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Everyone Loves Wild Salmon, Don't They?

Who to Direct Letters to...

May 19, 2010 by Megan Adams


Grocery Stores and Distributors

Let your grocery stores or chains know that you want to see farmed salmon off their shelves - see here. See here to contact Costco representatives or to send regional directors a postcard. Thanks to Greenpeace for all the provided contact information.

Politicians

Please write to your elected representatives and federal and provincial Ministers about this issue and what you'd like to see happen next -

  • salmon farms OUT of coastal waters
  • farmed salmon into closed containment (which support of Bill C-518 will propend)
  • demand the resignation of Fisheries Minister Gail Shea unless she takes your concerns seriously
Please direct your letters to:
         and

 
Examples

We'd like to showcase examples of letters that the people are sending to their politcians. If you want to showcase your correspondence, post a new comment to this forum or email us a copy at info@salmonaresacred.org.

Please indicate if you want your personal information removed for the purpose of privacy.

Comments

You have power to fix some good things

February 21, 2011 by Alexis Baker, 1 year 12 weeks ago
Comment: 144

dear King,
I never wrote a king;
but as they say that You have power to fix some good things,
I ask Your support for the Salm.
It feels for me that the Salmon is a sacred animal: and when one take his/her wildness away, what is there to be left?
only the flesh.
It is as man/woman without spirit.
So please Majesty, use Your power to save the Spirit!

Sybille Joniaux
Kampen, the netherlands

We are a fast growing number of well informed citizens...

February 21, 2011 by Alexis Baker, 1 year 12 weeks ago
Comment: 143

Your Majesty, King Harold V,
 
We are a fast growing number of well informed citizens of Canada who are standing up for wild salmon and are against the biological and social threat and commerce of industrial marine net-cage feedlots using our global oceans. The science is clear: these operations risk wild salmon populations by intensifying disease and deplete world fishery resources to make the feed. They privatize ocean spaces and threaten our sovereign rights to food security.  The Norweigen companies who own most of the open net-cage feedlots on the east side of Vancouver Island are wanting to aggressively expand their industry, bringing more danger to the biodiversity around them, including Fraser River sockey salmon.  There is a solution that is being resisted by the fish farm industry on the BC coast - closed containment, preferably on land.  This would benefit everyone!
 
Please accept this valentine to celebrate St. Valentine's Day in the spirit of love and concern for wild salmon and we hope you can lend your good influence on the global scene to help protect this most sacred resource to humans, bears, whales, wolves, eagles and other life on the food chain.  
 
Happy Valentine's day.
 
Eddie Gardner
 
 

Mr Harper Time is long due

February 17, 2011 by Alexis Baker, 1 year 12 weeks ago
Comment: 142

Mr Harper

Time is long due to get those open net salmon farms out of our ocean. I hope you can feel some love for the people of Canada this Valentine's Day. Salmon Farm impacts are felt strongly on both coasts of this country and you will be hard pressed to find many citizens that support this industry. It is an industry that has manipulated its way into Canada and spreads disease and other troubles that directly harm our wild salmon, lobster and other marine life. Marine life that belongs to the people of Canada should never be allowed to be destroyed by such carelessness. I respect the process of the Cohen Commission and I sure hope that when the truth becomes public you act swiftly upon it and remove these farms.  Be assured that the people will demand it.

Canada is nothing without it's resources and a healthy environment. I hope that you can see that.

Sincerely,
Anissa Reed

  

For the love of wild salmon

February 17, 2011 by Alexis Baker, 1 year 12 weeks ago
Comment: 141


For the love of wild salmon please please stop the fish farm from killing the wild salmon that are native to this Country

Joan Robertson

    Your Majesty, We

February 17, 2011 by Alexis Baker, 1 year 12 weeks ago
Comment: 140

 
 
Your Majesty,
We love our wild salmon here in British Columbia Canada. We want your fish farms out of our waters!
Bev Brewis

For the Love of Wild Salmon and future generations

February 17, 2011 by Alexis Baker, 1 year 12 weeks ago
Comment: 139

Your Majesty,
King Harald of Norway,
 
For the Love of Wild Salmon and future generations on Planet Earth, each one of must do what we can to stop humanity's devastating impacts on our one and only earth.
 
Given that your country's salmon feedlot industries, with their lice infestations and pathogens, are the only feedlots in the world that make free use of the earth's seas to dispose of their tons of daily effluent, leaving in their tracks (everywhere that they exist) the destruction of wild salmon runs, you are in a position, as an example to the world, to have as your legacy a phenomenal return of wild salmon to all your many rivers, lakes, and waterways.  This you can do.
 
Life is short, and we are but temporary stewards of the natural world:  will the planet never again know the ocean's historical abundance, the rivers magical with wild salmon?  
 
The future:  net-pens poisoning the earth's waters for the greed and profits of a few, or wild salmon for generations upon generations to come throughout their historic lands?  It's entirely a question of choice:  each can be done, but not both. 
 
Please consider making your legacy the restoration of wild salmon in all your rivers, lakes, and waterways, as indeed was your natural inheritance to pass on undiminished.
 
Respectfully,
Sabra Woodworth
970 Chamberlain Drive
North Vancouver, B.C.
Canada V7K 1N9

Your Majesty, King Harald of

February 17, 2011 by Alexis Baker, 1 year 12 weeks ago
Comment: 138

Your Majesty, King Harald of Norway and Prime Minister Stephen Harper,

It is with great respect for you and your beautiful, ethical and progressive country, I am requesting, For the Love of Wild Salmon, please instruct your fish farmers to leave the ocean.  The salmon feedlots are causing great harm to the worlds waters and to wild salmon.  Salmon and all wild life deserve our respect. 


Most importantly, please do not allow salmon feedlots to hurt Norway's respected citizens and its highly world regarded reputation by this harmful business practice. 


The world is watching.


Thank for reading my email and being thoughtful with your powerful actions.

Sincerely,

Pamela Habel
                                                   San Francisco, CA

From A. Bod King Harald of

February 17, 2011 by Alexis Baker, 1 year 12 weeks ago
Comment: 137

From A. Bod

King Harald of Norway
I thought fish farming would help.

 20 years ago my sons and I were privileged to occasionally watch the oceans come alive; the water had salmon roll so close to each other it was as if we could walk from our boat to shore on their backs like stepping-stones. We saw small, classic rowboats. No motors were allowed as the rower slipped the boat into the currents and eddies of the tyee pool. The tyee fishing is still world renown. People from all over the world come to try to catch one of the great Tyees.
I lived by the wharf and saw large loads of ocean life brought in at night, (sea urchin, gooey ducks, cod, etc) all different people and races. Some fish had other types of fish mingled in the loads, some fish were too tiny and people seemed nervous around me when I went out for my walks. I would later realise why. I saw so many herring sold as bait, and yet even those have declined. It is all part of a vital food chain.
 Today I am still privileged to live by the ocean, but now that my sons are older, we do not see the large salmon entering upstream on their way to spawn in their birth river like that anymore. Our beaches don’t look the same, the ocean life has been disappearing while the houses are put up closer to shore. I even went out with someone who had a fish finder and we did not see the salmon throughout the day. Now that was scary.
Living by the water, I was saddened at the fuel and garbage in the water. When I lived by Simms creek, I took my sons to pick up garbage and tried not to upset the way for the salmon to go upstream. We walked easily through the broken chain link fence and collected three bags, many construction items, in one day and saw a lot of sludge. A year later, there was an organized effort and these kids were in the newspaper with more garbage bags. Yet no education was introduced to the kids about why our creeks are vital was incorporated.  I even saw a neighbor clean his paint off into a fish stream at night in the rain. I saw a fish boat put a large load of fish farm salmon on a conveyor unit to go to the processing plant, fall through the unit into the ocean because the trap door was left open.
What I do not understand is why, when we ask questions or try to speak up about something that was wrong, nothing happened. I do a lot without going to the newspapers, because I believe we should pick up garbage and look out for each other wherever we go from the heart. I thought fish farms would be an answer to the salmon decline. The commercial fishing and the sports fishing business were hurting and blaming each other for over fishing. The government was blamed for mismanagement. The natives were upset they would be affected. The oil tankers are blamed, but what has any one done worldwide for a problem that will get worse if we don’t pull our resources together and quit ignoring the numbers.
As I look with an open mind and no hidden agendas. I see studies are being ignored numbers are recorded or minimised is obvious.  It is why there being ignored and publicly broadcasting that “we the public shouldn’t listen to everything we here”. People are so busy trying to look after the businesses of the world we don’t look after the world that keeps us alive.
Fish farms may have been the answer if they were not open net. We can put our heads together and come up with solutions that will not jeopardize the oceans; the ocean is suffering at our hands. The numbers of salmon declining should be more important than the people making the decisions, just because they are number one on the boss scale or money trail. It has taken thousands of people for someone to look at the numbers, and shows Canada to be true to its form....it’s true wimpy, sell out self.
People will eventually not have a home to live in. If the numbers are not going down from disease , lice, and other accusations then why not support the people trying to communicate with answers. Good book keeping, nothing hidden. I would love my sons to work with fish farms that made this world a better place, not farms that experiment with life.  
1908 season from July 30th to August 26th. Sir John Rogers captured 41 Tyee weighing a total of 1738 pounds (the largest was 60 pounds), 15 Spring salmon, 126 Coho, and 37 trout.
Tyee fishing in 1912 one might see a half a dozen boatmen rowing an equal number of fisherman and there would be a dozen or twenty Natives hand-lining from dugouts.
April G. Bond
Courtenay, B.C.
 
--
´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸><(((((º>
Namaste
April
Kong Harald av Norge
Jeg trodde fiskeoppdrett ville hjelpe.
20 år siden mine sønner og jeg var privilegert å av og til se havet bli levende, vannet hadde laksen roll så nær hverandre var det som om vi kunne gå fra båten vår til land på ryggen som stepping-steiner. Vi så små, klassiske robåtar. Ingen motorer ble tillatt som roer gled båten inn i strømninger og virvler av tyee bassenget. Den tyee fiske er fortsatt verdens kjent. Folk fra hele verden kommer for å prøve å fange en av de store Tyees.
Jeg bodde ved kaia og så store mengder av livet i havet bringes i natten, (sjø urchin, gooey ender, torsk, etc) alle forskjellige mennesker og raser. Noen fisk hadde andre typer fisk blandet seg i lasten, var noen fisk for små og folk virket nervøse rundt meg når jeg gikk ut for min tur. Jeg skulle senere skjønner hvorfor. Jeg så så mange sild solgt som agn, og likevel selv de har falt. Det er en del av en vital næringskjeden.
 I dag er jeg fortsatt privilegert å leve av havet, men nå som mine sønner er eldre, har vi ikke ser den store laksen inn oppstrøms på vei for å gyte i sin fødsel elv som det lenger. Våre strender ikke se den samme, har havet livet vært forsvinner mens husene er satt opp nærmere land. Jeg gikk ut med noen som hadde en fisk finder, og vi så ikke laksen i løpet av dagen. Nå som var skummelt.
Living av vannet, var jeg lei på drivstoff og søppel i vannet. Da jeg bodde med Simms bekk, tok jeg mine sønner til å plukke opp søppel og prøvde ikke å rokke ved måten for laksen å gå oppstrøms. Vi gikk lett gjennom den ødelagte kjedeleddet gjerdet og samlet tre vesker, mange anlegg elementer, på en dag og så en masse slam. Et år senere, var det en organisert innsats og disse barna var i avisen med flere søppelsekker. Men ingen utdanning ble introdusert for barna om hvorfor våre bekker er vitale ble innlemmet. Jeg selv så en nabo ren hans maling ut i en fisk stream på natten i regnet. Jeg så en fisk båt setter et stort lass av fisk oppdrettslaks på et transportbånd enhet for å gå til prosessanlegget, faller gjennom enheten i havet fordi lemmen var igjen åpen.
Hva jeg ikke forstår er hvorfor, når vi stiller spørsmål, eller prøv å si ifra om noe som var galt, ingenting skjedde. Jeg gjør mye uten å gå til avisene, fordi jeg tror vi skal plukke opp søppel og se opp for hverandre uansett hvor vi går fra hjertet. Jeg trodde oppdrettsanlegg ville være et svar på laksen nedgangen. Den kommersielt fiske og sportsfiske virksomheten var vondt og skylde hverandre for overfiske. Regjeringen ble beskyldt for vanstyre. De innfødte var opprørt de ville bli berørt. De oljetankere er skylden, men hva har noen gjort verden over for et problem som vil bli verre hvis vi ikke trekke våre ressurser sammen og slutte å ignorere tallene.
Som jeg ser med et åpent sinn og uten skjulte agendaer. Jeg ser er studier blir ignorert tallene er registrert eller minimert er åpenbar. Det er derfor det blir ignorert og offentlig kringkastet at "vi det offentlige ikke skal høre på alt vi her". Folk er så opptatt med å forsøke å se etter at bedriftene i verden vi ikke ser etter den verden som holder oss i live.
Oppdrettsanlegg kan ha vært svaret hvis de ikke var åpne nett. Vi kan sette våre hoder sammen og komme opp med løsninger som ikke vil sette havet, havet er plaget av våre hender. Antallet laks fallende bør være viktigere enn folk å gjøre avgjørelser, bare fordi de er nummer én på sjefen skalaen eller penger sti. Det har tatt tusenvis av mennesker for noen å se på tallene, og viser Canada til å være sant å danne sin .... det er sant pysete, selge seg ut selv.
Folk vil til slutt ikke har et hjem å bo i. Hvis tallene ikke går ned av sykdom, lus og andre beskyldninger så hvorfor ikke støtter mennesker som prøver å kommunisere med svar. God bok å holde, ingenting skjult. Jeg ville elske mine sønner til å jobbe med anlegg som gjorde verden til et bedre sted, ikke gårder som eksperimenterer med livet.
1908 sesongen fra 30 juli til 26 august. Sir John Rogers fanget 41 Tyee veier totalt 1738 pounds (den største var 60 pounds), 15 Spring laks, 126 Coho, og 37 ørret.
Tyee fiske i 1912 kan man se et halvt dusin roerne rodde et likt antall fisker, og det ville være et dusin eller tjue innfødte hand-fôr fra jordkjellere.
April G. Bond
Courtenay, f.Kr.


--
´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸><(((((º>
Namaste
April

Your Majesty King Harald of

February 13, 2011 by Alexis Baker, 1 year 13 weeks ago
Comment: 136

loveheartsalmonA5.jpg


Your Majesty King Harald of Norway,

For the love of wild salmon! Take a position against open-pen fish farms.

The people of British Columbia have overwhelmingly rejected those fish farms. Their arrival two has been linked to the decline of local wild salmon runs.

Folks here are deeply attached to their wild salmon. It is an iconic species which supports our coastal ecosystem, is part of our cultural heritage, and in so many ways defines us as a people.

It is that ecosystem, that culture, that people which are being assaulted today by a transnational corporation bearing your country's flag. Because of Marine Harvest's operations, the image of Norway has been deeply tarnished in British Columbia. Right now we don't like your government or your flag too much, because frankly, we don't think you like us either. Otherwise, you wouldn't be putting our magnificent fish at risk.

I ask that you use your constitutional powers to influence your government's policy. Demand that your government withdraw its support for open-pen fish farm operations. Support land-based enclosed fish farms instead.

Ivan Doumenc
Vancouver, BC, Canada

Your consideration please,

February 7, 2011 by Alexis Baker, 1 year 14 weeks ago
Comment: 135

Your consideration please, your Majesty King Harald,

My great-grandfather was born on February 14th  1877, in Oslo  .  Nils left his beloved country and made Canada his home more than 100 years ago.

In Canada, February 14th is our Valentine’s Day, a day to express love to those we hold dear.

For the love of Wild Salmon, and for the health of all, we need to get salmon feedlots out of our waters and into closed containment.  For more information, please visit,  http://salmonaresacred.org/
 
Takk for du hjelper oss saving vill laksefisk i Canada
 
Sincerely, Don and Sandra Nelson
White Rock
British Columbia
CANADA

For His Majesty ( King Harald Of Norway )

February 4, 2011 by Alexis Baker, 1 year 14 weeks ago
Comment: 134


Here in Canada we  celebrate
Valentine's Day on February 14th.
A day meant to express  affection
for loved ones and our family.
Please accept this Valentine  in the
name of friendship between
British Columbia and  Norway

 

   We would like to save  our wild salmon here  in British Columbia, Canada. 
Please help us remove all the penned stock  owned  by your countrymen so that our wild salmon will  survive.

 Sincerely
Frank and Jane Martens
Summerland
British Columbia
Canada

Dear King Harald...

February 1, 2011 by Alexis Baker, 1 year 15 weeks ago
Comment: 133

Dear King Harald,
 
Everywhere where Norwegion open net salmon farms have set up, in South America, Scotland, Norway and Canada, the wild salmon stocks have been severely reduced.
 
Norwegian Salmon Farms are compromising global wild fish populations, our cultures, our food security, our ecosystem, and the laws of oceans.  
 
Wild pacific salmon are the health indicator of British Columbia's (Canada) ecosystem - freely feeding the people, whales, bears and eagles. Even in death, they fertilize our towering forests. These are wonderful gifts that we, the people of Canada, treasure.
 
Norwegian fish farms companies are rapidly expanding along our pristine BC coastline as their shareholders demand an ever increasing profit. To do so, at such a high ecological cost to our prized natural resources is unacceptable.
 
Aside from being attacked by masses of sea lice as they swim past polluted fish farms, our Fraser River Sockeye (BC, Canada) are now being side swiped by an unknown virus - thought to be Salmon Leukemia. Although some of the infected salmon make it back to their spawning grounds, many die before they spawn.
 
Columns of salmon runs share the same big ocean as Fraser River Sockeye. Yet, adult salmon entering their spawning river via the Western Vancouver Island route, Washington State and Alaska are not notably affected by the virus. Research indicates that the big difference is ... unlike the Fraser runs, those southerly and northerly runs do not share waters with open net salmon farms.
 
A study published in the Journal of Nutrition shows that farmed salmon is not the healthiest choice of food anyways. "Farmed salmon is raised in cramped pens where pathogens are rampant, toxicity of the water is common and the fish are fed red dye pellets to color its flesh to make it resemble wild salmon." (See article below).
 
Science and politics move at a slow pace, yet time is of the essence. Members of the five Norwegian Corporations are currently spending $1.5 million on professionally made TV advertisments to 'murky the waters' of canadian public information. Inspite of the science, similar classy ads were an effective tactic used by the tobacco industry to delay government action...if the delay tactic is successful, they will ensure the extinction of many wild salmon stocks.
 
Bold action is required to stop the rampage of Norwegian open net fish farms. Please, King Harald, help us save our wild BC salmon, and the coastal communities who have always depended on them. It is almost too late. The farmed salmon experiment has failed. We need to close the net fish farms now and let nature rejuvenate itself.
 
Thank you for your time and consideration.
 
Kind Regards,
Linda George
Gabriola Island, BC, Canada
 
PS. Below, I have attached two recent background info articles by the Canadian 'Medical News Today'
________________________________________________________________________________

1. ARTICLE: Wild Salmon Is Healthier Than Farmed  Jan 10, 2011

 
The majority of restaurants serve farmed salmon because it is cheaper, but a study published in the Journal of Nutrition shows that it is not the healthiest choice. Farmed salmon is raised in cramped pens where pathogens are rampant, toxicity of the water is common and the fish are fed red dye pellets to color its flesh to make it resemble wild salmon.

Researchers analyzed the risk-benefit ratio based on levels of contaminants like dioxins, PCBs and chlorinated pesticides versus omega-3 fatty acid levels. While farmed salmon is higher in omega-3s, it is also significantly higher in these toxins (about 10 times) which can produce birth defects, lower IQ, and cause
cancer. They determined the following based on origin of the salmon: "consumers should not eat farmed fish from Scotland, Norway and eastern Canada more than three times a year; farmed fish from Maine, western Canada and Washington state no more than three to six times a year; and farmed fish from Chile no more than about six times a year. Wild chum salmon can be consumed safely as often as once a week, pink salmon, Sockeye and Coho about twice a month and Chinook just under once a month."

How can you tell if the salmon is wild or farmed if the package does not indicate either? Any salmon labeled "Atlantic" is farmed because commercial Atlantic salmon fishing no longer exists due to the depletion of stocks. The only way to obtain wild Atlantic salmon is to catch it yourself during the short quota salmon season in places like Atlantic Canada. Anything labeled "Alaskan salmon," on the other hand, is by definition wild salmon.

1. Foran JA et al. Quantitative Analysis of the Benefits and Risks of Consuming Farmed and Wild Salmon. J. Nutr 2005 135:2639-2643

Source:
Cornell University
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
2. ARTICLE: Potential Virus Killing Fraser Sockeye  Jan 17, 2011
 
 
A study published in the prestigious journal,Science, by lead author Dr. Kristina Miller of Fisheries and Oceans Canada reports on genetic evidence that a virus maybe killing up to 95% of some Fraser sockeye stocks just before spawning.

"Our hypothesis is that the genomic signal associated with elevated mortality is in response to a virus infecting fish before river entry and that persists to the spawning areas."

Dr. Alexandra Morton of Raincoast Research says, "it is evident from this paper that DFO has known about this potential virus since 2006, but after four years they are still not certain what it is. The evolution of new viral strains is often associated with abnormal concentrations of animals or birds, like avian
flu. We need to know if this is indeed a virus, if it is related to the farm salmon disease, salmon leukemia and if there is something we can do about it."

DFO studies in the 1990s documented salmon leukemia in Chinook salmon farms and found it could infect Atlantic and sockeye salmon. At the same time the number of Fraser sockeye dying just before spawning began increasing, called "prespawn mortality". In 2006, Dr. Miller, found the genomic signature of these dying sockeye had a distinctive "unhealthy" profile that may be a form of leukemia. Salmon Leukemia is a retrovirus. Retroviruses are known to exhibit a high mutation rate.

"Did this virus start in the wild, become amplified in the farm Chinook and mutate to infect the millions of nearby introduced Atlantic salmon altering it to become unidentifiable?" asks Morton. "DFO has significantly delayed this critical research by keeping this secret."

There is one stock of Fraser sockeye that has not been on the rollercoaster of decline and boom. The Harrison sockeye, which have been steadily increasing over the past 18 years, are not found migrating to sea through the salmon feedlots of eastern Vancouver Island, researchers believe they go to sea via southern Vancouver Island.

In a Vancouver Sun article one of the co-authors, Dr. Scott Hinch of UBC notes there have been insufficient funds to tackle this issue.

In November, the Globe and Mail published a leaked memo to the Minister of Fisheries that suggested disease as a leading possibility for the 2009 Fraser sockeye decline, but DFO did not make this information public. Morton's attempt to cross-examine on that document at the Cohen Commission was refused at the time. "We hope that Commissioner Cohen will now look into what else DFO knows about this situation and the possibility that DFO has been protecting the salmon farming industry, at the expense of the $1 billion Fraser sockeye fishery," says Morton.

"I will also raise questions at the Cohen Commission whether DFO has fully supported Dr. Miller in her pursuit of this critical work and whether Miller has been given full access to the farm salmon populations for testing?" Last month Morton's lawyers asked for the Cohen Commission to hold a special portion of the hearing to look into whether this potential virus is impacting wild sockeye and whether this is a mutated form of salmon leukemia.

Morton has started a petition to urge Minister Shea to allow Dr. Miller to test the salmon feedlots for this disease:
see here.

Source:
Raincoast Research

Support Bill C-518

June 9, 2010 by Megan Adams, 1 year 48 weeks ago
Comment: 95

Re: MOVE OPEN-NET FISH FARMS TO LAND-BASED CLOSED CONTAINMENT FACILITIES

MR. FIN DONNELLY, MP
HOUSE OF COMMONS
401 WEST BLOCK
OTTAWA, ONTARIO, K1A 0A6

Dear Sir:

Salmon Talks Lillooet strongly supports your Private Members Bill C – 518. It is extremely important for the survival of the Fraser River salmon stocks that Parliament insist on a timetable to hasten an industry-wide transition to land-based closed containment aquaculture systems. This would protect wild salmon and many other forms of marine life in our oceans. At the same time, it would provide thousands more jobs and improve the economic security of BC’s coastal communities far more than the currently foreign-owned aquaculture operations. The food needs of thousands of people and the health of ecosystems throughout BC depend on resolving this issue quickly.

We’ve learned about the collapse of populations of salmon and other fish species in other countries where salmon farms have a longer history than here in BC. Peer-reviewed scientific studies have linked fish farm locations to declines in wild salmon populations of more than fifty per cent. The current aquaculture industry in BC is archaic and denies responsibility for the harm being done while being shielded by the Provincial and Federal governments.

Bill C – 518 provides a completely win-win solution for all the interests involved in this impasse by creating a truly sustainable aquaculture industry in BC. And most importantly, wild salmon, which have sustained countless generations of people and animals, may have a chance to continue to survive. We believe that, here in BC, the welfare of the wild salmon is the key to our own wellbeing and prosperity.

Salmon Talks Lillooet is a group that arose in response to the extremely low numbers of wild Pacific Salmon returning to their spawning grounds in the Fraser Rivershed and the threats to their survival. Our membership is very diverse. Our purposes are to educate ourselves, to address issues affecting the survival of salmon, to ally ourselves with similar groups and with First Nations throughout BC, and to encourage everyone to protect wild Pacific Salmon.

If you wish to contact us:

Phone: 250-256-2435
Email: salmontalks@gmail.com

Thank you for all your efforts,

William Spencer
On behalf of Salmon Talks Lillooet

Cc:
Stephen Harper, Prime Minister, (Harper.S@parl.gc.ca)
Gail Shea, MP, Federal Fisheries & Oceans Minister (Shea.G@parl.gc.ca)
Gordon Campbell, Premier of British Columbia (premier@gov.bc.ca)
Gerry Byrne, MP, Liberal Opposition Critic for Fisheries & Oceans (Byrne.G@parl.gc.ca)
Raynald Blais, MP, Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine (Blais.R@parl.gc.ca <mailto:Blais.R@parl.gc.ca> )
Denise Savoie, MP, Victoria (Savoie.D@parl.gc.ca <mailto:Savoie.D@parl.gc.ca>)
Christian Paradis, MP, Minister of Natural Resources (Paradis.C@parl.gc.ca)
Jim Prentice, MP, Environment Minister (Prentice.J@parl.gc.ca)
Chuck Strahl, MP, Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs, (Strahl.C@parl.gc.ca)
Susan Farlinger, Regional Director General, Pacific Region, (Susan.Farlinger@dfo-mpo.gc.ca)

To MPs, MLAs, Ministers and Mr. Campbell:

May 31, 2010 by Megan Adams, 1 year 50 weeks ago
Comment: 90

Gentlemen and Madams:
 
I'm sure you must be aware by now of the longstanding (20 year) struggles of Dr. Alexandra Morton from Sointula, BC and Salmon are Sacred.org Society who along with others organized a 2 week march from all over Vancouver Island and other parts of BC to be joined by thousands and thousands arriving at the BC Leg. May 8th at 4 p.m.?
 
Millions of emails, calls and letters to Ottawa's Stephan Harper, DFO Minister Gail Shea, Environment Minister Prentice, Natural Resources and Sustainable Development Minister Christian Paradis, have all gone on is past weeks and months ignored and unresponded to or even acknowledged.   Transport Minister John Baird who represents the Prime Minister in the House of Commons also ignoring this issue and any clear response to changes also ignoring all request.
 
This girl calls for Minister Gail Shea to resign or be fired as of March 30, 2010:
 
Do you have anyone from your BC M.P.s or Members or Caucus in BC  in the Vancouver/Victoria/  East Coast of Vancouver Island area?  That  could relay any response you may have. 
 
Frustration is mounting but everyone is open to positive early suggestion before the crisis become a catastrophe which could happen very soon.  The extinction of some breeds of salmon are already occurring in some BC Rivers this year, according to First Nations Chiefs on tape.  See dozens and dozens of You Tube videos.
 
Cohen Commission in Vancouver holds public hearings in June by Justice Bruce Cohen with no planned media coverage because all seem to be  preoccupied with G-8  G-20 Meetings in Toronto and Huntsville.   See Cohen Commission Web site.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I hope you will consider helping these non political, non partisan, non organized, non NGO non Industry ordinary citizens driven efforts to stop political excuses, ignoring and addressing the politcal leadership in Ottawa to address this issue and come up with an early plan to urgently prevent the immediate collapse of Fraser River Salmon.
 
These issues going on since 1990 according to attachment documentation from Norway Parliament.  Norwegian Gov't have Trust Funds from Norwegian Oil and Gas funds possibly funding the expansion of  these Farms.  Illegal in Norway  but dumping pollution on Canada for 2 decades.
 
Thank you . If I can participate in your plans in any way, let me know. No one wants to see this issue escalate any further.
-- 
Ron Kinch
Victoria BC

Wild salmon don't do drugs

May 31, 2010 by Megan Adams, 1 year 50 weeks ago
Comment: 89

Dear Mr. Donnelly,

In addition to my support of your bill to move fish farms out of the ocean along our West Coast, I am wondering how it is that the Norwegian companies are allowed to add a chemical that has not been tested for human consumption to a food product? Is there someone in Parliament who could explain this anomaly?

I enquired about this in a recent letter to the media:

It is with great interest that I have been reading the various letters and articles from all sides on farmed salmon in the Times Colonist. To begin with, I agree with the experts that recommend that the fish farms be moved inland away from our wild stock.

A couple of sources referred to farmed fish as a healthy source of protein. This is ironic considering they are fed emamectin benzoate, which according to the Watershed Watch Organization has yet to be tested for food safety by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Does this sound like a healthy source of protein for human consumption? How is it that our government allows this untested chemical to be used in a popular food source? What else is randomly added to farmed fish?
Having tried farmed salmon and finding it sadly lacking in flavour and having an undesirable texture, I avoid it. I also wonder about its questionable economic benefit at the expense of our wild species, our local fishermen and First Nations along our West Coast. If one needs more incentive for avoiding farmed salmon, consider the sign in our local fish store that reads, "Wild salmon don't do drugs"!

Sincerely yours,

John P. Callas
Salt Spring, BC


Come to the table

May 31, 2010 by Megan Adams, 1 year 50 weeks ago
Comment: 88

To the Right Honourable Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Premier Gordon Campbell;

Dear Sirs;

I join Alexandra Morton in a call for re-thinking the situation with Salmon farming on the BC Coast and the tragic effects it is having on our wild fish stocks.

http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/5858662-an-eloquent-plea-for-w...

The Federal and Provincial Governments must come to the table and discuss these problems with the affected communities.

Thank you for your time and consideration in this important environmental problem.

Yours truly,

Andrew Ian Mathisen

Smithers, British Columbia, Canada

Letter to Minister Shea

May 28, 2010 by Megan Adams, 1 year 50 weeks ago
Comment: 86


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