Elizabeth May
Madam Speaker, I want to thank the member for Port Moody—Coquitlam, who has been a tireless champion in fighting toxic fish factories, which is what they really are. They are not fish farms.
There is nothing friendly or nice associated with them, as the word farm would imply. These facilities are found all along our coastline, and they are destroying our wild salmon, as my colleague has accurately described.
There is another aspect involved here. I want to see officials in the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the minister turn their attention to tight regulation and ending the conflict of interest here.
I am also wondering if the hon. member has any views on the need to regulate seismic testing. Canada does not regulate seismic testing, and offshore boards have approved seismic testing in the habitat of endangered whales.
Fin Donnelly – Member for Port Moody-Coquitlam
Madam Speaker, I appreciate the intervention by my colleague in the Green Party about not only salmon aquaculture but also our southern resident killer whales.
It is critically important that we study not only seismic activity, but ship noise and other things that impact salmon on the west coast. More science is needed so that we can protect these whales and do it right. We also have to protect their food, which is the chinook salmon that they feed on.
We have to look at more science. We have to look at the impact of fish farms on chinook and wild sockeye salmon. We also definitely need to investigate how we can avoid noise that impacts whales.