Salmonid Association of Eastern Newfoundland 

​PRESS RELEASE

SAEN Challenges Aquaculture Industries' False Claims

March 20, 2021 
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Following the recent release of DFO’s latest Atlantic salmon stock assessment, the aquaculture industry in Newfoundland has been quick to claim, yet again, that there is “..no evidence..” that their industry has any negative impacts on wild Atlantic salmon stocks. This is blatantly false. While the Executive Director of the Newfoundland Aquaculture Industry Association (NAIA) cited many of the possible reasons for the widespread overall decline in salmon stocks such as climate change, interceptory fisheries etc. he again dismissed very clear scientific evidence that wherever and whenever salmon farms are placed near rivers with wild salmon stocks, those populations do not decline, they disappear. It has happened in Norway, in Scotland, in the Bay of Fundy and has happened in the Conne and Little River’s in Bay d’Espoir. Attached as Appendix A is a small sample of the many peer reviewed scientific publications and documents representing the scientific evidence, clearly indicating, open net pen salmonid aquaculture does indeed negatively impact wild salmon populations.
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The Salmonid Association of Eastern Newfoundland (SAEN) does not have a problem with aquaculture as such, just with how it is currently conducted in Newfoundland waters.  We note with pleasure and approval the recent availability of land raised Atlantic salmon in a local supermarket chain. But SAEN, along with many other conservation groups, is very concerned about the continued expansion of the open net, pen-based aquaculture in Newfoundland waters and the ever increasing negative impacts on wild Atlantic salmon populations. SAEN is therefore challenging NAIA and its membership to fund baseline and continuing studies on the impacts of fish farms in the currently (but not for long) fish farm free Placentia Bay.

About SAEN
The Salmonid Association of Eastern Newfoundland (SAEN) was founded in 1979 as a volunteer, non-profit, conservation organization dedicated to the conservation, protection and enhancement of Atlantic salmon in Newfoundland and Labrador.
 
Contact information
1.SAEN office   
Telephone 722-9300
Email  connect @saen.org
2.Robert Bishop, President  
Telephone  754-2628
Email  [email protected]

 

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APPENDIX A 


A sample of research available

• https://www.vitenskapsradet.no/Portals/vitenskapsradet/Pdf/Status%20of%20wild%20Atlantic%20salmon%20in%20Norway%202020T.pdf  A Norwegian government stock assessment for Atlantic salmon in Norway in 2020.

Quote: “Escaped farmed salmon and salmon lice were identified as the largest threats to wild salmon (figure 5), both to a large extent impacting wild populations negatively. Escaped farmed salmon and salmon lice are regarded as expanding population threats, which means they are affecting populations to the extent that populations may be critically endangered or lost in nature and that have a high likelihood of causing even further reductions.”

• (PDF) Extensive hybridization following a large escape of domesticated Atlantic salmon in the Northwest Atlantic (researchgate.net) A report by DFO scientists on aquaculture escapees breeding in 17 of 18 south coast rivers tested.

Quote: “These results link previous observations of escaped salmon in rivers with reports of population genetic change, and demonstrate the potential negative consequences of escapes from net-pen aquaculture on wild populations.”

• DFO study: (PDF) Beyond hybridization: the genetic impacts of nonreproductive ecological interactions of salmon aquaculture on wild populations (researchgate.net)

Further studies representing a small sample of what is available.

• Bourret V, O’Reilly PT, Carr JW, Berg PR, Bernatchez L. 2011. Temporal change in genetic integrity suggests loss of local adaptation in a wild Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) population following introgression by farmed escapees. Heredity, 106, 500–510.
  
  
• Fleming, I.A., Hindar, K., Mjolnerod, I.B., Jonsson, B., Balstad, T. and Lamberg, A. 2000. Lifetime success and interactions of farm salmon invading a native population. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B-Biological Sciences, 267: 1517-1523.
  
  
• Glover, K.A., Pertoldi, C., Besnier, F., Wennevik, V., Kent, M., and Skaala, Ø. 2013. Atlantic salmon populations invaded by farmed escapees: quantifying genetic introgression with a Bayesian approach and SNPs. BMC Genetics, 14:4.
  
  
• Goodbrand et al. 2013. Sea cage aquaculture affects distribution of wild fish at large spatial scales. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 2013, 70(9): 1289-1295
  
  
• Hutchinson P, editor. 2006. Interactions between aquaculture and wild stocks of Atlantic salmon and other diadromous fish species: science and management, challenges and solutions. Proceedings of an ICES/NASCO Symposium held in Bergen, Norway, 18–21 October 2005. ICES J Mar Sci 63:(7).
  
  
• Johnsen BO and Jensen AJ. 1994. The spread of furunculosis among salmonids in Norweigan rivers. J Fish Biol 45: 47–55
  
  
• Krkosek, M., J. Ford, A. Morton, S. Lele, R.A. Myers,& M. Lewis, 2007. Declining wild salmon populations in relation to parasites from farm salmon. Science 318, 1772-1775.
  
  
• Krkosek, M., et al. 2006. Epizootics of wild fish induced by farm fish. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA. 103, 15506-15510.
  
  
• Krkošek, M., Revie, C.W., Gargan, P.G., Skilbrei, O.T., Finstad, B., and Todd, C.D. 2013. Impact of parasites on salmon recruitment in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 280: 20122359.
  
  
• McGinnity, P., Stone, C., Taggart, J. B., Cooke, D., Cotter, D., Hynes, R., McCamley, C., et al. 1997. Genetic impact of escaped farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) on native populations: use of DNA profiling to assess freshwater performance of wild, farmed, and hybrid progeny in a natural river environment. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 54: 998-1008.
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