Anti-salmon farming campaigner posts footage of emerged showing bloody discharge being dumped into Campbell River allegedly near Brown’s Bay Packing Company.
CTV News reports that Canada’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change is sending a inspector to the Brown’s Bay Packing Company processing plant in British Columbia.
Exact date and time
On Wednesday, footage was broadcast on multiple news channels with activist and photographer Tavish Campbell holding an underwater sign saying “2019 Fish Farm Virus Still Flowing”. Campbell said the sign was recently taken. SalmonBusiness has asked him for the exact date and time.
The publication claimed that the footage was taken near Browns Bay Packing Company – which provides salmon processing services for Grieg Seafood and to Cermaq Canada.
Ensure compliance
CTV News received this statement from the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change which stated: “The ministry is sending an inspector to the site next week to ensure compliance as we take the matter of a healthy aquatic environment for wild salmon and other aquatic life very seriously.”
Campbell made a near-identical graphic video in 2017 – where a constant stream of bright red liquid mixed into the water. The footage was widely covered by media around the world at the time. Consequently, in January 2018, BC’s Ministry of Environment enacted a process to review waste water treatment permits in the fish processing sector.
In response to the recent footage, Brown’s Bay Packing Company posted a statement in which it said that “it’s timely to update the public on our progress with wastewater treatment since 2017.”
It said that it hadn’t “seen the video or the laboratory testing results, including sampling methodology”.
It added that the 2018 review process – which lasted approximately 16 months – also “included a review of the best available technology to treat fish processing effluent to ensure that any effluent discharge would have minimal impact on the receiving marine environment”.
“Upon its conclusion, a completely revamped wastewater treatment permit was issued to us by the Ministry of Environment. Our new permit contains the strictest water quality testing parameters and ongoing monitoring requirements for fish processing effluent on the coast of BC”.
Some automation and building construction yet to be completed
Furthermore, it has “invested 1.5 million dollars to improve on the world’s leading technology in wastewater treatment”.
Brown’s Bay Packing managing partner David Stover told CTV that that the system is fully functioning right now but there is some automation and building construction yet to be completed. Stover added the system tests for bacteria, temperature, oxygen and suspended solids.
SalmonBusiness asked Brown’s Bay Packing managing partner David Stover to comment but did not get a reply at the time of writing.
