Fish Farms and the Feds

[phearless]

I feel this is very important.
Have a look, be informed and join us.

The letter is at the bottom


Fred


Please join Alexandra in support of her letter....see her appeal below...Alex, please sign me up; Pierce Clegg, Babine River watershed, Smithers, BC.


Pierce



From: Alexandra Morton [mailto:wildorca@island.net]
Sent: February 27, 2009 8:25 AM
To: adopt-a-fry@lists.onenw.org
Subject: [adopt-a-fry] We the fishermen



Hello All:

As it stands salmon "farms" are now a public fishery as per the BC Supreme Court decision. I feel certain this door is being pushed shut as fast as possible and so feel a sense of urgency that if we are going to accomplish anything real in the water at this moment of enormous opportunity that it will take all of us to get this done.

I am hoping that everyone with a fishing license be it commercial, personal, sport or First Nation will consider signing this.

If people want to sign please send me, (Alexandra Morton, wildorca@island.net), your first and last name, your fishery and your town and I will put you on the letter,

Please forward this far and wide as fast as you can.

Standing by,

Alex





Dear Paul Sprout and the Honourable Gail Shea:

We, the fishermen of British Columbia, work under increasing regulations, restrictions and closures set by Fisheries and Oceans Canada to protect our industry and Canada’s ocean resources. We are required to carry observers and DFO cameras at our expense to monitor and reduce our by-catch. We are prohibited from fishing with lights at night.. All fishing and packing vessels are required to be licensed by your Department. We have been required to alter our gear, install tanks to revive Coho and limited fishing time and area following DFO instructions. All these restrictions are an attempt to quantify and reduce our impact on both target and non-target species. We are disheartened that as we fish fewer days a year, wild fish stocks continue to decline.

On February 9, 2009 the BC Supreme Court ruled that British Columbia salmon farms are not “farms,” and that current Provincial regulation of this industry is unconstitutional. The responsibility for salmon aquaculture will pass from the Province to the federal government in 12 months. As it stands today, the salmon aquaculture industry is a public fishery. Fisheries and Oceans Canada has always had the power to regulate the aquaculture industry to comply with the Fisheries Act, but has chosen not to.

You can understand why we do not accept this as fair conduct by your department. In addition, many of us have experience with the salmon aquaculture industry and we have witnessed practices that serve to undo the sacrifices by our industry. While the court has given the federal government 12 months to assume regulation of salmon aquaculture, the dire state of many fish stocks in BC moves us to demand that DFO take steps immediately to meet it’s current constitutional obligations to conserve and protect the fisheries resources of Canada.

We request:

That observers and cameras be required during the harvesting and off-loading of aquaculture salmon to assess by-catch of non-target species by this fishery.

That the vessels transporting aquaculture salmon be licensed like all other commercial fishing vessels;

That the Pacific Fishery Regulations (1993) Section 8 Prohibited Fishing Methods be enforced. All brilliant submerged and above water lights should be removed from the aquaculture facilities to prevent all wild prey and predator species from being drawn to and into the pens and to reduce anthropogenic activities that may disrupt these natural interactions.

As Justice Hinkson wrote in his landmark decision, “The inclusion of fisheries in s. 91(12) of the Constitution Act, 1867 was a recognition that fisheries, as a national resource, require uniformity of the legislation”. We feel certain that the aquaculture industry will be the first to agree that they can comply with the laws of Canada.

Standing by,

[phearless]

I appeal to you as fellow anglers and guardians of the fisheries to send a quick note to Alex so she can add you to our voice to the government.
This might be a short window of opportunity.

Please include the fishery you are affiliated with i.e. sport tidal, sport non-tidal, commercial etc. your name and the town or city you live in.
I also included several groups I am affiliated with to perhaps add a bit more weight. i.e. BCFFF, SSBC etc.

I recieved a note from Alex and we have a couple hundred but two thousand or more would be what we are shooting for.

Thanks all.

Fred

Send note to:

Alexandra Morton

wildorca@island.net

[phearless]

Remember, these farms are affecting our fishing.
The few that are getting money from the private venture that is helping to quickly destroy a public resource need to follow the rules like the rest of us.

Remember that as go the salmon, so does everything other creature that depends on them in our salmon based ecology.

No salmon, no cutties, no steelhead.
Not to mention all the nutrients that salmon bring back from the ocean to feed the flora and fauna which in turn feed themselves as fry.

If you don't become involved in the fight to save our salmon and other species that depend on them, you won't be able to say much to your grandchildren when they ask why there are no more salmon.
As anglers and users of the resource, we have an obligation to do what we can.



Hello Thank you for signing on to this letter. There are 158 signatures. I willbe sending this letter on Monday. If more people sign on after that I willresend it, but it would be great to get a few more before then. The salmon"farmers" are likely uncomfortable with the recent court decision that made them a public fishery and so I can only imagine that the door on this windowof opportunity is being pushed shut. It is so incredibly difficult to makeany real, in the water, progress on this issue that I am hoping we can usethis moment to make it clear to government that this industry must complywith the Fisheries Act like everyone else involved with a fishery on thiscoast.
If you decide to forward this to others please ask that they send me theirinfo below and I will put their name on the document

Name
Fishery
Town

wildorca@island.net

Standing by, alex

[Rick Baerg]

This is important guys, take the time and send in the letter!

[knotnot]

I just sent one to Alex.
Also sent a letter to Ottawa. (Harper,Prentice,Shea)

knotnot

[phearless]

A note from Alexandra.
With the number of members on this site alone we should be able to reach the 1000 mark.
This is the easiest way you will ever get involved and help our resource.

Tight lines ( Until they are all gone )

Fred

Hello I want to thank all of you for your comments and insights as you sent meyour names to sign onto the letter "We the Fishermen." While at first I hoped for 100, this morning we are 702 strong and so I cansee that it is possible to reach 1,000. One thousand people is a lot to close the door on. I apologize for adding to your inbox, but if each of us tried to get onemore person to sign on we would easily reach that goal. The Province has 2more days to appeal. Marine Harvest said they would fallow the migrationroute through the Broughton by March, but now say they can't because theirmarket has failed badly. The have not even addressed the affect of theirfeedlots on the Fraser River migration route. Right now this industry is hanging on a legal thread, they are a publicfishery. If we can't force reason on the situation now, I doubt we willevery return to this point. Please make sure people give me three things NameGear type, or relationship to the fish (3-5 words)Town

Thank you again you have inspired me.

alex

wildorca@island.net

[geoffvl]

Lets get some more out there so we can still fish for salmon in 20 years.

[phearless]

So is it really only 4 of 1387 of us that signed on !
I really think we can do better than that.

Alex keeps re-sending as folks sign on.

Please join us so our voice is strong. It is an election year and we can use it to our advantage.

Fred ( phearful )

From: Alexandra Morton (wildorca@island.net)
Sent: March 6, 2009 5:46:33 PM
To: sproutpa@pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca (sproutpa@pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca); Min@dfo-mpo.gc.ca (Min@dfo-mpo.gc.ca)
1 attachment
We the Fi...pdf (231.5 KB)


Dear Minister Shea and Paul Sprout One thousand, one hundred and eight people have now sign this letter. People are really concerned and we hope you will be able to answer us soon. Until then, Alexandra Morton

[phearless]

All you have to do is follow the link to get on the list now.

What could be easier.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewf...U3lxQnBwQmc6MA..

[macrib46]

I'm proud to say that i signed. why is it that big business seems to get away with destoying the planet we all have to live on. Do they think we'll get another one after they've finish with this one.

dave