The Norwegian fish farming industry is threatening stocks of local wild salmon off the west coast of Canada, according to the Indian Chief. Whilst the world media prepares for the upcoming Winter Olympics in Vancouver, a group called “Pure Salmon Campaign” (PSC) has written a letter to the Norwegian King.

“Genocide”

The group – comprising politicians, environmental groups, scientists, and Chief Robert Joseph of the Musgamagw Tsawataineuk Tribal Council and hereditary head of the Kwakwaka'wakw tribe, who live off wild salmon – is campaigning for the removal of salmon farms from British Columbian waters.

As well as inviting King Harald V to a salmon dinner to discuss the problem, PSC also ask him to intervene as head of state for a country that controls most of the global salmon farming sector.

“We hope that Your Royal Highness can persuade Norwegian companies to clean up their act, move farms out of the path of migrating wild salmon and introduce closed containment systems to protect wild fish from sea lice, mass escapes and infectious diseases,” the Canadian paper Globe and Mail (CTV) quotes PSC’s letter as stating.

"The demise of wild salmon is tantamount to genocide because it reflects the demise or our culture, way of life and spirituality," Chief Joseph tells the paper.

 “Unethical”

However, the Canadian Federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans has published material refuting PSC’s claims, and the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research has called them “unethical”.

Jørgen Christiansen, director of communications at Marine Harvest – which produced 37,000 tons of salmon in 2009 – tells Bergens Tidende that though they take the problem of sea lice seriously, the company regards PSC as being unreliable.

“We cooperate with several professional environmental organisations worldwide. Pure Salmon Campaign has alleged for several years that sea lice will cause one of the breeds of salmon called “Pink” to become extinct. There were much higher numbers of Pink last summer than expected. PSC stopped mentioning this breed, and began talking about Sockeye,” he says.

 “We have no comment to make about the invitation from PSC and Chief Joseph,” Sven Gj. Gjeruldsen, Assistant Head of Communications at the Royal Palace, informs The Foreigner.