Letters

WSDA – January 2, 2020
Testing for Piscine Reovirus and Removal of Fish Farms from Ocean
“We are encouraged that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau officially mandated you to ‘work with the province of British Columbia and Indigenous communities to create a responsible plan to transition from open net-pen salmon farming in coastal British Columbia waters by 2025.’ This directive needs to be in line with the peer-reviewed science which identifies the Piscine Reovirus as a disease agent, a contagious blood virus from the Atlantic Ocean that is harming Pacific salmon….”

WSDA – November 1, 2019
Testing for disease agent PRV
“Immediate screening of farmed Atlantic salmon for the Norwegian strain of the Piscene Orthoreovirus (PRV) in fish farm hatcheries is urgently required now, instead of reckless decisions to put them in Pacific waters. The State of Washington passed legislation to phase out fish farms on their coast, and this included testing farmed Atlantic salmon before they are placed in marine pens. Consequently, some 1,600,000 infected farmed Atlantic salmon were prevented from being put into their coastal waters…”

WSDA – April 30, 2018
Wild Pacific salmon are in crisis
“Fraser river sockeye populations have declined so drastically that they have been recommended for listing as an endangered species by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. First Nations on Vancouver Island, and all along the Fraser river, including the Musqueam First Nation in your riding, are suffering devastating impacts to their culture and physical health due to lack of access to the wild salmon…”

WSDA – April 20, 2018
Non-Renewal of Fish Farm Tenures 2018
“Aquaculture companies are currently refilling their ocean pens with Atlantic salmon, which are spreading viruses, pollution and parasites to millions of young wild salmon now swimming past them. We are very concerned that the fish processing plant pipes spewing PRV-contaminated blood water have not been shut off as a precautionary measure to protect the out-migrating young sockeye salmon and Fraser River steelhead, even though many of these runs are collapsing…”

WSDA – April 5, 2018
A Jobs-centered Solution – Move Aquaculture to Closed Containment
“We are all concerned about a healthy, stable economy that creates jobs and prosperity for British Columbians. This, however, cannot be accomplished by supporting one sector of the economy at the expense of another. A growing number of voters are convinced that cumulative evidence, including peer-reviewed science, and recent legal decisions, clearly reveal that the ocean salmon farming industry poses threats of irreversible harm to wild salmon…”

WSDA – April 3, 2018
End Fish Farm Tenures in the Broughton Archipelago in June 2018
“… Please let us know whether you support ending the fish farm tenures in the Broughton Archipelago area. By cooperating with Namgis, Musgamagw and Mamalilikulla Nations, the BC NDP would unite with Alaska, Oregon, California and Washington who want a Pacific coast free of open net pen Atlantic salmon farms….”

WSDA – March 27, 2018
Last Stand for Wild Salmon – End Fish Farm Tenures
“Last November 2017 the press was told that the NDP government is working with Fisheries and Oceans Canada and First Nations in the area to ensure everything possible is being done to protect wild salmon. British Columbians are asking why PRV-contaminated blood water from fish processing plants pipes were not shut off as a precautionary measure…”

WSDA – March 25 2018
“We feel that the NDP government is keeping us in the dark for too long as to whether your government will end the tenures in the unceded territories of the Namgis, Mamalilikulla and Musgamagw people who have never given their consent for fish farms to be in their territory. In the meantime, we see this rogue industry pursue stocking fish farms in their territories…”

DFO – Jan.29, 2018
“I appreciate the opportunity to clarify the reasons for Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s (DFO’s) proposed amendments to the Fisheries Regulations. In 2010 the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) amended it’s Health of Animals Regulations and Reportable Diseases Regulations to enable the implementation of the National Aquatic Animal Health Program (NAAHP)…”

WSDA – Nov.21, 2017
“We, the Wild Salmon Defenders Alliance, are writing to you today to insist that you do not abdicate your primary constitutional responsibility and duty to protect wild fish, to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). You must abide by the current Fisheries Act regulations, and finally accept to oversee the testing of farmed salmon for dangerous pathogens…”

WSDA – January 15, 2018
Removal of Open Net Pen Atlantic Salmon Farms from Broughton Archipelago
…the ‘Namgis, Musgamagw and Mamalilikala people have never given their consent to have fish farms in their territory over the past 31 years. These Indigenous people bear witness to the cumulative damage open net pen fish farm practices have caused to their wild fish and its marine habitat. We acknowledge and thank you for meeting with them last year to listen to their grave concerns. Since then, issues of conflict of interest in provincial labs and the release of blood water being pumped into the Pacific Ocean have surfaced… Although studies and investigations are important and needed, the application of the precautionary principle calls for an immediate removal of all farms in the migration routes of wild salmon.”

WSDA – August 28, 2017
Dear Premier John Horgan and Andrew Weaver,
It is now crucial to take a strong stand to champion the welfare of wild salmon and its habitat by removing open net pen fish farms from the Pacific coast, starting with one third of those illegally sited in Musgamagw Dzawada’enuxw unceded territory…”

WSDA – August 6, 2017
Report on Violations – Illegal By-Catch in Fish Farms and Illegal Occupation of Fish Farms We urgently ask you to connect with Hereditary Chief George Quocksister Jr. and take immediate action to ensure these wild fish are released and to ensure the wild fish of B.C. are no longer trapped in salmon farms and put so carelessly at risk…”

WSDA – July 7, 2017
“Thank you for your reply to my letter of March 14, 2017. The ‘strict regulations’ your department currently has in place are unable to contain the sea lice problem plaguing the expanding aquaculture industry. This is an out-of-control problem in Canada and around the world. In a June 12, 2017 letter to you, Dr. Alexandra Morton outlined this precarious situation…”

DFO – May 17, 2017
“In British Columbia, the aquaculture industry operates under some of the strictest regulations in the world. DFO’s Public Reporting on Aquaculture website outlines DFO’s regulations, management requirements, and monitoring activities, which are in place to ensure that the industry operates in a sustainable manner. Environmental management requirements include…”