 To Lift Moratorium On Salmon Farms Knowles Urges Reconsideration to Protect Alaska Fisheries and Marine Life News Release
"I find it troubling that when others are questioning the safety and wisdom of salmon farming and raising serious concerns about problems such as contamination, disease, and the escapes of non native species of fish, that our neighbors in British Columbia are moving forward with expansion of this industry," Knowles said. "Already this year we have seen the release of 8,000 to 10,000 Atlantic salmon from BC salmon farms," Knowles added. "Along with the 29,000 accidental releases last year, these fish have been documented in Alaska waters and raise the serious threat of the creation of spawning populations of this invasive species." Knowles said the State of Alaska backs the recommendations of the Leggatt Inquiry into the salmon farming issue in its report, "Clear Choices, Clear Waters." Led by former BC Supreme Court Justice Stuart Leggatt, the inquiry recommended keeping the moratorium against new salmon farm sites and called for the removal of all net cage salmon farms from the BC marine environment by 2005. The State of Alaska testified in favor of such steps in its testimony before the Leggatt Inquiry last year. "Salmon farms are a threat to our ocean environment and the ecology of Pacific salmon," Knowles said. "The State of Maine recently destroyed some 700,000 pen-raised salmon because of because of widespread infectious disease. Now Maine has quarantined certain areas from fish farming and is considering a moratorium of its own. "Alaska wisely took action to ban this practice a decade ago, along with steps to protect and grow our populations of wild salmon for commercial, sport, and subsistence uses," Knowles said. "I now strongly urge our neighbors in British Columbia to reconsider the positive recommendations of the Leggatt Inquiry and this decision to allow unchecked expansion of the farmed salmon industry immediately adjacent to Alaska waters."
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