It was revealed back in December 2017, that Canada’s largest wild salmon migration route was being flooded with huge plumes of infected blood.
Even though there has been massive public outrage over the incident, it appears that the bloody pipeline is still spewing.
Tavish Campbell, the famed conservationist and underwater videographer, highlighted the problem when he dived in the area back in April, June, and October of 2017.
He has recently returned to the notorious site and to his horror, the infected wastewater is still gushing into river systems around the Discovery Islands in British Columbia on Canada’s west coast.
What’s more, Tavish believes that the blood is still infected with a highly contagious viral disease that’s rampant in salmon farms.
Campbell explained in an video of the pipe (below):
“Recent dives have revealed the blood is still flowing and STILL INFECTED with Piscine orthoreovirus. This virus, which came from the Atlantic ocean, infects 80 percent of the farmed fish in B.C. and is proven harmful to Pacific salmon,”
Brown’s Bay Packing Company, a processing plant for farmed Atlantic salmon are supposedly behind the contaminated waste water. The company previously stated on their website back in 2017, that they comply with all laws and follow the Norwegian way, meaning that all the discharge is disinfected before they release it into the natural environment.
However, samples from 2017 tested positive for pathogens such as intestinal worms and Piscine reovirus (PVR).
Given the current climate of over fishing and the dwindling of natural fish stocks, fish farms have now overtaken captured fisheries in recent years as the leading supplier of fish per capita. But fish farming also brings with it its own set of environmental issues – this situation clearly highlights one of the downfalls.
Fish farms are notorious for cramped conditions and they are breeding grounds for many pathogens and parasites. PRV was first discovered back in 2010 in samples of farmed Atlantic salmon with its emergence closely linked to the substantial rise of aquaculture.
So you can see why spewing bloody wastewater infected with the orthoreovirus into natural water systems causes huge problems to wild salmon. The largest wild salmon migration route in Canada runs directly through the area. Although there has been no study assessing the total effects of the pipe, Campbell has speculated that the damage to the wild salmon population is already being felt.
Campbell told Vice:
“2019 was the worst sockeye salmon return in Canadian history. This is what extinction looks like and it’s happening right under our noses.”
Campbell explains in an Instagram post how Canadian political parties, such as Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party of Canada, have promised to rectify this problem by moving fish farms out of the ocean and inland to more sustainably controlled premises by 2025.
If you are concerned about the problem, Campbell is encouraging you to write to Prime Minister Trudeau, local representatives, and any relevant authorities.
