The BC Salmon Farmers Association has released fish health data on 120 farms over a 10-year period, as per Justice Bruce Cohen’s ruling made in December as part of his inquiry into the decline of sockeye salmon in the Fraser River. Mary Ellen Walling, executive director of the BC Salmon Farmers Association, said that collecting such a huge information has been a challenge but it tells a good story about the good health of our fish and the strong management practices on our farms.
The commission has ordered the information in early December 2010. Since then, the BC Salmon Farmers Association has been pulling together the data out of its Fish Health Database, which was established in mid-2002. The data supports what has been reported publicly through the provincial government since the fish health database was established: that fish health standards on farms are very high, mortality rates are very low and there are no findings of exotic disease.
According to Walling the precedent of this information release is certainly notable – the data within it clearly shows that the fish health plans are succeeding at protecting farmed fish, and by extension wild species, from significant health challenges.
