An open letter directed to Federal Fisheries and Oceans (DFO)91裸聊视频檚 minister Joyce Murray is calling out the ministry for what it says is inconsistencies in the federal department91裸聊视频檚 latest report from January, stating that there was 91裸聊视频渘o statistical relevant association91裸聊视频� between sea lice and fish farms.
Signed by 16 scientists, including ones from the University of British Columbia (UBC), Simon Fraser University (SFU), the University of Victoria and the University of Toronto, the letter identifies several inconsistencies in the report. Among them, the selective nature of the review, according to documents from Access to Information (ATIP) requests and emails; an invalidated infestation model; and, the lack of what they say is basic scientific process, which includes a formal peer review.
91裸聊视频淎s scientists, it91裸聊视频檚 our job to analyze data. We91裸聊视频檒l make conclusions from it and write it up in a manuscript and send it to a scientific journal,91裸聊视频� said Sean Godwin, a post doctorate fellow at SFU and assistant professor at the University of California, Davis, one of the scientists that signed the letter. 91裸聊视频淚t will go to other scientists in the field and go back and forth and when it gets accepted, it will be published.
91裸聊视频淚n this case, in the peer review process, there was no independent scientists. Even in the authorship. They had one reviewer of the report and that reviewer is an industry associated professor that advises B.C. salmon farms.91裸聊视频�
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Another scientist which signed the letter, Dr. Chris Darimont of UBC, says that DFO should have pointed out the key flaws within the report, and this is why the group brought it to the attention of the minister.
91裸聊视频淭he stakes are extremely high for this industry and the communities which depend on this precious resource,91裸聊视频� said Darimont in an email to the Mirror. 91裸聊视频淭hey deserve to be by the best available science. The DFO has not provided that.91裸聊视频�
Executive Director of the BC Salmon Farmers Association (BCSFA), Brian Kingzett, however, disputes the allegations these scientists have levied against the DFO organization.
Kingzett states that while science should always be scrutinized, the direct allegation that the DFO and the BCSFA are working together to mislead the public, simply is not true.
91裸聊视频淭he DFO is our regulator,91裸聊视频� said Kingzett. 91裸聊视频淲e stand by the science, whatever way it drops. I think it is highly irresponsible for scientists to take that approach to say 91裸聊视频榳e don91裸聊视频檛 agree with your science91裸聊视频� and accuse the DFO of misleading the public. I feel that if (the DFO) did find a direct link in the results, they would have said something.91裸聊视频�
An announcement about the future of fish farms on the B.C. coast, which was expected to come from Murray in January, is expected to be announced soon.
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Edward Hitchins
edward.hitchins@campbellrivermirror.com
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