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<H3>Fish farms could push Pacific salmon to extinction: study</H3><FONT
face=Arial size=2>
<DIV class=author><STRONG>By Scott Simpson</STRONG></DIV>
<DIV class=author><STRONG>Vancouver Sun </STRONG></DIV>
<DIV class=author><SPAN>December 13, 2007</SPAN></DIV>
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<H4><IMG id=storyphoto
alt="Sockeye salmon turn red as they migrate home. A study released on Friday says that scenes like this could become increasingly rare if sea lice continue to decimate wild salmon populations."
src="http://www.nationalpost.com/rss/166587.bin?size=404x272"></H4></DIV></DIV>
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<DIV class="photo border_btm"><SPAN class=right>Andy Clark/Reuters</SPAN><SPAN
class=ieclear>Sockeye salmon turn red as they migrate home. A study released on
Friday says that scenes like this could become increasingly rare if sea lice
continue to decimate wild salmon populations.<BR></SPAN></DIV></DIV>
<DIV class=story-content style="FONT-SIZE: 12px">
<DIV><BR>A groundbreaking scientific study has today established for the first
time a large-scale and deadly link between fish farms and sea lice infestations
that threatens to wipe out entire populations of wild Pacific salmon.<BR></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV><BR>An article to be published in Friday's edition of <I>Science</I>, one
of the world's foremost scientific journals, says wild pink salmon runs on the
British Columbia central coast will be extinct in as little as four years
because of a cluster of salmon farms that are creating lethal infestations of
sea lice in that area.<BR></DIV>
<DIV></DIV></DIV>
<DIV><BR>The article's authors, including University of Alberta researcher
Martin Krkosek and B.C.'s Alexandra Morton, looked at 37 years' worth of
Fisheries and Oceans data for 71 central coast rivers and found that wild pink
runs have comfortably withstood decades of commercial fishing -- but cannot
survive fish farms.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>For full article:</DIV>
<DIV><A href="http://www.nationalpost.com/rss/story.html?id=166582"
target=_blank>http://www.nationalpost.com/rss/story.html?id=166582</A></DIV></FONT></DIV><!-- end of AOLMsgPart_46_ce4d580a-90b0-4036-b45c-066b903347da --><!-- end of AOLMsgPart_42_ce4d580a-90b0-4036-b45c-066b903347da -->
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