By Keven Drews

Fifty-one California sea lions drowned this month after they became trapped between nets in one Tofino-area salmon farm, says a company spokesman.
Spencer Evans, general manager for the Creative Salmon Company Ltd., said company employees discovered the mass of dead mammals April 12 while changing nets on the Dawley Pass farm, located in Tofino Inlet.
“In 16 years of operation, we have never experienced anything like this,” said Evans. “It was very unfortunate.”
So far this year, the company has reported 110 drowned sea lions, up from 46 in 2006.
Evans said divers initially discovered a few drowned sea lions between the grower net and shark guard while performing a routine inspection.
The grower net houses the salmon. The shark guard, attached to the bottom of the grower net, is a false bottom designed to keep dog fish out.
Grower nets and shark guards are surrounded by a larger net, called a predator net, which surrounds an entire farm.
Evans said workers aboard a boat initially tried to remove the dead sea lions by lifting the grower net and shark guard from the water with a crane.
“The net was too heavy for the crane to handle.”
He said divers entered the water and reported a mass of sea lions.
Evans said he thinks the sea lions chewed through the predator net and shark guard to get at the salmon in the grower net but drowned when they couldn’t get back out.
He tied the deaths to an increase in the number of sea lions, which have been drawn to the area by the presence of pilchards, mackerel and other bait fish.
In February, Rod Palm, a Tofino naturalist, counted 1,083 Californian and stellar sea lions in an area of Tofino Inlet just 0.6 nautical miles long.
In the same month, Creative Salmon counted 601 sea lions at Berryman Point, up from just six on Dec. 6, 2006.
Evans said he believes the sea lions are now targeting the farms because the bait-fish population is declining.
“Once they find a good spot they typically remember that,” said Marilyn Joyce, a marine mammal coordinator for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans’ Pacific region. “If the food’s done, they’ll move on.”
Joyce said she can’t give any specific numbers for Clayoquot Sound, but sea lion activity around Berryman Point is consistent with an abundance of food.
“Obviously, this is a very unique event,” said Andrew Thomson, DFO’s acting director for aquaculture management. “It’s quite alarming with that large number of animals.
“We’re certainly taking this quite seriously.”
Thomson said at least two other farms – one on the west coast and one in the Broughton Archipelago – have reported sea lion entanglements and drownings, but in each case only one or two animals were involved.
Thomson said provincial and federal enforcement branches are investigating the incident and will follow up to determine the facts.
Evans said he thinks a change in the nets’ design will prevent more deaths.
“I’m confident with modification to design we can make it work at Dawley Pass. I’m confident it can be done. We can solve this problem.”
Environmentalists contacted Thursday were unaware of the 51 deaths but questioned how many sea lions are dying in B.C.’s salmon farms.
Catherine Stewart, campaign director for the Living Oceans Society, said her organization is looking into reported drownings outside Tofino and expects to release concrete information early next week.
“We have to surmise the scope of the problem coast-wide could be very significant,” said Stewart. “You’re not going to eliminate the predator deaths with open net cages. Inevitably, there will be entanglements and drownings.”
The only way to avoid such deaths, added Stewart, is to move towards closed-containment systems.
Dom Repta, a Friends of Clayoquot Sound aquaculture campaigner, said salmon farming companies must follow Creative Salmon’s past lead and release mortality rates.
Repta said he wants to know if other farms are reporting numbers, too.
“These are questions we need answered.”
Being forthcoming and transparent over past deaths doesn’t absolve Creative Salmon, added Repta, who also called for move towards closed-containment systems.