The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is teaming up with high-profile Canadian environmentalists and scientists to investigate the impact of salmon farms on the B.C. coast.
Actor-turned-activist Pamela Anderson, Vancouver environmentalist David Suzuki, First Nations leader Ernie Crey and marine biologist Alexandra Morton will be at a news conference in Vancouver Monday to launch Operation Virus Hunter.
Morton said the expedition aims to raise awareness of the dangers the farmed salmon industry — which raise salmon in pens in the ocean — poses to wild salmon stocks and ocean biodiversity.
“They use the ocean as an open sewer and dump their waste straight into it, specifically the viruses and sea lice that breed in industrial farms. They’re allowed to pour that on to the biggest salmon migration routes in Canada.”
Morton will be one of the scientists on-board the Sea Shepherd’s R/V Martin Sheen as it sets sail this week to northern Vancouver Island, following the route of the Fraser River sockeye migration.
