Controversy about deltamethrin and the way the fish will be dosed with it in this summer's experiment heated up shortly after June 8 when Cooke Aquaculture (which owns the most of the cage sites that will be treated with the insecticide) announced that it has received "Certified Quality Salmon Eco-Certification" from Seafood Trust for the salmon that its True North marketing division sells in Canada. Seafood Trust uses International Food Quality Certification (IFQC) standards to assess companies that apply for its certification.
Environmentalists, consumers and fishermen have raised questions about how Cooke's salmon can meet IFQC's key standard which requires "maintenance of a pristine quality marine environment" if its salmon and the bays in which they are raised are dosed with deltamethrin.
Dale Mitchell of Deer Island fishes lobster and scallops, operates herring weirs and serves on the board of directors of the Fundy North Fisherman's Association as well as that of the Fundy Weir Fishermen Association. "A lot of us who fish," Mitchell says, "just don't think the aquaculture industry should be using these chemicals in the water where we're fishing. We don't necessarily believe they're safe, and even if they are, we don't think the aquaculture people can be trusted to use them safely."
Reid Brown of Deer Island, who also serves on the Fundy Weir Fishermen Association board, says he is "very concerned about this experiment. We can't understand why they have to do this in so many cages. Well, we do, really - it's because they have the lice getting out of control in those cages, but they don't want people to know too much about that."
Dr. Vladimir Zitko, a chemist and former head of toxicology at the Fisheries and Oceans Canada biological station in St. Andrews, New Brunswick, now retired, is concerned about the planned release of deltamethrin into marine waters. "Deltamethrin is a very toxic insecticide," Zitko says, "very similar to cypermethrin, the chemical that killed the lobsters in Back Bay in 1996. It's extremely toxic to aquatic animals and I'd be very hesitant to use it this way in the ocean. It's strongly acid and I think it should at least be treated with something alkaline to help neutralize it and then disposed of in a toxic waste facility."
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Photo Credit: NWNature.net
SALMON feed lots in the Quoddy/ Grand Manan area can not escape the fate Salmon Farming is facing everywhere else!! Norweigh, sea lice & ISA are back also in Scotland & Ireland. The Europeans were supposed to have overcome these issues! Chile is a disaster right now. 75% of their industry and 15,000 jobs GONE!! Sea lice & ISA! British Columbia is watching it's wild pinks disappear every year!! The Department of Fisheries & Oceans SOON to be known as BEACH ROCKS & OCEANS (no fish left) just keep denying and saying we need more LOCAL studies to see what is happening.
ReplyDeleteREALLY???????????????????
It just keeps getting better doesn't it? In BC DFO announced 10,000,000 sockeye failed to return. The NGO's are doing what DFO refuses to do, RESEARCH into the cause and guess what, SEA LICE are infesting entire year classes of migrating sockeye salmon & "PACIFIC HERRING". That's right fokes the lice from the pens like to feed on more than just salmon. In the Moncton paper yesterday appeared an article "Black's Harbor, Fishermen concerned about HERRING!!! Conner's Bros can't gaurantee more than 1000 jobs!!!!!" A little research and you will find that the sea lice issue on herring in the Letang estuary was spotted in 1996. Let's see now, all the Inner of Fundy Salmon are gone, we dump ALPHAMAX into the Bay to kill the non existant sea lice and at the same time kill the existing lobster, scallops, clams, mussels, periwinkles and oh ya, 1000 jobs at Conners. All renewable and environmentally sutainable resources that BELONG TO THE PEOPLE OF THE BAY!!! In return for what we get WHAT? more stalling. Get the open pens out of the Bay or go to total CLOSED CONTAINMENT, NOW!!! while there is still something left!!! The Federal/Provincial gov. created this problem. They issues the licenses and leases and it is their responsability to FIX IT!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.unbsj.ca/sase/biology/chopinlab/lab/present/thierrychopin.html
ReplyDeleteNow how can anybody trust these aquaculture companies mainly Cookes Aqua as all in the industry know they openly have poured the illeagalripcord[cypermethine]without tarps at ebb tides in our waters.
Also they hiring several government and former association members to cover all from the true owners of these waters,[we the people].
If anything we need much more monitoring and investigations into who really is behind Cookes and why and what is the further intentions these peoples.