Pure Salmon Campaign Urges King of Norway to Protect Canada's Wild Salmon

New Film Shows Ongoing Destruction Caused by Norwegian-Owned Salmon Farms

TRONDHEIM, Norway, Aug. 17 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- At Aqua Nor, a biannual
international aquaculture trade show, the Pure Salmon Campaign will call upon
King Harald of Norway to insist that Norwegian-owned companies operating
salmon farms in Canadian waters adopt strict environmental standards to
protect British Columbia's wild salmon populations.

A new documentary by filmmaker Damien Gillis shows how current practices used
by Norwegian-owned companies operating in Canadian waters continue to threaten
wild salmon and the iconic species that feed on them, including grizzly bears,
bald eagles and killer whales. The film, "Dear Norway: Help Save Canada's
Wild Salmon," also features testimonies from local scientists, fishermen and
First Nations chiefs detailing the dangers posed by open-net fish farms to
British Columbia's biologically diverse ecosystems.

More than 50 Pure Salmon Campaign partners and global allies sent a letter to
King Harald of Norway asking him to help protect wild fish populations from
Norwegian-owned salmon farms. The campaign also invited King Harald to a
screening of "Dear Norway" at Aqua Nor. Norway's king officially opens this
year's trade show and will be joined by Norway's fisheries minister, Helga
Pedersen as well as the Canadian fisheries minister, Gail Shea. Aqua Nor runs
from August 18 - 21.

"The weight of scientific evidence my colleagues and I have published in
peer-reviewed journals shows that sea lice from Norwegian-owned salmon farms
are pushing wild pink salmon toward extinction," said Alexandra Morton,
director of the Salmon Coast Field Station. "I personally invite the King of
Norway, together with fellow passionate angler John Fredriksen, to come out to
the Broughton Archipelago to bear witness themselves to the poor practices of
Marine Harvest, Cermaq and Grieg."

Despite repeated calls for reform, the Norwegian government - a major
shareholder in the aquaculture industry - has yet to take responsibility for
its management practices in Canada.

"Norwegian salmon farming companies continue to disregard our peoples'
directives to alter their business practice, to respect our territories and
natural resources," said Chief Bob Chamberlin of the Musgamagw Tsawataineuk
Tribal Council. "This is in direct conflict with the Norwegian government's
support for the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It is a
real shame that such behaviour from Norwegian companies is acceptable and in
conflict with international positions made on behalf of all Norwegian
citizens."

Norwegian-owned companies control more than 90% of British Columbia's salmon
farming production.

"It is ironic that the King of Norway is opening the world's largest farmed
salmon trade show in one of only two fjords where wild salmon are fully
protected from salmon farms," said Geir Kjensmo, chairman of the Norwegian
Salmon Association. "In view of the declines in wild salmon and sea trout
stocks and rise in sea lice infestation here in Norway, the Laksfjord
protection in the Trondheimsfjord and the Tanafjord must be extended to
completely cover other fjords. And the message coming loud and clear from
Canada is that wild Pacific salmon must be afforded protection from
Norwegian-owned open net cages misplaced on migration corridors."

"Norwegian authorities must look to British Columbia and learn from the
severe, documented effects that sea lice from the fish farms are having on the
migrating wild smolts," said Vegard Heggem, a river owner on the River Orkla
near Trondheim. "Norway should take a leading role to quickly develop and
implement the use of closed containment systems like Preline. This looks like
a potential way that salmon can be farmed without destroying the stocks of
wild, migrating fish in British Columbia, Norway and other areas where salmon
is farmed."

Other countries also feel the effects of open-net salmon farms.

"In Scotland and Ireland, many of our most iconic stocks of wild sea trout
and salmon have been very hard-hit within those areas where Norwegian
companies own the majority of the salmon farms," said Fiona Cameron of the Sea
Trout Group in Scotland. "All of the organizations that have an interest in
wild salmonids agree that something must be done urgently to reduce the impact
of commercial salmon farming."

To watch "Dear Norway: Help Save Canada's Wild Salmon" go to
http://www.puresalmon.org/video2.html. To read the letter sent to King
Harald, go to http://www.puresalmon.org/pdfs/king_norway_letter.pdf. To read
more about Aqua Nor, go to
http://nor-fishing.no/index.php?page=aqua-nor&hl=en_US. Visit members of the
Pure Salmon Campaign at Aqua Nor booth B-111C.

The Pure Salmon Campaign is a global project with partners in the United
States, Canada, Europe, Australia and Chile all working to improve the way
salmon is produced.

CONTACT:
Dave Bard (in the United States), +1.202.486.4426
Don Staniford (in Norway), +47.97.53.03.83

SOURCE Pure Salmon Campaign

Dave Bard (in the United States), +1-202-486-4426, or Don Staniford (in
Norway), +47 97 53 03 83, both of the Pure Salmon Campaign