibly responsible for the propagation of disease in our wild salmon stocks. There has been a lengthily legal wrangle under the umbrella of the "Cohen Commission" which has pitted reputable scientists against The Fish farming industry and Government organisations including the Department of fisheries and Oceans.
It seems that discovery of Infectious Salmon Anemia virus (ISAv) in BC wild or farmed salmon is feared to be a potential economic disaster that could even end trade in fish products. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) didn't want to find ISAv, and the evidence suggests it took active measures to confiscate fish samples that may have indicated ISAv was here.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) - which supported the salmon farming industry - didn't want to find ISAv either, and took active measures to hide findings and suppress research that may have exposed it. And the salmon farming industry certainly didn't want to discover ISAv in its brood stock or net-pens - such a discovery would have had devastating environmental, market and public relations ramifications.
Don't blindly expect honesty in Politics. And more specifically don't always expect integrity from Politicians. Many are in it for the short term and often follow a short-term vision. Oh, and yes, part of this vision includes an expectation of a fat pension at the end of those few years. I see our Federal Government now wants to tinker with OUR pensions anyway.
Is this cynical?...Maybe!..Or just a little reflection of reality.

And now a 2013 Update:

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has decided that ISA virus contaminated feedlot salmon can be grown-out in the ocean and sold to Canadians.  The U.S. has reportedly rejected the product.  This has become an national incident, Canada is stepping away from international protocol for this reportable influenza virus.  One of the producers of these fish is apparently in a serious financial situation and perhaps the CFIA is simply unable to continue paying up to $30/fish in compensation for culling ISA infected fish.  Instead the fish are going to be disposed of down the throats of Canadians, who will support this practice by paying for the product.

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