A MAJOR row has broken out in Canada over a proposal to import Norwegian
salmon to stock fish farms. The government鈥檚 Office of Aquaculture and the
farming industry have dismissed fears of escaped salmon wreaking havoc, saying
they will enrich the genetic diversity of wild stocks. But last week in Montreal
the government鈥檚 fisheries scientists warned that escapees could jeopardise the
survival of Canada鈥檚 wild salmon.
Canadian salmon farmers want to import breeding stock from Norway鈥檚 highly
successful farms. 鈥淭hey want the same opportunity to improve their stock as
other livestock producers,鈥� says Dave Conley, a spokesman for the Office of
Aquaculture. The office wants the government to lift its ban on importing farmed
salmon.
In October, Ray Peterson, a retired cattle geneticist at the University of
British Columbia, wrote a paper for the department claiming wild salmon would
benefit from some new genes. 鈥淚solation of salmon stocks should be avoided,鈥�
writes Peterson. He says they have lost their genetic diversity.
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鈥淣onsense,鈥� says Carl Walters, a fish biologist at the University of British
Columbia. Wild salmon are genetically very diverse, he says, while farmed fish
are less diverse selections from wild stocks. He says that salmon, unlike
cattle, are highly adapted to local conditions that do not restrict genetic
diversity.
Fisheries scientists are concerned that the sheer number of escaped farmed
salmon could overwhelm native stocks. At a meeting in Montreal last week,
scientists working for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans recommended
continuing the ban on Norwegian salmon. And a leaked report by the scientists
says studies have shown that wild fish are much more genetically diverse than
Peterson claims.