First Nations Chief Bob Chamberlin said the lawsuit defends vital interests of BC natives. (Photo: Anders Minge, First Nations/ Stock File)

BC natives seek class-action lawsuit against fish farms

CANADA
Thursday, April 15, 2010, 00:40 (GMT + 9)

Numerous First Nations from British Columbia's (BC) Broughton Archipelago sought to certify a class-action lawsuit against the provincial and federal governments over salmon farms with the BC Supreme Court on Tuesday.

Natives west of the Queen Charlotte Strait on the central coast of BC fear the effects of the chemicals used on the 29 farms, and that their fish will spread disease to the nearly 230 different native wild salmon stocks. The court fight could last as long as a decade, and this the First Nations’ last resort.

“We have virtually no economy in our villages,” said First Nations spokesman Chief Bob Chamberlin, reports Globe and Mail. “And the reality is that in communities where there is little economic activity, people rely heavily on natural resources … wild salmon are vitally important to our survival.”

Already before Tuesday federal government lawyer Harry Wruck disputed the First Nations’ scientific data in an effort to pre-empt further hearings, The Canadian Press reports.

The scientific expert makes "one bald-faced assertion after another," he told Justice Harry Slade. He said the governments’ scientific experts argue there is no evidence wild salmon stocks are declining in the Broughton Archipelago.

Lawyer for the potential defendants JJ Camp rebutted that said question is precisely the point of the case.

The hearing is foreseen to last nine days.

Chamberlin said they are especially concerned about the farms’ effluent of chemicals. These include Slice, employed to kill sea lice on farmed salmon; antibiotics fed to the fish and their food and feces.

"Tons and tons of it. It's not some innocuous little amount, and that's getting introduced into our environment," Chamberlin stressed. "It's an off-loading of the responsibilities that these companies have."

Aquaculture farm opponents have made some legal progress against the industry.

In 2009, the BC Supreme Court ruled that the federal government, rather than the province, should regulate fish farms because it held constitutional powers over the ocean.

Long-time opponent of open net aquaculture biologist Alexandra Morton took part in the lawsuit. She said the federal government is more suitable to regulate farms and protect adjacent ecosystems.

Nonetheless, the Department of Fisheries (DFO) has stated that sea lice originating from fish farms are not linked to the area’s low wild salmon returns.

The BC Salmon Farmers Association (BCSFA) said Atlantic salmon exports to the US, Europe and Japan yielded CAD 330.9 million last year.

“We are asking that this industry evolve. … We’ve talked to the government for years about this and have got nowhere. We want action and as much as we’d rather avoid the courts, we feel this is the only thing we can do,” Chamberlin said.

The federal government last year granted a BC Supreme Court judge unlimited reign to discover why the Fraser River sockeye salmon fishery collapsed in 2009.

Related article:

- Environmentalists, First Nations chiefs fast in protest

By Natalia Real
[email protected]
www.seafood.media

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