Fish farms are highly unlikely to introduce new pathogens into the province because live fish or eggs are rarely imported. Within the province, farms are very careful to purchase only healthy fish. Ontario farmers have excellent professional fish health services provided by the Ontario Veterinarian College in Guelph which helps keep our fish healthy. The real risk of introducing diseases lies with other live fish movements. Farmers feel that management agencies are placing farms and wild fish at considerable risk by not regulating these other fish transfers, especially baitfish, but also ornamental and other food fish.
Government programs are also often risky.
Regulatory Regime Regulatory agencies, especially fisheries agencies, have consistently demonstrated an inability to deal with fish farms in a reasonable fashion, probably due to a total lack of understanding of what a fish farm is. Fish farming is NOT a fisheries activity, it is farming, feed lots producing meat for human consumption. Fisheries biologists have no more understanding of fish farming than wildlife biologists understand beef farming. Farmers of fish should not be dealing with fisheries biologists any more than a beef farmer should require permits from a wildlife biologist. Farmed fish are not a common property resource, they are private property and must not be subject to the whims of fisheries managers.