By Gideon Mordecai Elected Chief Councillor, ʼNa̱mǥis First Nation A new study with unprecedented access to Atlantic salmon farms in British Columbia raises urgent questions about the federal government’s approach to regulating salmon farms and highlights disease risk to wild salmon populations. The Broughton Aquaculture Transition Initiative — a multi-government agreement with the province and the Mamalilikulla, ’Na̱mǥis and Kwikwasut’inux̱w Haxwa’mis First Nations — enabled this rare access to salmon farms for scientists unaffiliated with the aquaculture industry. Scientists from the Pacific Salmon Foundation, Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the University of British Columbia repeatedly examined the open-net pen salmon farms over more than a year, finding outbreaks of the viral disease heart and skeletal muscle inflammation (HSMI) on most farms sampled. Three independent pathologists confirmed the diagnosis, and the…
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