B.C. fish farm critic might defy government

A woman who lives on British Columbia's central coast says she might defy the federal government and relocate migrating salmon away from fish farm enclosures.

Marine biologist Alexandra Morton says juvenile salmon are in danger because of commercial fish farming in the Broughton archipelago, a group of islands on the northeastern flank of the Queen Charlotte Strait on B.C.'s central coast.

Young fish are drawn to the farms by their bright lights and the fish feed that is tossed into the water, Morton said, exposing them to viruses and sea lice.

Morton says she has drafted a plan to catch and release the salmon some distance away from the farms.

"I was going to pour them into a tank on a fish boat and put them down [in the ocean] about 20 kilometres along,'' she said.

Morton said officials from the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans have warned her that she could face jail time if she proceeds with the plan.

But she says she might go ahead anyway: "I'm really a law-abiding person, but the trouble is, which law do you obey — the natural law or political decisions?''