Round up: Canada salmon inquiry and fish farms

The Canadian federal inquiry of the dramatic decline of salmon in the Fraser River in 2009 being conducted by the Cohen Commission continues this week. According to CBC News, Fisheries and Oceans researcher Kristi Miller is scheduled to testify on Wednesday as the commission turns its attention to fish farming. Miller is expected to present recently completed research that indicates that a virus, perhaps linked to fish farming, has been killing salmon before they reach the spawning grounds. The research was the center of a controversy at first and then of allegations that federal officials were trying to prevent Miller from speaking about her findings.

Canada’s The Globe and Mail reports that on Monday, fish-farming critics received "an assist" from NHL defenseman Willie Mitchell, who hails from a British Columbia fishing community. Mitchell sent a letter to the Cohen Commission saying that he’s close to people who work in fish farms and doesn’t want them to lose their livelihoods, but he urged the commission to recommend land-based closed containment for all fish farms, to remove all risk to wild fisheries.

And CBC News reports that a new study has found that sea lice infestations at B.C. fish farms are linked to increased mortality in wild pink and coho salmon. The results of the new study contradict an earlier finding that such a connection does not exist.

http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/round-canada-salmon-inquiry-and-fish-farms