Fish farmers say public should not fund anti-farming activists
Don’t spend public money on a group that is trying to shut down our industry: that was the message this week from the Atlantic Canada Fish Farmers Association, in an open letter to Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney and Fisheries Minister, Joanne Thompson.
Canada’s federal government announced last week that it would be allocating CAN $81.7m (£4.7m) over five years for its Atlantic Wild Salmon Strategy, aimed at stabilizing and restoring habitats.
The funding is part of a larger $3.8-billion (£2bn) package, under the heading “A Force of Nature: Canada’s Strategy to Protect Nature.”
In his letter to the government, Tom Taylor, Executive Director of the Atlantic Canada Fish Farmers Association (ACFFA), writes: “Atlantic Canada’s fish farmers support meaningful, science-based efforts to restore and protect wild Atlantic salmon populations. We share these waters. We are active partners in conservation.
“However, as details of this funding are finalized, we are unequivocal: no public funds should be allocated to the Atlantic Salmon Federation (ASF).
“At a time when Canada must strengthen its food security, economic resilience, and rural communities, it is indefensible to allocate taxpayer dollars to an organization actively working to dismantle a responsible, highly regulated food production sector.”
"A foreign-funded, activist organisation"
Taylor spells out the importance of the salmon farming sector to the regional economy – employing more than 9,400 people and generating $3.2bn (£1.7bn) in economic output – and also the efforts made by the industry to help wild salmon conservation.
He argues that the Atlantic Salmon Federation (ASF) is dedicated to spreading misinformation, saying: “The ASF is a foreign-funded, activist organisation that has repeatedly engaged in campaigns designed to misrepresent, undermine, and ultimately dismantle Atlantic Canada’s salmon farming sector while providing negligible outcomes for genuine conservation. Their activities are strategic, coordinated efforts to de-market farmed salmon and erode public trust in a vital Canadian food-producing industry.
“Campaigns such as ‘Off the Table’ and salmon.info are not neutral public education initiatives. They are deliberate, well-funded communications strategies designed to spread misleading and incomplete information about farmed salmon, with the explicit goal of discouraging its consumption and shutting down the sector. These efforts are harmful and deceptive.”
The ACFFA is calling for a formal review of the ASF’s charitable designation and a commitment that no federal funding for salmon conservation be committed to the organisation during (or after) the review.
The ASF, in contrast, describes itself as “a world-leading science and advocacy organisation”.
It says: “We conduct research on wild salmon throughout the North Atlantic, perform complex river restoration projects, and advocate for legislation that will help to protect wild Atlantic salmon.”
Last week Nathan Wilbur, President of the ASF, welcomed the Canadian government’s announcement of new funding for salmon conservation, but pointed out to Canadian broadcaster CBC that the details on how it is to be allocated have not been spelled out yet.
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