Sustain Our Sounds: In reply to Scoop article 02/05/12 – Salmon Farm Expansion Plans

‘Salmon Farm Expansion Plans’ – Scoop, May 2 – is all about potential financial benefits to Nelson of King Salmon’s plans to expand in the Marlborough Sounds and pays no heed to the people who actually live and work in the area directly affected.

It shows the lack of regard that some Nelson business-owners have for the environment and their support for industrialization of an area that is not in their back yard. Would they be so keen on nine salmon farms being parked in the Abel Tasman National Park?

Would they be happy to see their community’s District Plan being challenged by a company, majority- owned by Malaysians, that wants 206ha of water space currently prohibited to aquaculture?

Titan Slicer CEO Sean Marr says: “I travel to the Northern Hemisphere a lot and NZ King Salmon product is held in very high esteem – the problem is that people can’t get enough of it. We are behind the planned expansion 100 per cent and will do whatever we can to support it.”

Mr Marr may have missed the opportunity to visit salmon farms when he was in the Northern Hemisphere. It is well known that salmon farming has a short-term time frame, you only need to look at the nitrogen loading and fish-farm disease in Scotland, Norway and Canada to see the extent of the risks to the environment.

There is no evidence to support the belief of Ansco Engineering managing director Dave Hockey that King Salmon’s farms are environmentally sustainable. And there is no evidence that the water column beyond the farms is unharmed by waste from this intensive fish farming. There is no evidence because the necessary monitoring has not been done.

Has anyone handed out the pictures of the dead slime building up underneath these farms? Or how the septic sludge has to be dredged from underneath the existing sites to speed up rehabilitation of the area?

Sustain Our Sounds does not oppose aquaculture in the Marlborough Sounds. But we do believe it has to be in balance with the environment and with the needs of the wider community in this nationally important coastal area. The environment is what attracts people to come and see this wonderful place. These visitors support a multi-million dollar ($210m annually) tourism industry based on pristine water, quiet bays and natural landscapes, all of which are threatened by more salmon farms.

King Salmon’s claim that salmon farming could become a tourist attraction is debatable – these are not charming winery cellar doors. A salmon farm is a smelly and noisy industrial site and once you’ve seen one, you’re not going to want to see another 13.

We need to start thinking in ways that will provide employment and money without risking the very environment that makes people want to travel and live here. This application by New Zealand King Salmon is both bold and disrespectful of the community that will have to pay the cost, literally and psychologically, for the loss of the seabed and landscape we treasure.

The decisions made this year will affect those who live, work and play in the Sounds for generations to come. It is important to look beyond a small number of company spokesmen intent on exploiting public space for their private profit.

www.sustainoursounds.org.nz

About Sustain Our Sounds:

Sustain Our Sounds (SOS) is an incorporated society set up to oppose the further expansion of aquaculture into prohibited areas of the Marlborough Sounds.
SOS supporters include residents, fishermen, tourism operators, bach owners, kayakers, walkers and boaties.
SOS believes salmon farming on this scale will pollute the clean waters of the Marlborough Sounds, damage fish habitat and affect public enjoyment of this unique landscape. It will impact on our tourism industry and clean, green image.
SOS opposes recreational areas in the Marlborough Sounds being cordoned off for private profit. The New Zealand Government has brought in a fast-track planning process to make it easier for overseas companies to use our waters for aquaculture.

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