Escape of non native salmon on B.C. coast puts farm phase out plan in spotlight

By Amy Smart THE CANADIAN PRESS VANCOUVER- The escape of an estimated 20,000 non-native fish off Vancouver Island demonstrates the urgent need to phase out ocean-based farming and calls into question the federal government’s own five-year deadline, say wild salmon advocates. Stan Proboszcz, science and campaign adviser with the Watershed Watch Society, said the salmon escape may have ecological impacts on already struggling wild stocks. “It’s incidents like this that make it pretty clear that we really do need the federal government to move on removing farms from British Columbian waters. This is just another stressor on wild fish, so we just hope that we see a plan very soon,” he said Monday. He said Atlantic salmon can compete with wild Pacific salmon for food and habitat, as well as…

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