Vancouver BC

Justice For Wild Salmon

10:00am
Monday August 22 2011

Anyone who supports the survival of wild salmon knows that wild salmon are part of a cycle so beautiful, so mesmerizing, so life giving as to break one's heart to imagine this world without them.



Salmon are life. They give everything to continue a cycle that feeds all that we love. They don't stop half way to the spawning grounds and decide it's too hard a trek. They gather every last reserve of energy and push onwards, upwards, against every imaginable obstacle to arrive battered and beaten to the spawning grounds where they give life and die, and even in death their bodies feed the soil, the forests, the earth. What greater gift is there?



The threats to wild salmon are many and the government is failing miserably at protecting them. Industrial growth does not respect the gift that salmon are and the government is dependent on such growth.



This August 22- September 8 we have a chance to give something back to the wild salmon.

At 701 West Georgia St., Vancouver, on the 8th floor, the Cohen Commission's Inquiry Into the Decline of the Fraser River Sockeye Salmon has been ongoing since October 25, when hundreds of people wanting wild salmon protected marched to the opening day of the commission to demand the release of disease and health records from the salmon farms that have spread across the coast like a cancer, and with similar effects.



In December of 2010, it was good news to hear that records from 120 farms spanning 10 years were to be released for examination at the Cohen Commission. The release of these records did not come willingly from the BCSFA. Dr. Alexandra Morton, Stan Proboszcz and others worked tirelessly to make that happen.



After months of waiting, disease and aquaculture is finally up for examination in court. Dr. Kristi Miller will no longer be muzzled, nor the secrets between DFO and the aquaculture industry secret any longer. On August 24th Dr. Miller will finally be free to speak. The question is, will her testimony be edited and interrupted by those who don't want her findings to be known? 

Big industries that profit from destroying the landbase and waterways (like the Norwegian owned salmon farms) love it when "enviros" fail. The members of the BC Salmon Farmers Association would love to be the only ones in that courtroom, smirking at a room devoid of those who claim to want wild salmon protected from salmon farms. We cannot let that happen.

There is a belief within the aquaculture industry and government that farmed salmon are the way of the future. There are many problems with that belief, the most damning one being that it is asking us to believe that wild salmon are not going to survive into the future and that we will have to depend on GE farmed salmon as the provider of salmon for the world. If I were a Christian I’d be saying;”Jesus would be rolling in his grave at the prospect.”  


Of course they want the world to accept this belief, as there are millions of dollars to be made in this industry. But in the end, it will be wild salmon that will pay the ultimate price with their lives.

Norway, Chile, Scotland and Ireland have lost their abundant salmon runs to salmon farms. Will B.C. be next?


There are 130 seats in that courtroom.

There are 9 days examining aquaculture, 3 days examining disease.

The hours are 10am-4pm with a 1 1/2 hour lunch break.

August 22,23,24,25,26/ 29,30,31 and Sept. 1,2,6,7,8.
Rally at the Vancouver Art Gallery on August 30th.

Over 10,000 people have openly opposed open net salmon farms in B.C. 10,000 people could remove the salmon farms. Since that’s not likely to happen, may 130 people at least show up for the 9 days of court to let government know; we are watching. We will not be ignored. We demand justice for wild salmon and all that depend on them.