October 12, 2006

 

Canada's Creative Salmon battles fish-farm campaigner in court

 

 

A salmon farm in Canada has taken a fish-farm campaigner to court for calling it a "liar and consumer fraud".

 

A former aquaculture campaigner for the FOCS, Don Staniford was on trial in Canada's B.C Supreme Court last week for comments he made in two press releases. The comments alleged Creative Salmon lied to the public about its use of antibiotics and suggested the company breached the competition act.

 

Staniford said under cross examination that he was confused because Creative Salmon's website implied the company used no antibiotics even though a June 2005 freedom-of-information request revealed the company used 245 kilogrammes of oxytetracycline at three sites.

 

Staniford also said the company's website made no distinction between its use of antibiotics on brood stock and market fish.

 

Staniford also released a press release after malachite green was found in a second company's fish and called for the destruction of 310,000 farmed salmon. He also lodged a  complaint to the competition bureau.

 

Staniford said after malachite green, a carcinogen, was found in another company's fish, he emailed Creative asking if the company bought any contaminated eggs or if any Creative fish had tested positive. The e-mail was not replied.

 

During cross-examination, Staniford said he had spent his entire post-academic career opposing open-net salmon farming and admitted to making disparaging comments against sustainable salmon farming.

 

He also admitted saying that farmed salmon contain dangerous levels of PCBs when he knew PCBs also existed in wild salmon and other food but did not know which had higher levels. He was also unaware if PCB levels in Creative Salmon fish were acceptable to Health Canada.

 

Staniford admitted he did not know whether sea lice were a greater or lesser problem in wild salmon. He was also questioned about a press release in which he demanded the destruction of 310,000 farmed salmon potential contaminated by low levels of malachite green and admitted it contained inaccurate attribution.

 

Staniford also agreed the government has never said that fish with low-levels of malachite green could not be exported. He also had no disagreements with a veterinarian's statement that an individual must eat 40,000 kilogrammes of salmon contaminated with high levels of malachite green every day to get sick.