The head of the inquiry into British Columbia's salmon fishery must decide whether salmon farms are incubators of disease that threaten wild stocks, or pose no threat to the environment and migrating species.
Opponents and proponents of B.C.'s fish-farming industry asked the commissioner hearing evidence into the collapse of the 2009 Fraser River sockeye run to weigh the two drastically different viewpoints during closing submissions Monday.
Commissioner Bruce Cohen heard testimony from 173 witnesses over 125 days and will soon write his report, which is due June 30, 2012.
Gregory McDade, legal counsel for the Aquaculture Coalition, a group of industry critics that includes biologist Alexandra Morton, said the high-density environment of B.C.'s salmon farms are incubators of disease, and that it's only a matter of time before a devastating pathogen emerges.
McDade said 30 of about 100 farms report fish-health events annually, and that some three million fish die each year from unexplained causes.
He urged that salmon farms be moved away from the migratory routes of wild stocks.
"The real issue here is proof versus risk," said McDade. "The risk here is real. Don't wait for 10 years until this is proven and we have no fish left."
But Alan Blair, counsel for the BC Salmon Farmers Association, said experts have already told the commission that properly managed aquaculture sites can co-exist with the marine environment.
He said there was no significant relationship between salmon farms and the decline of the Fraser River run, contending that experts had ruled out the impacts of waste, escaped Atlantic salmon and sea lice.
Blair said critics have repeatedly raised concerns about sea lice, viruses and marine anemia, most recently infectious salmon anemia, with little success.
"Each one of these risks is brought breathlessly to the public in a sensational way and each one so far has been demonstrated to be something less than advertised," he said.
Final submissions will continue Tuesday, when the commission will hear from the Conservation Coalition, an organization representing seven environmental groups, as well as commercial fishermen.
