VANCOUVER - B.C. fishermen are demanding the federal government take responsibility for the salmon farming industry, and start applying the same rules to the controversial operations as they apply to the wild fishing industry.
A petition signed by hundreds of fishermen has been sent to Fisheries Minister Gail Shea and the Pacific director general of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
The petition notes a recent B.C. court ruling that salmon farms should be regulated by the federal department, not the province as they are now.
The fisherman say they have complied with increasing regulation and restrictions and are still seeing wild fish stocks decline.
They want the federal department to enforce the Fisheries Act, requiring observers during harvesting to watch for by-catch, licensing of aquaculture vessels and measures to prevent wild stocks from being drawn to night-time lights at open-ocean pens.
