It is a sign of the desperation of the salmon aquaculture industry that they have descended to personal attacks on scientists, disavowal of real fisheries science and lying about the negative impacts of open net pen salmon aquaculture on wild Atlantic salmon stocks. That letter is the corporate equivalent of sticking your fingers in your ears and screaming “Lalalalala, I can’t hear you.
It took DFO almost 20 years to admit it publicly but the open net pen aquaculture industry was the primary cause for the extinction of wild Atlantic salmon in the Inner Bay of Fundy; in Norway, the government is no longer renewing salmon site licenses as they expire, in any area near a salmon river. In Scotland, the open net pen salmon farms have devastated wild Atlantic salmon and sea trout runs and I could go on.
As to the frequency of escapes, even with the industry’s “best efforts” they are a constant and, as we know from industry sources, many go unreported. Contrary to the assertions by the ACFFA, it is totally responsible for DFO and its scientists to point the finger at the primary cause of the virtual extinction of Atlantic salmon in Conne River and the proof that it is salmon aquaculture is irrefutable.