Falkland Islanders call for referendum on plans for massive salmon farm

The 3,500 population is divided over the venture, which would bring investment and jobs, but critics claim the environmental cost would be too high ands data provided.

“It is then the people who will get to decide what happens in their own country,” said Sally Poncet, of SFF. She says she has lost confidence in the consultation process, which began on 7 August and will run until 30 October.

Reports commissioned by the Falklands government as part of the consultation are based on unverifiable data provided by Unity Marine, Poncet claimed. There is “insufficient information” on the impact that the industry would have on the islands, she said.


https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/aug/09/falkland-islands-referendum-salmon-farm?CMP=share_btn_url

Scientists studying Chinook salmon caught in the wild to evaluation sport angling impacts found 16% of the 99 fish sampled had tenacibaculosis — a bacterial disease that causes lesions and death in fish. Previously this disease was mostly known as common among farmed Atlantic salmon where it can be fatal within days once symptoms become apparent. This is the first instance of this disease found in wild Pacific Salmon. According to Dr Emiliano Di Cicco, a fish health researcher with the Pacific Salmon Foundation and lead author of the study, the findings provide new evidence that is not accounted for in DFO’s existing disease risk assessment.

source: https://www.timescolonist.com/local-news/bc-researchers-discover-deadly-bacterial-disease-in-wild-chinook-12592892

Dr Di Cicco: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Emiliano-Di-Cicco

Both Tom and Dick were great friends of mine. We fished together for years in the lower river and had great times. Til we meet again my friends.

So what? While the empirical data for direct  disease transmission has been less than convincing it has proven meaningless to policy decisions to restrict or eliminate open net farming. Just the risk of it alone has been enough curtail or even remove them. It's something neither you or the industry as a whole has been able to grasp.

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Norway became a global salmon behemoth. Now it's facing the consequences:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-28/how-norway-s-salmon-industry-became-a-global-behemoth/106949872

Norway which created the international salmon farming industry and has regarded it as the 'new oil', is now facing intense debate as to how far the industry can grow. The negative effects sounds not surprising like the debates in BC. The big question is how many net operations can be put in one fiord without
destroying it's ecology. Many fear a breaking point is now approaching.

Thanks for the background to his nickname.

My condolences on the loss of your friend.