B.C attempts to keep information on salmon death private

VANCOUVER — B.C. provincial lawyers applied at the Cohen commission last week to keep private a database of its audits of dead fish at salmon farms. 

Environmental groups are fighting the suppression effort at the inquiry, which is examining the collapse of the 2009 Fraser River sockeye.

The environmental groups say the information is important to make public because it will give more insight into what types of diseases are occurring in salmon farms.

The province argues that revealing the audit data would put a chill on disclosures from farms of all types — including chicken and cattle farms — which provide voluntary information on possible disease outbreaks.

“Our concern is if the province is known to give out confidential information, and not try to protect it, then voluntary disclosure could stop occurring. And this is a concern because there have been outbreaks in the province before, (for example), avian influenza,” provincial lawyer Tara Callan told the inquiry.
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