By not authorizing the testing farmed salmon for piscine reovirus before their release into the ocean, Dominic LeBlanc is evading his responsibilities The threat that open-net salmon farms along British Columbia’s coast pose to wild salmon is clearer than ever. But, in recent weeks, as several coastal First Nations issued eviction notices to fish farm companies operating within their territories, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Dominic LeBlanc continues to turn a blind-eye and side-step his responsibility to protect wild fish. In May, the federal government revealed that heart and skeletal muscle inflammation (HSMI), a disease which has devastated fish farms in Norway, had been found on B.C
The Fraser River Sportfishing Alliance is expressing concern about enforcement efforts during a fishing shutdown in effect since mid-August. "We are very concerned with the perceived lack of enforcement by [the Department of Fisheries and Oceans] DFO, particularly during the night," reads a statement provided to The News by an Alliance spokesperson. Commercial and aboriginal fishing is currently banned along the river due to a dismal sockeye salmon return this year – the worst in 120 years. Herb Redekopp, DFO's lower Fraser conservation and protection area chief, said his officers do the best they can with the resources they have, including night patrols. The DFO has called in additional enf
