Ottawa lays charges against fish-farming company

Justice Department takes over private prosecution launched by biologist

By Judith Lavoie, Vancouver Sun – April 21, 2010, p. A9

Charges of unlawful possession of wild salmon and herring have been laid against Marine Harvest Canada, the largest fish-farming company in B.C.

A private prosecution previously laid by biologist and activist Alexandra Morton was taken over by the federal Justice Department Tuesday, said federal prosecutor Todd Gerhart.

“New information charges Marine Harvest with four counts and deals with two incidents,” he said.

The first incident involves juvenile wild pink salmon, which were mixed in with farmed Atlantic salmon as they were taken off a Marine Harvest vessel in June, and the second incident involves herring, which were discarded from pens in October.

The charges say the company failed to report incidental catches of wild fish and, having caught live fish, the company failed to return them to the ocean in a manner that would have caused the least harm.

Marine Harvest will next appear in court June 22 and Clare Backman, the company’s director of environmental compliance and community relations, said no decision has yet been taken on a plea.

“We will have to wait until we see the information,” Gerhart said.

Morton, an unflagging campaigner against open-net fish farms, is jubilant that the Justice Department has taken over the prosecutions.

“For decades we have heard reports of wild fish trapped in fish farms, eaten by the farm fish and destroyed during harvest,” she said.

Information about specific incidents was passed to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, but they refused to act, Morton said. “Now, government is finally doing its job. This is enormous.”