FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
20 April, 2007

CONTACT:
Dave Bard,
202.486.4426

Statement by Andrea Kavanagh, director, Pure Salmon Campaign,

on the deaths of 51 sea lions at a Canadian salmon farm

Washington, D.C. — Today, Creative Salmon Company, Ltd. reported that 51 California sea lions drowned at its salmon farming operation in the Tofino-area of British Columbia, Canada. Earlier this month, news reports exposed major problems with disease and escapes at Chilean and Norwegian salmon farms, respectively.

"It has been a bad couple of weeks for salmon farmers around the world. First, we learned that sea lice had overrun several Chilean fish farms, forcing those companies to abandon their farms and move to new sites. And then earlier this week, the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries revealed that in 2006, one million fish escaped from Norwegian open-net pens costing the companies $7 million. Today in Canada, Creative Salmon announced that in one incident alone, 51 California sea lions were found dead - drowned in nets that surround a single farm.

"All three incidents are tied together by a common thread. Each of these events could have been prevented if fish farmers changed their operations to physically separate their farms from the marine environment. How many more reasons do these companies need before they realize that closed containment is the way to go?

"These 51 sea lion deaths are a tragedy, but unfortunately not surprising. When fish farmers contribute to the depletion of our oceans' bait fish, marine mammals are forced to look for a new food supply. Naturally, they'll turn to a pen full of hundreds of thousands of factory farmed salmon.

"This should be a wake-up call to the aquaculture industry. Instead of continually pouring money into a broken system, it's finally time to start researching a new closed system that will be better for the planet and their pocketbooks."

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The Pure Salmon Campaign is a global project of the National Environmental Trust. It partners with organizations in the United States, Canada, Europe and Chile all working to improve the way salmon is produced.

Background

• Norway, Chile, and Canada are among the world's largest producers of farmed salmon.
• The Marine Mammal Protection Act in the United States forbids the harassment or killing of marine mammals and the U.S. can forbid the import of any product resulting in the death of marine mammals.