After anti-fish farming activist Alexandra Morton published photos of Sobeys-bought Atlantic salmon with sea lice on them, the grocer responded by removing the fish from 84 of their east-coast supermarkets on Friday.
Although sea lice pose no harm to humans, Sobeys wanted to “err on the side of caution.” Morton doesn’t dispute that sea lice pose no harms to humans. She’s worried about the drugs being used to remove the sea lice from the salmon.
“There’s a certain need for people bringing awareness to public so everyone is paying attention,” said Dr. Larry Hammell, the director of the Centre for Aquatic Health Sciences.
“But the pendulum can swing too far. It starts to be an issue with inflaming half the points so people are afraid rather than dealing with science of it.”
Hammell said this is what happened with the pictures and Sobeys’ response. Morton knows sea lice pose no human health risk, but many people may not, so she took advantage of the situation, Hammell said.
Morton’s Crusade
Morton is an activist that has become a movement campaigning against the salmon farm-fishing industry.
Morton began her crusade in the late 90s, and has since conducted research in salmon farm-fishing, an industry she says is contributing to the death of wild salmon.
She’s been trying to push the government on the issue for years, to no avail. The salmon farm-fishing industry is worth millions of dollars in British Columbia, the province where Morton lives in and has conducted most of her work in.
She was in the Maritimes this week ahead of a lecture at Dalhousie University in Halifax.
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Morton said she spoke to lobster fishermen in the Maritimes who think that fish farmers are using drugs other than hydrogen peroxide, and that those drugs might be causing lobsters in the area to die.
Dr. Hammell said the peroxide being used on salmon to treat sea lice is safe and environmentally friendly.
The only downside is it’s costly, he said. The cost could be the reason why, as Morton alleges, other drugs are sometimes used.
Pam Parker, the executive director of Atlantic Canada Fish Farmers Association, said that’s simply not true. “Any products we use on our fish farms have received extensive testing for a potential impact to marine system itself and lobster.”
Parker said the lobster population in the area is increasing every year.
Activism and Controversy
“It has to be said it’s largely because of her activism B.C. now has a monitoring program for sea lice and that’s good,” said Vivian Krause.
Krause is a researcher and writer who has been following Morton’s work for years.
“That’s an example of why activism is important,” she said. Krause is concerned with the credibility of Morton’s research and the source of her funding.
Morton has said that sea lice in farmed-fish salmon are infecting and killing wild salmon. Krause said there’s no way to track the origin the origin of sea lice in wild salmon, therefore it’s impossible to say it came from farmed fish.
There might be a correlation, but you can’t say one is causing the other, Krause said.
“We do not believe that sea lice in our farms have any impact on wild salmon,” Parker said.
Morton agrees that it’s difficult to have direct proof, but “If your house is broken into, your TV is gone, that was a burglar. You didn’t see that person go in, but you know you were robbed.”
She said biology works the same way, and that “dozens” of papers published in B.C., Norway, Scotland and Ireland support her theory.
“If the science shows what she says it does I wouldn’t worry about funding,” Krause said.
“But when there’s a consistent pattern of exaggeration you start to say why is she doing it, who’s benefitting.”
She wonders if money is influencing Morton’s work. For example, Krause suggested Morton received funding from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, which she said supports the wild salmon industry and is against farm-fishing practices.
“If your research is being funded by folks that want to kill an industry, you must disclose that.”
For her part, Morton said most of her funding comes from fisherman and concerned citizens, not big agencies. “I’m funded by people hoping to figure this out,” she said.
Salmon farm-fishing arrived in B.C. in 1989, and for a short time, Morton worked on a salmon farm. She said she grew to love Echo Bay. “And now I’m fighting for my home.”
Salmon fishing is as important to the West Coast economy and community as lobster in the Maritimes, she said.
Morton blames the federal government for not acknowledging a problem with the farm-fishing industry.
“All we want is for the government to say is, yes, we see it as a problem and here’s what we’re going to do about it.”
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story read “Krause said Morton received funding from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, which she said supports the wild salmon industry and is against farm-fishing practices.” This was corrected on Oct. 23 to say that “Krause suggested that Morton received funding…”
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