Re: "Research on fish farms is not light years away," letter to the editor, Friday, June 18.

Misguided and uneducated comments like this do little but muddy the waters in a complicated issue.

Salmon farming using antiquated open-net technology has been shown worldwide to cause significant adverse impacts on wild fish populations. We're not talking about one rogue scientist from B.C.'s wilderness (who just happened to be presented an honourary doctorate from SFU for her work on the subject), but decades of peer reviewed research and studies from countless independent scientists around the globe. Everywhere there are open-net salmon farms, wild salmon and trout struggle through viral, bacterial and parasitic outbreaks propagated by industry; it's that simple.

The solution to the problem is in closed containment, which will separate the large, sedentary farm fish populations, their waste and their disease, from the open ocean.

This technology has been available for years and has proven successful to many small operators along the coast and elsewhere.

What's more is that the jobs in this industry are not lost, but moved onto land where they don't affect the jobs of countless others who depend on wild salmon.

Graham Girard,

Coquitlam