Forty-eight-year-old Glenn Cooke, former coach at Hopkins Academy in Hadley, appeared Friday in Hampshire Superior Court. He admitted prosecutors had sufficient facts to convict him of unnatural and lascivious conduct. The judge continued the case without a finding for five years. He will have no criminal record if he complies with probation that incudes sex offender counseling and a coaching ban.

Cooke was indicted in 2010 on rape charges involving the same victim. A judge dismissed the indictment last year, saying the case was flawed.

The now-27-year-old woman told the court Cooke stole her virginity and her childhood

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Don’t take me over    

In what was called "the takeover bid that wasn’t," Clearwater Seafoods seems to have ably protected itself from a hostile takeover bid by the founders of Cooke Aquaculture, the $500 million New Brunswick aquaculture multinational. Glenn Cooke and his family are known to be successful and ruthless pursuers of business opportunities and have amassed a virtual monopoly of the salmon aquaculture industry in Atlantic Canada.

The firm has been the recipient of millions of dollars in government grants and loans in New Brunswick and Newfoundland and has reportedly asked the Nova Scotia Government for up to $100 million in support for their planned expansion here.  Cooke has expanded ni recent years, buying existing operations in Maine, Chile and Spain.

In September of 2011, Cooke Aquaculture put in an offer for Clearwater Seafoods, apparently catching investors off guard. Clearwater’s three largest shareholders include founders John Risley and Colin MacDonald, who hold almost 60 per cent of the shares, ultimately blocking the Cooke bid for control of Clearwater’s convertible debentures, which could have been converted into common shares. To stop the bid, Clearwater formed a special committee to assess the bid, declaring it a lowball price and rejecting the takeover.

Since then, Clearwater’s profits have surged back, with recent year-end earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization jumping from $50.6-million in 2010 to $60-million in 2011.

Since the failed bid, Cooke Aquaculture has been beset with a multitude of problems, including 99 federal charges against senior executives for illegal use of pesticides, resulting in the death of thousands of lobsters in the bay of Fundy. The firm was also fined for misuse of chemicals for treating a sea lice infestation at one of their farms.

In late 2011, Cooke’s Chilean subsidiary was cited by government authorities there as having several of its farms "under suspicion" of the deadly infectious salmon anemia virus (ISA), resulting in the January, 2012 order for them to slaughter 300,000 or more fish at one site.

In February and March of this year, Cooke’s facility in Shelburne saw an outbreak of the deadly ISA virus, resulting in the slaughter of up to 600,000 salmon, one-third of which were ordered destroyed by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).

This week, Cooke employees have been observed removing thousands of more fish from the salmon cages onto refrigerated trailers parked on the Shelburne Government Wharf.  Cooke public relations executives say that none of their recent problems affects their plans for the $150 million processing facility planned for Shelburne in 2012, but it is now unlikely that work on the plant would begin until 2013 or later.

The pesticide charges are moving through the courts, with the next hearing schedule in St. John next week. The ISA infection in Shelburne is being monitored by the CFIA.

The trucks contained the contents of two cages of euthanized salmon from a farm operated by Cooke Aquaculture in Shelburne Harbour , dumped into huge grey tote boxes.

Cooke Aquaculture says it took the pro-active measure after workers noticed odd behavior of the suspect salmon a week earlier , and fish in two cages began dying of their own accord. Testing at a provincial government lab raised the suspicion that the fish had contracted Infectious Salmon Anemia (ISAv).

The somewhat surreptitious nature of the operation drew the attention of workers on the wharf. When salmon are normally harvested for the processing plant , they are carried away in tank trucks to keep the fish alive until they are slaughtered at the processing facility.

The word got around to local environmentalists and soon the rumour spread that the dreaded Infectious Salmon Anemia (ISA) had been found in the Cooke Aquaculture salmon.

Local inquiries made to Cooke’s Regional Manager drew only a terse “ no comment”.

As it turns out , it was no rumour , and now , the Canadian Food Inspection Agency ( CFIA ) is on the case.

Reached in Ottawa , Dr. Con Kiley , Director of National Aquatic Animal Health Programs for the CFIA confirmed to SeafoodNews.com , that: “ An investigation is under way at a salmon facility in Nova Scotia after a suspect case of ISA has been discovered. “

Dr. Kiley further confirmed that only one such investigation is currently underway in Nova Scotia .

He describes the removal of a large quantity of salmon from “ a facility in Shelburne “ as a “ precautionary and a pro-active measure carried out with the co-operation of the company concerned “.

Cooke Aquaculture Inc. is the only salmon aquaculture firm operating in Shelburne harbor.

Samples of the flesh of the suspect salmon have been sent to a Department of Fisheries and Oceans laboratory in Moncton , New Brunswick , to test for the presence of ISA.

Those results , not expected for a matter of weeks , will determine whether the suspect case was an isolated instance; a mis-diagnosis by the provincial government lab; or whether the potential for a widespread outbreak exists.

Such outbreaks have happened before in eastern Canadian salmon farms , including those operated by Cooke Aquaculture in New Brunswick.

Meanwhile , Cooke’s Shelburne Harbour operation has been placed under quarantine , and “ control measures “ put in place.

The Cooke Aquaculture corporate office in St.Andrews , New Brunswick , responded late Friday afternoon with a statement on its website confirming that the company “ has humanely euthanized two cages of fish in Nova Scotia after routine testing raised suspicion of the infectious Salmon Anemia ( ISA ) virus. “

“ This voluntary action is considered as a proactive fish health management strategy employed by salmon farmers around the world……” The statement did not include the value of the salmon destroyed , or the number of fish.

According to the company…” the suspicion of ISA was raised during a routine fish health surveillance and testing”…on February 10, 2012.

In its statement , Cooke Aquaculture emphasizes that “…the presence of ISA has NOT been confirmed. “

The virus is a water borne disease occurring naturally in the environment , and is present in wild salmon populations. The Cooke statement maintains that “..salmon farmers have learned to manage it over many years”.

However the virus spreads more rapidly amongst fish in close containment , and salmon preservation groups say those fish can transmit it to endangered wild stock which might pass by .

There is no risk to human health.

Recently Cooke Aquaculture submitted a proposal to set up three additional salmon farms in the Shelburne area. Last year , a company expansion into St. Mary’s Bay in southwestern Nova Scotia triggered protests as well as lawsuits from a coalition of lobster fishermen and community groups in that area.

The Shelburne operation has also evoked protest and lawsuits by community groups against the province of Nova Scotia.

Currently ,the Scotland based company Loch Duart is seeking a licence to open up farming operations along the eastern shore of Nova Scotia under a company called Snow Island Salmon , in partnership with local entrepreneurs .

Conservation groups and local fishermen are lobbying the provincial government not to issue a licence, and are already using the events in Shelburne Harbour as a major talking point.

Abandonment issues?

In a surprising announcement on Friday by the federal government, Cooke Aquaculture subsidiary Kelly Cove Salmon (KCS) has thrown in the towel in the controversial application for a aquaculture license within yards of McNutts Island in Shelburne Harbour, following Cooke’s admission that there is suspicion of the incurable and destructive Infectious Salmon Anemia (ISA) virus at one of the firm’s several industrial farm sites in the harbour. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has placed a quarantine on the suspect site, but Cooke, a New-Brunswick-based, $500 million, multinational corporation, has refused to disclose the location of the deadly virus. At its maximum capacity, the farm would have produced a $70 million harvest of “eco trust” salmon.

In a news release Sunday from Mayday Shelburne County and Friends of Shelburne Harbour, it was disclosed that the federal employee overseeing the environmental review for three mega-sites being proposed by Cooke told Mayday that “KCS has confirmed that they are no longer pursuing site 1357 (Middle Head)”, near the eastern shore of McNutt’s Island and 2.5 kilometers of another large site with a capacity of one million fish.  Uncharacteristic of a company known for its aggressive public relations programme, Cooke has given no public notice of the decision and it does not appear on their web site. Cooke PR vice president Nell Halse declined to answer any questions from SCT, saying in an email that she would not elaborate on Cooke’s plans not to pursue the lease ‘at this time’ , except to say "we are abandoning our plans."   This site would also have produced $70 million per harvest at full capacity.

No answers to simple questions
On Friday, Halse also declined to answer questions from SCT about the circumstances which prompted Cooke’s decision to not pursue the lease, or what date KCS became aware that there might be a fish health problem at the site, or the the number of fish removed from Shelburne Harbour between Feb 10 and 17.

Although neither Cooke, Nova Scotia Department of Aquaculture or CFIA would disclose where the potential ISA infection took place, it is presumed to be at the current site abutting McNutts Island (McNutt’s Island site #1345,), approximately 4 kilometers from Government Point on the Sandy Point coastline and containing 860,000 fish, with a wholesale market value market of approximately $45 million.

Distance standards ignored
In order to avoid disease contagion, federal standards set by DFO require a minimum of three kilometers between farm sites, but the the Middle Head site, according to documents filed by Cooke/KCS, was less than one half that distance. If the McNutt’s Island site was the source of ISA contagion, the Middle Head site with a planned one million fish, could have been extremely vulnerable to ISA virus, which almost destroyed the massive Chilean farmed salmon industry in 2007, with job losses exceeding 10,000 and millions of fish being slaughtered.

“The prospect that Cooke was being allowed by the federal government and Nova Scotia Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture (NSDFA) to place two large farms so closely together has been a concern of ours for more than a year,” said Sindy Horncastle, spokesperson for Mayday – Shelburne County in a news release. “We know that others have also written to NSDFA Minister Sterling Belliveau with warnings, all of which have been completely ignored.”

“We wonder if  Cooke’s sudden cancelation of their application for the proposed Middle Head site has to do with the possibility that ISA exists in McNutt’s Island waters, we hope that Cooke explains the reasoning for their decision to no longer pursue the proposal,” said Marian Specter, also with Friends of Shelburne Harbour.

Jordan Bay sites also challenged
The Middle Head site was one of three large farms being proposed by Cooke, the other two also being sited very close to each other in Jordan Bay. Mayday and others have been raising the alarm with NSDFA  and minister Sterling Belliveau that scientific studies indicate that the estuarial nature of the bay would deposit tons of fish farm fecal matter – and possibly pesticides – on what lobster fishermen describe as "a very  productive lobster nursery."

Herschel Specter, with Friends of Shelburne Harbour says in the release that common sense, foresight, and acknowledgement that similar outbreaks have occurred in other high-density fish locations could have predicted the outcome with ISA in Shelburne harbour.

“The events of the past few days raise many concerns among those of us who are committed to understanding the true implications of industrial fish farming in the bays and harbours of Nova Scotia’s coast,” added Specter, “and considering the latest news, the known science, the laying of federal charges for alleged illegal pesticide use and other cautionary signals, we think the public is entitled to learn from Cooke, NSDFA, DFO and CFIA the answers to many important questions.”

Cooke has some ‘splainin’ to do
Some of the questions Specter posed included the location and timing of the possible ISA outbreak, when and by who was testing done, were any of the slaughtered fish transferred from another site in Shelburne Harbour and when, is there ISA in the water near the affected site now, why was Cooke allowed to propose a large farm so close to another farm, will the ISA outbreak and new site cancelation affect the promised processing plant employing 350 local workers.

"There is a huge price on this “debacle” added Horncastle. “There is a social price and a big environmental cost. Using our taxpayer dollars to support an industry with a history of problems is completely unacceptable.”

On Friday, Roland Cusack, Nova Scotia’s chief veterinarian for aquatic animal health, appeared to go to great lengths with media outlets to minimize the possible negative effects of ISA in Nova Scotia, including telling CBC that, although untreatable,  "it usually doesn’t cause really catastrophic large-scale losses."

"Given the terrible consequences of ISA in Chile, Norway and New Brunswick, including the wholesale slaughter of millions of fish worth over a billion dollars, for him to say that is completely irresponsible, " said one harbour side resident who asked not to be named . "If he represents the government policy or position, we are in real trouble."

Sindy Horncastle added, “The same conditions that exist in Shelburne Harbour exist in other harbours and bays where NSDFA is allowing and promoting the expansion of industrial open-pen salmon aquaculture.

ISA outbreaks have occurred in New Brunswick, Norway, Scotland and Chile. British Columbia had a suspected ISA occurance in late 2011 and further tests are being made there. In January, 2012, a Cooke subsidiary in Chile was forced to slaughter up to 300,000 salmon in the first ISA outbreak there since the devastation of 2007.

Five-year Job loss
If the ISA virus is found to be prevalent in the diseased fish, it is unlikely that the site would be stocked again soon and would effectively be “moth-balled.”  Salmon farms produce a full crop of fish every two years. On that basis, according to Cooke executives, the ISA-infected site and the Middle Head site account for at least one third of the minimum three million fish needed for the processing plant and hatchery planned for Shelburne and Digby. “Through carelessness or through normal biological circumstances, this effectively puts an end to the 350 jobs Cooke had been promising the struggling communities in those two towns,” says an economic development specialist in the region.  “It looks now like it will be five years or more before will ten

The Municipality of Shelburne, Town of Shelburne and Chamber of Commerce in the area had been strong proponents of Cooke’s plans. The mayor and warden and many of the councilors and business people became very vocal about their support after taking and expense-paid trip in Cooke’s private plane to visit their facilities and offices in New Brunswick. Two hours before a presentation by the Friends of Shelburne Harbour regarding the exercise of caution in having large, industrial salmon farms populate the bays and harbours in the county, and prior to any public discussion of the issue, the Municipality issued a broadly-distributed news release promoting Cooke’s plans and stating that citizens in the are were fully in favour of the proposal.

Tainted lobster scare?

Many lobster fishermen in the area have been been  adamantly opposed to the new, massive farms, telling Sterling Belliveau at fishermen’s meetings that the science they have seen suggests that fecal waste and possible pesticide residue could cripple their livelihoods. They have repeated asked Belliveau for science reports they believe his department holds and have been denied. The most recent request was met with a $3000 bill from Belliveau’s staff for them to even look for the reports. The worry increased recently when CEO Glenn Cooke and two senior executives were charged by the federal government with 33 counts each of allegedly dumping the highly-toxic pesticide cypermethrin in waters near lobster pounds, resulting in the death of thousands of adult lobsters ready for market. That case, which could result in multi-million dollar fines and serious prison time, has yet to go to trial. Cooke was also recently fine $40,000 for the illegal use of another pesticide.

One lobster fisherman told SCT that the industry in and around Shelburne is "hanging on by a thread." "We’ve been really worried about the low lobster prices and then we were worried about how lobster buyers would react to buying lobsters with possible pesticide residue," he said. "But if word gets out that the waters around our traps are infected with one of the scariest marine viruses, that could just be the end of us." When reminded that ISA is not known to be transferred to humans, the fisherman was not comforted. "That’s what they said about bird flu and mad cow and all of the other diseases that have ruined the lives of thousands of farmers and others. Who in their right mind is going to eat something that’s been swimming in water that might contain something called infectious anemia? Just think about it."

"We’re not just a bunch of dumb fishermen, you know," the fisherman added. "We read the news and we’re quite aware of how this ISA thing is suspected in BC, has been in Cooke farms in New Brunswick before and is now active in several Cooke farms in Chile. We are worried."     

More than nine telephone calls to staff at the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture Friday went unreturned.

SEE RELATED STORIES

• Cooke quarantined
• Deadly ISA in Shelburne Harbour?

Multi-million dollar deal dead in the water…

Clearwater Seafoods Inc. chairman Colin MacDonald told reporters Wednesday that the $100 million hostile takeover of Clearwater by New Brunswick-based aquaculture giant Cooke Aquaculture is dead in the water after CEO Glenn Cooke and two other senior executives were charged by Environment Canada Enforcement Division with 11 counts each of illegally dispersing dangerous pesticides in the Bay of Fundy, resulting in the deaths of thousands of lobsters.

"There is absolutely no activity now on the proposed deal by Cooke," McDonald said. "With these charges, I think they have other things to be concerned about." MacDonald and Clearwater co-founder John Risley have spurned the unwanted advances of Glenn Cooke and his growing half-billion dollar empire. 

Clearwater reported lobster kills to DFO…
One of the most intiguing parts of the MacDonald’s statements was the admission by McDonald that Clearwater employees were some of the complaintants in the lobster deaths near Deer Island and Grand Manan in 2009. "We had thousands of lobsters killed by what we now know was cypermethrin," said McDonald, "and our people reported it to DFO." (Department of Fisheries and Oceans) 

Environment Canada charged Kelly Cove Salmon, a division of Cooke Aquaculture, and Cooke and other senior company officials with allegedly releasing a cypermethrin-based pesticide into the waters of Maces Bay, Passamoquoddy Bay as well as the waters surrounding Deer Island and Grand Manan Island between November 2009 and November 2010. Cypermethrin is not authorized for use in marine environments, and is harmful to crustaceans including, but not limited to, lobster and shrimp. $33 million in fines and 99 years in prison are the maximum penalties faced by Glenn Cooke and his colleagues. The first court date for Cooke on the current charges is December 13.

In a story in the Chronicle Herald on Friday, Clearwater appeared to be backtracking on earlier statements about what the Herald called "murky" sources of the pesticide complaints, with Glenn Cooke saying he didn’t think Clearwater was involved. Cooke PR cheif Nell Halse told the Herald that Cooke remains interested in acquiring Clearwater.

Adding insult to injury…

Other fallout from the charges include charges Thursday by community groups who have been questioning Cooke’s practices and policies regarding environmental issues that Cooke’s responses to the charges were "insulting" to all Nova Scotians.

New Brunswick salmon growers have been fighting a losing battle in regards to sea lice for several years, as have growers in Norway, Scotland and Chile. The New Brunswick growers petitioned Health Canada to allow them to use a new treatment, Alpha Max, last year. After trails done by Environment Canada showed that lobster exposed to this chemical died, the request was denied.

Mayday! Shelburne County and St. Mary’s Bay Coastal Alliance say that statements that Cooke has recently made to the people of Nova Scotia about the illegal pesticide charges are "insulting and infuriating." They  have long argued that one of the concerns of fishermen and community members of Nova Scotia is how the use of chemicals to treat sea lice can have a harmful effect on the ecology of marine habitat. "These chemicals are lethal to aquatic life, especially crustaceans. Lobster, scallop, shrimp and mussels are all very susceptible to these chemicals," says Karen Crocker of SMBCA.

She says that, in a letter to employees and community members, Cooke trivializes the serious charges they face in for alleged use of this noxious poison by stating in a letter to employees and community members by saying that other countries use the banned poison and that it is sued on golf courses.

Cooke and other growers have been ambitiously lobbying government to support an Integrated Pest Management Plan, which would allow for a wider variety of chemical theraputants to be at the disposal of the salmon farmers to use to help combat sea lice problems. "If our government agrees to this IPMP," says Crocker, "how do they propose to regulate the use of such chemicals?"

In speaking about the charges, Crocker says, "The reason so many community groups have been standing up and demanding that our government rethink its decision to allow the rapid expansion of open net salmon farming in our lucrative fishing grounds is based on circumstances such as this."

SEE PREVIOUS STORIES ABOUT COOKE/CLEARWATER DEAL

SEE STORIES ABOUT COOKE AQUACULTURE

New Brunswick salmon growers have been fighting a losing battle in regards to sea lice for several years, as have growers in Norway, Scotland and Chile. The New Brunswick growers recently petitioned Health Canada to allow them to use a new treatment, Alpha Max, last year. After trails done by Environment Canada showed that lobster exposed to this chemical died, the request was denied.

The statements that Cooke has made to the people of Nova Scotia about these charges are insulting and infuriating. We have long argued that one of the concerns of fishermen and community members of Nova Scotia is how the use of chemicals to treat sea lice can have a harmful effect on the ecology of our bays. These chemicals are lethal to aquatic life, especially crustaceans. Lobster, scallop, shrimp and mussels are all very susceptible to these chemicals.

Cooke trivializes the serious charges they face in for alleged use of this noxious poison by stating in a letter to employees and community members:

“Salmon farmers in many other countries are authorized to use it”.

Suggesting that our government rethink its ban of using such chemicals in our oceans, in order to protect the health of “their” fish is a good indication that they do not feel that using these chemicals is wrong, but it is just unfortunate that it is illegal.

The very fact that Cooke states online to support groups:

“However, we can tell you that the substance they are talking about is something that is used regularly on farms and on golf courses”.

Is this supposed to make the members of our communities feel better? This is not a commonly available chemical, and most definitely is banned for use in aquatic environments.

Cooke also states:

“We continue to encourage our governments to approve the treatment and management tools that our fish health and farming teams need to protect the health of our fish.”

This is in reference to the salmon growers lobbying government to support an Integrated Pest Management Plan or IPMP. This would allow for a wider variety of chemical theraputants to be at the disposal of the salmon farmers to use to help combat sea lice problems. If our government agrees to this IPMP, how do they propose to regulate the use of such chemicals?

Cooke goes on to say:

“We are all custodians of the marine environment and we recognize the importance of the fishery…”

We have no reason to believe that they will be better stewards of the marine environment in Nova Scotia than had been reported in New Brunswick.

The bottom line is: the reason so many community groups have been standing up and demanding that our government rethink its decision to allow the rapid expansion of open net salmon farming in our lucrative fishing grounds is based on circumstances such as this.

With the need for salmon growers to have broader access to chemicals in order to grow “healthy fish” situations like this will continue. And the allowance by our government for these companies to operate at the expense of our oceans, at the expense of our fisheries and at the expense of our communities is not acceptable. Growing salmon is something that needs to be done in a manner where companies are responsible for the wastes that are generated by this type of farming. Not simply relying on the vastness of our oceans to absorb these wastes, because our oceans cannot tolerate this treatment.

St. Mary’s Bay Coastal Alliance (SMBCA)

Mayday! Shelburne County

Tom Sherman: Summerville Centre, Queens Co.

Jan Pottie: Summerville Centre, Queens Co.

During the two-year investigation of the killing of hundreds of lobsters by the illegal use of the noxious pesticide cypermethrin near Cook Aquaculture sites in Passamaquoddy Bay, Deer Island and Grand Mannan Island, and after raids on Cooke offices by the pistol-packing gendarmes of Environment Canada’s Enforcement Division, Halse never denied that Cooke was the culprit, but continued to mouth platitudes about Cooke’s “best practices” and  concern for the environment. Wednesday, Halse was whining to media outlets that she was concerned that the court of public opinion has already passed judgment on the company, while describing Cooke as “custodians of the marine environment" and “good neighbours." 

Message to Nell Halse: Good neighbours don’t poison other neighbours’ lobster stocks.

HARBOUR WATCH

Some of the media stories are here:

• Telegraph Journal: Three Cooke Aquaculture executives face environment charges
• CBC: Fish farm charged in connection with lobster deaths
• SouthCoastTODAY: BREAKING NEWS: Cooke Aquaculture charged by Environment Canada in illegal pesticide use

Previous stories:

CBC: Illegal pesticide use probed in 4 N.B. sites

BREAKING NEWS: 2nov2011:  Glenn Cooke, CEO for New Brunswick-based, multi-national aquaculture giant Cooke Aquaculture was charged with two other executives on Monday by Environment Canada with at least 33 counts of  section 36.3 of the Fisheries Act prohibiting the discharge into the marine environment of "deleterious substances".  After several reports in 2009 of sudden massive lobster kills near Cooke salmon farms in New Brunswick, Environment Canada raided Cooke offices and seized documents and records relating to the use of illegal pesticides, including cypermethrin.  Also charged by Environment Canada were Cooke Aquaculture/Kelly Cove Salmon executives Randy Griffin and Michael Szemerda.

An Environment Canada press briefing paper described the charges: "Environment Canada is alleging that Kelly Cove Salmon, a division of Cooke Aquaculture, and three of its senior company officials allegedly released a cypermethrin-based pesticide into the waters of Maces Bay, Passamoquoddy Bay as well as the waters surrounding Deer Island and Grand Manan Island between November 2009 and November 2010. Cypermethrin is not authorized for use in marine environments, and is harmful to crustaceans including, but not limited to, lobster and shrimp."

$33 million in fines and 99 years in prison are the maximum penalties faced by Glenn Cooke and his colleagues. The first court date for Cooke on the current charges is December 13.

Waters Poisoned
Robert Robichaud, regional operations manager for theEnvironmental Enforcement Division of Environment Canadatold SouthCoastTODAY that, over a two-year period, two investigations were conducted on the allegations that Glenn Cooke, Griffin, Szemerda and Kelly Cove participated in the dumping of noxious pesticide cypermethrim into the waters of  Passamaquoddy Bay and Maces Bay and the waters near Grand Mannan and Deer Island. Several media reports appeared during that time. The pesticide contains lethal amounts of fast-acting neurotoxins described as "highly toxic to fish, bees and aquatic insects."

The Atlantic Canada Fish Farmers Association has recently began a comprehensive lobbying campaign to convince mayors, wardens and councils in New Brunswick with an implied threat to the councils that aquaculture jobs would be lost if the industry was not allowed to use additional chemicals to combat sea lice and other salmon diseases.

Breaking a commitment

On its web site, Cooke advertising an environmental policy which states that they are committed to "minimizing the imacts on the environment" from salmon farming, that they "respect the working environment," that they will be "active in preventiong pollution",  that they would use "environmentally friendly products",  that they would participate in new technologies and support best practices "in the interaction of our operations with the environment", "ensure that all employees are aware of the policy," and provide resources and training to ensure staff is able to confirm to the policy.  "These charges make a mockery of that environmental policy," says a source who is very familiar with the effects of noxious pesticides on sensitive marine environments.

Pamela Parker of the New Brunswick Salmon Growers Association told reporters when the pesticide dumping allegations first surfaced, "We want the public to know that salmon farmers are extremely diligent at protecting marine environment. We only use products authorized by Environment Canada, and we only use them in accordance to prescribed method of treatment." Robert Robichaud said that the use of cypermethrin as alleged against Cooke is absolutely prohibited by Canadian regulations encoded in the Fisheries Act.

Losing battle against sea lice

Many industry observers believe that Cooke and other industrial producers are fighting a losing battle in trying to raise millions of salmon in close proximity in large salmon feed lot operations. It is generally agreed that the control of sea lice on farmed salmon has hit a brick wall, with applications of the common – and legal – chemical Slice needed at double and triple strength to have any effect on the outbreaks and epidemics which are a common occurrance throughout the world on salmon farms.

In addition to regular outbreaks of sea lice in New Brunswick, Norway, Chile, Scotland and elsewhere, the continued incidence of ISA virus in large farms in Chile, Norway and elsewhere has come home to Canada, with recent reports of ISA in wild salmon in two separate locations in British Columbia near large salmon feed lots.     

Cooke, whose income is reported at $500 million per year,  has recently began a major expansion of industrial salmon farms in Nova Scotia with farms near Digby, Lunenburg, Shelburne and elsewhere.  The firm owns farms in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Maine, Chile and Spain. A Cooke subsidiary in Chile was recently named in a government report on the possible spread of the immune salmon anemia virus (ISAv) similar to the strain which devastated the Chilean industry in 2007, resulting in the slaughter of millions of fish and the loss of more than 7,000 jobs.  Cooke executive Nell Halse recently told a US fishery reporter that Cooke preferred the relatively unregulated Nova Scotia to the more stringent environment in the U.S. 

PR director Nell Halse did not respond to telephone inquires, but told CBC television that Cooke looked forward to addressing the charges when they know more specifics.

You are invited to experience an exhibition of new art and writing about and by the people of the Desert Channels Country.

Please join some of the 46 contributors at the launch by

Bruce Scott, Mayor of the Barcoo Shire.

Hugh Sawrey Gallery, Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame, Longreach, Queensland

6.00– 8.00 pm 24 September 2010

Event Free

WEBSITE: http://environmentalhistory-au-nz.org/desert-channels/

To order: http://www.publish.csiro.au/nid/21/pid/6406.htm