2 Clayoquot Sound salmon farms hit by toxic algae

A type of toxic algae is killing off farmed salmon in a section of Clayoquot Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

The Millar Channel and Ross Passage salmon farms,operated by the company Cermaq, have been affected by the harmful bloom over the past three weeks.

Members ofthegroupClayoquot Action havebeen monitoring the situation.

"They have got bio-waste trailers on site and they are sucking the dead fish out of the fish farm pens and moving them in through Tofino," said Bonny Glambeck of Clayoquot Action.

The hardest hit site has lost about 10 percent of its fish to the toxic algae, Cermaq said.

Unusual bloom

The company has dealt with toxic algae blooms in the past, but spokesperson GrantWarkentin said the current bloom is toolarge to deal with using theusual mitigation measures.

"We would put down tarps around the outside of the farm, and then we would pump water up from below the bloom, but unfortunately in this case the bloom is so deep, it's deeper than the pens, so there's not a whole lot we can do," hesaid.

"We are just hoping that the weather will change and maybe rain, and that would dissipate the problem,"

Thedie-off shows the pens should to moved onto land to reduce their impact on the ecosystem in the area, which is designated as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, Glambeck said.

But Warkentinsaidthatis not currentlypart of the company's business plan.

Cermaq willcontinueto monitor the situation and remove dead fish from the pens, he said.

Algae monitoring

Algal blooms are a common problem for fish farms on the B.C. coast, saidNicky Haigh, who managestheHarmful Algae Monitoring Program, based at Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo.

The program, which is funded by salmonfarming companies,has been monitoringthe impact of harmful algae on fish since 1999.

Various types ofalgal blooms are naturally occurring on the B.C. coastand little can be done to prevent them, Haigh said.

"B.C. is an upwelling zone. We have a lot of nutrients that feed algal blooms, shesaid. "Sometimes conditions are just right for them."