Sea lice issue invaded legal briefing

Matthew Little
March 25, 2010
The Epoch Times

PARLIAMENT HILL, Ottawa—Sea lice made their presence felt during what was supposed to be a briefing about a Supreme Court decision on aquaculture to the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans on Monday.

That decision, handed down by the B.C. Supreme Court in February 2009, turned aquaculture regulations in British Columbia into paper mache by ruling that the provincial government did not have legal authority to regulate ocean finfish aquaculture.

Finfish aquaculture has been a hot issue in B.C. ever since reports started coming out that the practice of raising fish such as salmon in netted farms along the coast was possibly killing off wild stocks in the region.

Farmed animals are more apt to spread disease and parasites due to the close living quarters and research continues into the impact farmed fish have on wild stocks. Some researchers and critics—including Alexandra Morton whose constitutional challenge brought about the ruling—allege that sea lice proliferate in fish farms and then spread to wild fish as they swim past, killing off stocks.

With the federal government set to take over regulating aquaculture in B.C., the issue of sea lice has come under closer scrutiny by parliamentarians.

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