The Wild Salmon Defenders Alliance held a rally at the office of George Heyman, Minister of Environment and Climate Change strategy, on March 2nd, 2018 to encourage the BC government not to renew the leases of open net pen fish farms in the Broughton archipelago, and turn off the virus laden blood water, spewing into the ocean from farmed salmon processing plants, into the migration routes of chum, spring and sockeye salmon smolts. The rally was very well attended with numerous wild salmon supporters from all over the Fraser Valley, Vancouver, and even from the Salmon Conservation Society in Washington USA. While we were drumming and singing, the government of Washington was preparing to hold a vote banning open net pen fish farms from Washington, a vote that ultimately passed, despite last minute attempts from the fish farm lobbyists and politicians to squash the legislation.
We were honoured to have renounced scientist, David Suzuki join the rally, and speak about the mess we are making of the ocean with islands of plastic, acidification, dead zones, etc. We have to clean up our mess. Dr. Suzuki stated “It is not an accident that Norway is building huge land-based farms, yet we continue to use the ocean as a shithouse with open nets. We found on land that when DDT is sprayed on farm fields, the DDT doesn’t stay on the farm but spreads through the air, water and soil and ends up affecting birds and fish and people. Same thing in the ocean: we are creating a dead zone under and around the neatness, we are spreading parasites and disease to the water surrounding the pens and wild feed like anchovies and herring pass readily into the pens to deplete food from surrounding wild species. It’s just ecologically crazy”.
Eddie spoke about the need off the government to respect Indigenous rights and remove these farms once and for all. Other speakers included First Nation fisherman Eddie Julian, who described recently catching escaped Atlantic salmon while fishing in the Fraser River, Stan Proboszcz, Scientist from the Watershed Watch Salmon Society, who remarked on the government’s use of delay, distraction and denial when it comes to dealing with pathogens and contamination created by the open net pen fish farms, and Dawn Morrison, of the Indigenous Food Sovereignty Network, who spoke about the crisis of health for First Nations who don’t have access to traditional healthy food like wild salmon.
Our voices united, we call on the BC Government to join California, Oregon and Alaska to establish an open-net fish farm free zone over the entire coast! WSDA rallies at Minister George Heyman’s office March 2, 2018
The Wild Salmon Defenders Alliance held a rally at the office of George Heyman, Minister of Environment and Climate Change strategy, on March 2nd, 2018 to encourage the BC government not to renew the leases of open net pen fish farms in the Broughton archipelago, and turn off the virus laden blood water, spewing into the ocean from farmed salmon processing plants, into the migration routes of chum, spring and sockeye salmon smolts. The rally was very well attended with numerous wild salmon supporters from all over the Fraser Valley, Vancouver, and even from the Salmon Conservation Society in Washington USA. While we were drumming and singing, the government of Washington was preparing to hold a vote banning open net pen fish farms from Washington, a vote that ultimately passed, despite last minute attempts from the fish farm lobbyists and politicians to squash the legislation.
We were honoured to have renounced scientist, David Suzuki join the rally, and speak about the mess we are making of the ocean with islands of plastic, acidification, dead zones, etc. We have to clean up our mess. Dr. Suzuki stated “It is not an accident that Norway is building huge land-based farms, yet we continue to use the ocean as a shithouse with open nets. We found on land that when DDT is sprayed on farm fields, the DDT doesn’t stay on the farm but spreads through the air, water and soil and ends up affecting birds and fish and people. Same thing in the ocean: we are creating a dead zone under and around the neatness, we are spreading parasites and disease to the water surrounding the pens and wild feed like anchovies and herring pass readily into the pens to deplete food from surrounding wild species. It’s just ecologically crazy”.
Eddie spoke about the need off the government to respect Indigenous rights and remove these farms once and for all. Other speakers included First Nation fisherman Eddie Julian, who described recently catching escaped Atlantic salmon while fishing in the Fraser River, Stan Proboszcz, Scientist from the Watershed Watch Salmon Society, who remarked on the government’s use of delay, distraction and denial when it comes to dealing with pathogens and contamination created by the open net pen fish farms, and Dawn Morrison, of the Indigenous Food Sovereignty Network, who spoke about the crisis of health for First Nations who don’t have access to traditional healthy food like wild salmon.
Our voices united, we call on the BC Government to join California, Oregon and Alaska to establish an open-net fish farm free zone over the entire coast!