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November 08 WORK: JUDICIAL INQUIRY INTO WILD SALMON LOSSESNow the work begins
Hello
The Terms of the Judicial Inquiry called by Prime Minister Stephen Harper into the demise of the Fraser sockeye are both sweeping and specific enough to get to the bottom of what happened to the Fraser sockeye and recommend the changes to how Fisheries and Oceans Canada is run to benefit all wild fish in Canada. We have made HUGE progress! I posted a link to the Terms on my blog http://alexandramorton.typepad.com/ This means we are no longer on the outside but we cannot abandon this process, we cannot rest assured it will do what we want if we don’t stay with it. Please make your concerns known to me and the Inquiry. This Inquiry will take 2 years and in the meantime we still need to push as hard as we can to get the Fisheries Act applied to the fish farms right now.
The recent revelations around the farm salmon escape at Port Elizabeth highlight the importance of this (see most recent blog post).
So I have embedded a flyer on my blog that you can download and post. We need to see the Fisheries Act applied ASAP.
I will continue to lay charges under the Fisheries Act with your financial help, but this is a stop gap effort.
The government should be doing this not us!
We need 100,000 signatures on our letter
at http://www.adopt-a-fry.org/
Next week is a Global Week of Action on salmon farms http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/event.php?eid=167112434482&ref=ts
Please view the film trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eggrGn0V0fg
The entire film will be posted in a week. If you would like to get a CD of this film to set up a viewing please contact the filmmaker Damien Gillis damien@slingshotcommunications.com.
If you are in Vancouver there will be a showing at: Date: Thursday, November Time: 7-9 PM Location: SFU Segal Centre - Room 1500-500 Granville St. (Downtown Vancouver - Granville & Pender) Cost: $10 for Public / $5 for Students & Seniors For more information on the global issues with salmon farms: http://www.farmedsalmonexposed.org/ Thank you all for staying with this..... We are in the homestretch! Alexandra Morton October 26 PETITION LINK: JUDICIAL INQUIRY INTO DECLINING WILD SALMON STOCKS!Hello All Good News Finally! Peter Julian, Member of Parliament – New Westminster has just launched a petition for a Judicial Inquiry into the Fraser sockeye crash. CONSIDER THIS: If there had been a Judicial Inquiry into the declining North Atlantic cod, we would have rebuilt that fish stock by now because we would have discovered that the critical research by Dr. Ransom Myers of DFO was being suppressed by DFO (Department of Fisheries and Oceans). Here we are again. DFO is completely silent, they have not even acknowledged that the Fraser sockeye crash pattern is extremely specific and provided the media with misinformation. A judicial inquiry will place people under oath so they can be heard over the politics. Please go to Peter Julian’s website: http://peterjulian.ndp.ca/node/864 And download the petition document, and sign: http://peterjulian.ndp.ca/sites/default/files/Petition_A%20call%20for%20an%20independent%20judicial%20inquiry%20on%20salmon%20crisis_October%202009.ENG_.pdf This has to be a paper copy, there can be 1 signature on a page, or a full page of signatures, the address is on the document and postage to the federal government is free. You cannot say you care about wild salmon if you don’t make this effort. This will make a very big difference in the future of BC and the eastern pacific. Alexandra Morton Www.adopt-a-fry.org September 14 ASHLU PINKSSquamish Streamkeepers Update September 12/09
Ashlu Channels Pink Salmon counts-Final Totals for 2009
All channels were counted to compare with previous mid-Sept counts. With high and silty water only live and dead fish seen were counted which means many in deep pools went uncounted. Since the same conditions existed during previous years counts the missing fish need not be allowed for. As in previous years, the first wave of pinks has spawned and died and the second wave is now spawning. Only the Ashlu Channels were counted, not the Ashlu River.
-Intake Channel Total 87 Pinks
-South Channel
-Y junction to 1st Footbridge-228 pinks
-1st Footbridge to 2nd Footbridge-637 pinks
-below Second Footbridge-302 pinks
Total South South Channel-1167 Pinks
-North Channel
-Y junction to bottom 2nd Pond-39 pinks
-bottom 2nd Pond to Hunter Connection-1472 pinks + 1 dead 15 lb. male chinook
-below Hunter Connection-41 pinks
-Zigzag Connector Channel-598 pinks and grizzly tracks.
-Bear didn’t seem interested in plenteous pinks as few were eaten.
Total North Channel-2150 Pinks
-Hunter Channel
-Below Zigzag-252 pinks
-Above Zigzag-492 pinks
Total Hunter Channel 744 Pinks
-Central Channels
-N. Channel to Groundwater Channel-211 pinks
-Groundwater Channel-23 pinks
-Groundwater to bottom Y-669 pinks
-Y junction-55 pinks
-Central/Squamish Connector-398 pinks
Total Central Channels-1356 Pinks
-Wapiti Channels
-above Stump Pond-306 pinks
-Stump Pond Big Outlet-162 pinks
-Stump Pond Little Outlet-90 pinks
-#4 Culvert Channels-26 pinks
-#3 Culvert Channel-6 pinks
-#2 Clearing Channel-4 pinks
-Buck Creek Channels-0
Total Wapiti Channels-600 Pinks
Grand Total for 2009 Ashlu Channels-6,104 Pinks
Totals for Ashlu Channels in 2007-2,190 Pinks, 2005-572 Pinks, 2003-887 Pinks (flood occurred after spawn).
-On Sept 12/09 Grizzly Channel had 29 pinks and Volunteer Channel 1674 but these weren’t included
In our assessment today as these channels weren’t counted in previous years.
The pinks have spread out quite evenly through the many channels, some of which were just dug this year. They find the gravel with the appropriate flow and dig up a nest. This tail powered excavation is steadily expanding the amount of gravel available to other salmon as well as putting important nutrients into the stream.
Assuming that half of the 6,000 spawners are females and they carry 2,000 eggs that would put 6 million eggs in the gravel. With the good gravel and if flow is maintained, there should be a few million pink fry heading to sea next Spring. September 08 DFO Minister Gail Shea: There has NOT been a coast-wide collapse across all Pacific salmon speciesSee blog for further information: http://alexandramorton.typepad.com/
Dear Minister Shea: On August 26 you sent duplicate letters to many people dismissing the impact of salmon farms on British Columbia. I can only imagine the response to collapse of the world’s largest sockeye salmon river, the Fraser River, has come directly from Ottawa. Your letter provides stark insight into the Federal Conservative government’s course of action. With an entire ministry at your disposal you told the public: “The coastwide scope of the decline that has occurred across all Pacific salmon species suggests that this decline is associated with much larger ecological events than localized salmon farming.” This is entirely inaccurate as there has NOT been a coast-wide collapse across all Pacific salmon species, quite to the contrary. The people of British Columbia are looking at a bull’s-eye collapse pattern with good returns all around the dead center – which is our extremely valuable Fraser River sockeye. Really interesting – even within the Fraser River, the Harrison sockeye, which scientists report migrate to sea via fish farm-free Strait of Juan de Fuca, are returning at twice the DFO forecast. The missing Fraser River sockeye salmon were observed as smolts by DFO as they migrated in the river. They were abundant and large. They entered the sea in late spring 2007, turned north into a heavily industrialized salmon farming area, where I examined some of them as they were being infested with sea lice and then they disappeared. These are the only sockeye that collapsed to less than 10% of forecast. While you are telling the public all salmon species collapsed coast-wide, your highest-ranking BC official is publishing letters in newspapers also telling us that fish farms are not responsible for the collapse because the lice species I and others counted on the young sockeye in 2007 are not found on farm fish. First of all, there were two species of lice on the sockeye smolts, the large salmon louse and the smaller Caligus. Second, the fish farm company on the Fraser sockeye migration route, Marine Harvest, frequently reports Caligus in their website data. Specifically they report 16.5 Caligus per fish for a total of 8 million breeding on the Cyrus Rocks farm early this July as our newest sockeye generation was passing that farm. Because Caligus frequently jump fish to fish this species is also a strong potential disease vector. As he exonerates fish farms, he goes on to say he will work with First Nations and other fishermen to conserve sockeye. Minster Shea, you closed this fishery at the beginning of the season there has been extremely little fishing on this stock of sockeye. Your Ministry has absolutely no valid scientific or legal reason to omit fish farmers from the investigation and ensuing action to protect the Fraser sockeye. You also wrote that DFO has “taken significant action…” by “monitoring” farm lice and doing “ocean circulation studies.” These are studies, not “significant action.” Your letter tells people you can’t protect our salmon with closed-containment farms until this is “practical and realistic” for the fish farmers with head offices in Oslo, Norway. Minister Shea, you work for the people of Canada. Your primary mandate is protection of our wild salmon and whatever else is going on in your office no one has rescinded this mandate yet. History is clearly repeating itself. In 1997, DFO scientists reported that the collapse of Canada’s North Atlantic cod stocks, one of earth’s greatest human food supplies, was because DFO ignored the science, misinformed the public, offered plausible but inaccurate theories, reprimanded scientists who spoke freely and took no action(1). No one in DFO was held accountable when Canadians lost this vast resource. Here in 2009, I would argue you and your department are ignoring the science, misinforming the public, offering plausible but unconfirmed theories and taking no action on a highly documented and obvious factor that reoccurs worldwide wherever there are salmon farms(2). You must be held accountable or it is clear from experience where this is heading. The Fraser sockeye contribute far more to the economy and employment than salmon farms and they transport ocean nutrients into much of this Province feeding the trees that produce oxygen, remove carbon and help stabilize our climate. An enormous number of British Columbians live in the Fraser watershed and are breathing oxygen produced by salmon fed trees. These are planetary systems we literally cannot live without. First Nation women have written me in anger and anxiety at loosing an essential part of their diet. The very concept of farming salmon in net pens is unconstitutional in Canada because it attempts to privatize ocean spaces and own schools of salmon in the ocean. The industry appears in violation of many sections of the Fisheries Act. It breaks the natural laws of wild salmon, which never remain stationary. Your record of fish farm defense includes a recent assertion that the industry’s by-catch of wild fish is not a “significant problem.” And you refuse to acknowledge the science and act on the information that the fish farm viral ISA pandemic is spreading in imported salmon eggs(3). Reading the outpouring of articles, letters to editors, emails to me and the 17,000 signatures thus far on my letter to you asking simply that you enforce the Fisheries Act on salmon farms I don’t think western Canada is ready to loose their fish like eastern Canada. The actions required are simple:
If you won’t take these steps please resign along with your Pacific Region senior staff and make way for people who will honor Fisheries and Ocean’s contract with the public of Canada, present and future generations, to protect our salmon. The enormous pink salmon return this year – fish that were allowed to go to sea without farm lice, is a clear statement by the fish themselves that British Columbia can have abundant wild salmon, even running through the biggest city in our Province, Vancouver, City of the Salmon Wild salmon are a gift on a magnitude far greater than any oil well, river power project or the few jobs from a Norwegian industry that imports fish from the south Pacific, throws them in our ocean and pulls out less fish. Read the list of 17,000 people and counting who have signed my letter www.adopt-a-fry.org <http://www.adopt-a-fry.org> asking that you apply the laws of Canada to salmon farms. They are First Nation chiefs, business people, politicians, entertainers, environmentalists, stream keepers, they are the people of British Columbia, not a fringe group you can brush aside. Minster Shea, you have failed us in your response to the collapse of earth’s largest sockeye salmon run and this is not alright with British Columbia. Alexandra Morton, R.P. Bio Echo Bay, BC http://alexandramorton.typepad.com/ 1 Hutchings, J.A., Walters, C. and Haedrich, R.L. 1997. Is Scientific Inquiry Incompatible with Government Information Control? Canadian Journal of Aquatic Science. Vol 52. 2 Ford, J.S. and Myers, R.A. 2008 A Global Assessment of Salmon Aquaculture Impacts on Wild Salmonids. PLos Biology 6(2) 3 Vike, S., Nylund, S., and Nylund, A. 2008. ISA virus in Chile: evidence of vertical transmission. Archives of Virology. Vol. 154. (note: “vertical” means via eggs) Hello All Every time I send an email out to this list you ask what can you do. I am sorry for so many emails, but time is of the essence. As our wild salmon stocks suffer an enormous setback, the Minster of Fisheries is in Norway with a large delegation promoting Canada to the Norwegian fish farming industry. An organization called Pure Salmon (www.puresalmon.org) is there and will be delivering all 300 pages of our letter to Fisheries Minister Shea at the Aqua Nor tradeshow. Pure salmon has sent a letter to the King of Norway which I signed and have have pasted below. Vancouver filmmaker Damien Gillis is showing this film in Norway asking them to stop killing our salmon. http://in.sys-con.com/node/1073790 When I was in Norway last spring it was clear that Norway has no idea how Canadians and Americans feel about their industry. With our top Fisheries representative telling Norwegian fish farmers that Canada is open for business, this is not surprising. There are 10,000 emails on this list. If you want to set the record straight yourself - here are the people in Norway to contact: The royal palace of Norway: post@slottet.no The Norwegian Fisheries Minister, Helga Pedersen: helga.pedersen@fkd.dep.no The Norwegian Prime Minister's: postmottak@smk.dep.no Pure Salmon: lkaran@pewtrusts.org Canadian Minister of Fisheries: Min@dfo-mpo.gc.ca King Harald V The Royal Palace Drammensveien 1 N-0010 Oslo Norway 14th August 2009 Your Royal Highness, Protecting wild salmon from open net cage salmon farms Further to our letter of 15th December 2006 (re-enclosed here), we appeal to you as the King of Norway to stop the killing of wild fish by Norwegian-owned open net cage salmon farms. We ask that you take time during your visit to Trondheim on 18th August when you will be opening the Aqua Nor trade show1 to watch the new film “Dear Norway – Help Save Canada’s Wild Salmon” produced by Damien Gillis. Your visit to the Trondheimsfjord area – one of only two fjords in Norway where salmon farming is completely banned under the Laksfjord regulations – represents an opportunity to hear how Norwegian companies are operating to lower standards in other regions. We think it is important that Norwegians understand their impact on temperate coastal countries worldwide – especially in British Columbia where the Norwegian companies Marine Harvest, Cermaq and Grieg control 92% of salmon farming production2 . We expect a country such as Norway who signed the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 20073 and who published a white paper on Corporate Social Responsibility Abroad in 20094 to respect the rights of First Nations whose culture depends upon healthy wild salmon populations. Since our letter to you in 2006, the situation has deteriorated and the weight of scientific evidence linking open net cage salmon farms with declines in wild fish is now overwhelming5. Canada’s largest wild salmon runs are failing every year while in neighbouring Alaska where salmon farming is banned they are harvesting record runs. Another film by Damien Gillis – “Aquacultural Revolution: The scientific case for changing salmon farming”6 – presents the scientific perspective and is recommended viewing in advance of your trip to Trondheim. You may also be interested in watching a sea lice animation recently released by Norges Jeger-og Fiskerforbund7. In May this year, the Pure Salmon Campaign brought a delegation of First Nation chiefs, scientists, wilderness tourism, labor union, fishing and environmental leaders from Chile, Canada, Ireland, Scotland and the United States to Norway to bear witness to the problems of Marine Harvest and Cermaq in particular8. You may have read Alexandra Morton’s passionate plea published in Bergens Tidende in May which ended with: “It's still not too late to stop the collapse of wild salmon and social decay here in western Canada. But to do so, it will take the efforts of concerned citizens working across borders, to make it clear to the Norwegian government that salmon farms must not destroy the wild salmon arteries flowing into the coast of British Columbia. In today’s world such behavior is an act of inexcusable immorality as future generations will need life on earth to survive. And you may have read about our visit to Preline’s closed containment farm in Hardangerfjord10. Chief Bob Chamberlin of the Kwicksutaineuk Ah-kwa-mish First Nation, who delivered letters to you in 2006, 2007 and 2008 and visited Norway again this year, said: “It is difficult to put to words how I felt standing on an operating closed containment fish farm, watching Atlantic salmon swimming inside. It was an amazing circumstance for me to speak with the owner of Preline who has developed the closed containment system, and both of us needing something to give hope for our individual yet intertwined dreams”11. Bergens Tidende also featured the Preline closed containment system in an article published in June12. Representatives from Preline – together with other closed containment companies – will be in Trondheim for the AquaNor trade show and we encourage you to explore these technologies which can protect wild fish from the spread of sea lice and escapes from salmon farms. During his visit to Norway in May, Chief Robert Joseph of the Musgamagw Tsawataineuk Tribal Council said: “The demise of wild salmon is tantamount to genocide because it reflects the demise of our culture, way of life and spirituality. Since the advent of salmon farming in our territories we have seen an apocalyptic decline in the state of our wild salmon stocks in the Broughton Archipelago. And because Norway is the world leader in salmon farming and the Norwegian Government is the leading shareholder in Cermaq we are asking for their moral leadership to bring about best practices and to mitigate environmental degradation”13. Public opposition to Norwegian-owned salmon farming companies operating in British Columbia is building with negative press coverage of ‘rapacious Norwegians’ in the international media14 as well as at home in Norway15. You may be aware that this issue was raised in the Norwegian Parliament in May this year via a Parliamentary Question tabled by Heikki Holmås MP with a reply from Helga Pedersen, Norway’s Fisheries Minister16. Public comments were also made in the Norwegian media by several MPs including Peter Gitmark from Hoyre17, Ola Borten Moe from Senterpartiet18 and Heikki Holmås from Sosialistisk Venstreparti19. Cermaq – whose largest shareholder is the Norwegian Government – is now the subject of a complaint filed with the OECD in May by Norges Naturvernforbund and ForUM20. In the same month, Norway was criticized by First Nations groups for failing to adhere to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples with respect to Cermaq’s operations in Canada21. In October 2008, Cermaq’s operations in Canada were criticized for blatantly violating their licences after years of over-production22. And NRK reported only yesterday that Cermaq was encountering local opposition in Norway with a petition signed by 6,000 people objecting to expansion in Ofotfjorden23. Marine Harvest’s operations in Canada have also been subject of growing controversy and legal action in the B.C. Supreme Court24. Grieg’s plans to expand in the Georgia Strait in British Columbia have angered local residents, fishermen and tourist operators alike25. And in June, the Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform called for the emergency closure of five farms operated by Marine Harvest, Cermaq and Grieg to protect migrating wild salmon26. The issue will only continue to heat up at the expense of Norway’s reputation. Nor is Canada the only region where Norwegian-owned companies are experiencing local opposition. In Ireland, where Marine Harvest control over 50% of production, Salmon Watch recently filed a complaint with the European Commission contending that salmon farms are responsible for the generation of high levels of sea lice infestation in juvenile salmon migrating from rivers to their feeding grounds in the sea27. And in the UK where Norwegian-owned companies control in excess of 80% of salmon farming production, the Salmon and Trout Association (whose patron is Prince Charles) have organized a petition calling on the Scottish Government to move salmon farms away from the estuaries of major rivers28. We hope that you agree with John Fredriksen, owner of Marine Harvest, who in July 2007 when he was fishing on the River Alta called for salmon farms to be moved out of the path of wild salmon29. In September 2007, over 30 fishing and environmental groups including Norsk Lakseelver, the Norwegian Salmon Association, Granvin Fiskarlag and Nausta Vernegruppa, wrote to Marine Harvest urging them to follow Mr Fredriksen’s wise advice30. As both the King of Norway and a wild salmon angler on the River Alta yourself31, Your Royal Highness surely has an interest in protecting wild salmon both in Norway and internationally as well as preserving Norway’s international reputation. The 2010 Winter Olympics will be held along the shores of the Fraser River where the wild sockeye salmon that run past Norwegian-owned fish farms have been closed to fishing again this year. Yesterday’s Globe & Mail newspaper in Canada reports that “the Fraser River is experiencing one of the biggest salmon disasters in recent history with more than nine million sockeye vanishing”32 with The Straight newspaper reporting that “fish farms could be a contributing factor”33. Today’s Globe & Mail also featured the issue34. When you meet with Marine Harvest, Cermaq, Grieg, the Norwegian Minister of Fisheries, Helga Pedersen, the Canadian Fisheries Minister, Gail Shea, and Scotland’s Minister for the Environment, Roseanna Cunningham, during Aqua Nor we therefore encourage you to ask why Norwegian companies are still being allowed to kill wild fish not just in Norway but also in Canada, Scotland and Ireland. And if you have time to view the new film “Dear Norway – Help Save Canada’s Wild Salmon” please come and visit the Pure Salmon Campaign at booth # B-111C at Aqua Nor to arrange a private viewing. Yours sincerely, Bob Chamberlin, Chief of the Kwicksutaineuk Ah-kwa-mish First Nation and Chairman of the Musgamagw-Tsawataineuk Tribal Council, Canada Alexandra Morton, Director of the Salmon Coast Field Station, Canada David Suzuki, Executive Director of David Suzuki Foundation, Canada Brian Gunn, President of the Wilderness Tourism Association of British Columbia, Canada David Lane, Executive Director of the T Buck Suzuki Environmental Foundation, Canada Damien Gillis, Save Our Rivers Society, Canada Darren Blaney, Homalco First Nation, Canada Geoff Meggs, Councillor, City of Vancouver, Canada Valerie Langer, Friends of Clayoquot Sound, Canada Rafe Mair, Official spokesperson for Save Our Rivers Society, Canada Shannon Ellis, Bella Coola Grizzly Tours, Canada Steve Lawson, National Coordinator, First Nations Environmental Network, Canada Des Nobels, Chair of Friends of Wild Salmon, Canada Blake Covernton, President, Wild BC Salmon, Canada Michael Price, Raincoast Conservation Foundation, Canada Evan Loveless, Executive Director of the Wilderness Tourism Association of British Columbia, Canada Terry Anderson, Canadian Wild Salmon Alliance Society, Canada Luanne Roth, Marine Director of the Prince Rupert Environmental Society, Canada Geoff Senichenko, Research Director of the Wilderness Committee, Canada Craig Orr, Executive Director of the Watershed Watch Salmon Society, Canada Stan Proboszcz, Fish Biologist, Watershed Watch Salmon Society, Canada Ruby Berry, Salmon Aquaculture Program Coordinator, Georgia Strait Alliance, Canada Michelle Young, Salmon Aquaculture Campaigner, Georgia Strait Alliance, Canada John Volpe, Professor, University of Victoria, Canada Corey Peet, David Suzuki Foundation, Canada Lawrence Dill, Professor Emeritus, Simon Fraser University, Canada Catherine Stewart, Salmon Farming Campaign Manager, Living Oceans, Canada Kim Petersen, co-editor of Dissident Voice, Canada Tiffany Hilman, Markets Campaigner, Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform, Canada Susanne Hare, Tofino citizen, Canada Mat Lawson, B.C. citizen, Canada Misty Lawson, B.C. citizen, Canada Quoashinis Lawson, B.C. citizen, Canada Oren Lawson, B.C. citizen, Canada Peter Dimitrov, lawyer and concerned citizen, Canada Kevin Bruce, Friends of Clayoquot Sound, Canada Tom Rivest, Great Bear Nature Tours, Canada Leonard Ellis, Bella Coola Grizzly Tours, Canada Vegard Heggem, wild salmon conservationist, Norway Geir Kjensmo, Chairman of the Norwegian Salmon Association, Norway Sondre Båtstrand, Spokesperson for the Norwegian Green Party, Norway Frode Strønen, Marine Spokesperson for the Norwegian Green Party, Norway Lawson Devery, Scottish Field Officer, the Salmon and Trout Association, Scotland Bruce Sandison, Scottish Sporting Services, Scotland Colin Kirkpatrick, Environment Committee Chairman, Orkney Trout Fishing Association, Scotland Brian Fraser, ghillie from Wester Ross, Scotland Fiona Cameron, Sea Trout Group, Scotland Frank Buckley, Society for the Protection of Salmon and Sea Trout, Scotland Andrew Graham-Stewart, Writer on wild salmon conservation issues, Scotland Jenny Scobie, Rhidorroch Estate, Scotland Niall Greene, Chair, Salmon Watch Ireland, Ireland John Mulcahy, Save The Swilly, Ireland Noel Carr, Secretary, Conaidhm na Slat Iascairi Bradan & Breac Geal (Federation of Irish Salmon & Sea Trout Anglers), Ireland Bill Bakke, Executive Director, Native Fish Society, United States of America Anne Mosness, Go Wild Campaign, United States of America Neil Frazer, Professor, University of Hawaii at Manoa, United States of America Bartlett Naylor, Capital Strategies Consulting Inc., United States of America Don Staniford, Global Coordinator, The Pure Salmon Campaign, United States of America Cc: Her Majesty The Queen His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales Crown Prince Haakon of Norway Jens Stoltenberg, Prime Minister of Norway Helga Pedersen, Fisheries Minister of Norway Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada Gail Shea, Fisheries Minister of Canada Gordon Campbell, Premier of British Columbia Trevor Swerdfager, Director General, Aquaculture Management, Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada Jillian Stirk, Canada’s Ambassador to Norway Alex Salmond, First Minister of Scotland Roseanna Cunningham, Minister of the Environment for Scotland Heikki Holmås, Member of the Norwegian Parliament Ola Borten Moe, Member of the Norwegian Parliament Peter Gitmark, Member of the Norwegian Parliament Hallgeir Langeland, Member of the Norwegian Parliament August 17 Alexandra speaks for the Salmon Missing In ActionDear Fisheries Minster Shea: I am following the news that DFO is reporting 11 million sockeye salmon have vanished. The magnitude, social impact and trajectory of this fishery failure is on a par with the collapse of Canada’s Atlantic cod. Scientists have published on what went wrong within DFO to allow the cod, one of earth’s most abundant food resources to collapse. They identified political distortion of the science as a critical factor. They argue the public was not accurately informed as the collapse was underway. (Hutchings, J.A., Walters, C., and Haedrich, R.L. 1997. Is scientific inquiry incompatible with government information control? Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 54: 1198–1210. ) This brings me to several recent comments in the media attributed to high-ranking DFO employees. Bary Rosenburger, DFO area director for the Fraser, describes the Fraser sockeye collapse as unexpected and that DFO doesn’t know what happened (Globe and Mail, Aug 13, 2009). But the next day he goes on to say it does not look like fish farms are responsible (BCLocalNews.com). On August 15, Paul Sprout, Pacific Region Director for DFO published a letter in the Globe and Mail “Sea lice from fish farms are not the explanation of this year’s extremely poor marine survival of Fraser River sockeye...” Given both the importance of the Fraser sockeye to the BC economy, ecology and First Nations; and the analysis that DFO political interference with science may have allowed the east coast cod to collapse, it is reasonable to ask what science did Sprout and Rosenburger use to inform the public that fish farms are not responsible for this sockeye collapse? Two of your highest ranking employees involved with this fishery have publicly exonerated the fish farmers, an industry associated with catastrophic salmon collapse worldwide (Ford and Myers 2008) and here in BC (Krkosek et al 2007). The most recent past catastrophic BC wild salmon collapse was in 2002 when 99% of the Broughton pink salmon failed to return. The Pink Salmon Action Plan (http://www.fish.bc.ca/node/135) temporarily removed farm salmon from the Broughton pink salmon migration route and the next generation of pink salmon returned at the highest survivorship ever recorded for the species (Beamish et al 2006). That management decision was reversed and the stock collapsed again. Dr. Brian Riddell of the Pacific Salmon Foundation suggests that answers to the fate of these sockeye may lie in what happened to them right after they left the Fraser River, before they reached the open ocean. I and others did examine this run of sockeye shortly after they left the Fraser River. We were the last scientists to see these fish before they disappeared, and they had up to 28 sea lice on them as they passed the salmon farms off Campbell River. Before you reply that DFO’s Dr. Simon Jones says young salmon are highly resistant to lice, please review his publications. I do not find the data in his studies to support this claim once the lice are attached to the fish. Many international scientific papers run contrary to Dr. Jones’ assertions. I cannot tell you that fish farms definitely killed all 11 million missing Fraser sockeye, but fish farms most certainly are involved because DFO and the Province of BC sited them on the Fraser River migration route. The missing sockeye did swim through fish farm effluent. Rather than exempting fish farms from your investigation you must order complete disclosure of the health and number of farm salmon on the missing Fraser sockeye migration route in 2006-present. And we, the people of Canada and beyond, need to know why DFO is exonerating fish farms in the first few days of the investigation on what happened to one of earth’s most generous human food supplies? Alexandra Morton www.adopt-a-fry.org |
SKYVIEWBE YAWNED
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Alexandra Morton (wildorca@island.net) 
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