A Dangerous Truth About Salmon Farming: Where Does the Madness End?

Tavish Campbell and some very questionable bright red liquid, Brown's Bay, British Columbia.

(Courtesy of Tavish Campbell)

Having touched on the global controversial issue of salmon farming some weeks ago and more recently delved into the contaminated depths of polluted freshwater, it is critical that I bring to your attention the recent dives underwater videographer Tavish Campbell has subjected himself to -

Campbell filmed the effluent pipe of a farmed salmon processing plant of Cermaq Canada, on the coast of British Columbia and documented the raw, untreated blood belonging to thousands of farmed Atlantic salmon processed at the plant, being pumped directly into the largest migration route of wild salmon on the BC coast. A third of all of British Columbia's wild salmon swim passed this site at Brown's Bay, Discovery Island.

Samples were collected and tested positive for the newly discovered Piscine Reovirus (PRV) and Piscirickettsia salmonis bacteria, which causes the severe disease piscirickettsiosis. PRV is highly contagious and has been linked to high mortality rates due to heart and skeletal muscle inflammation (HSMI) which results in abnormal swimming behaviour and anorexia. PRV and Piscirickettsia salmonis are feared to be passed onto wild salmon stocks.

"As I approached the outfall pipe and my lights illuminated the bloody water, I think I just about choked on my regulator." - Tavish Campbell

The footage can be seen best on Tavish's Instagram, @tavishcampbel,  but if you don't have Instagram, do not fret (!) you can still see the gory footage of billowing red blood, seen on news channels: 

*http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/b-c-fish-processors-spewing-potentially-dangerous-bloodwater-into-key-salmon-migration-corridor-1.3696793

*http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-42115794

How can large environmental NGO's, governmental agencies or international legal bodies hear the outrage of local people yet sit idle as infectious and dangerous effluent is literally just pumped right into the heart of nature - simply because there are no specific regulations in place under the federal Fisheries Act, regarding such effluent from fish processing plants ? Brown's Bay processing plant had not been inspected since 2013 and often the permits such plants operate under (BC wide) were designated decades ago

I, for one, am very curious to see how long it takes Environment Canada to put an end to such an outrageous act against nature.