Salmon Are Sacred Fish Farm Rally December 14 2011

Monday December 12, 2011

Rally For The Salmon

Fish Farm Fight To The Finish

USA worried as DFO waffles

Submitted by Eddie Gardiner, Skwah Elder/Voice file photo

almon Are Sacred! Please find attached a Media Advisory for the Wild Salmon Rally to take place at Bldg #10 at Coqualeetza on Thursday at 11:00 A.M.

A most menacing threat to wild salmon survival are open-net used to farm Atlantic salmon. They are mostly situated on Fraser River sockeye migration routes. They are prone to having diseases, including the deadly Infection Salmon Anemia virus (ISAv), they are a breeding ground for harmful sea lice and they pollute the waters from thousands of tons of Atlantic salmon concentrated in small quarters along the narrow straights where juvenile salmon must pass on their way out to the ocean.

We can make a difference by sending a strong message to the federal government that that fish farms must be removed and put into containment on land to protect wild salmon. DFO has been trying to keep secret that ISAv has been in BC waters, yet there is evidence it is here. DFO is financing the promotion of open-net pen fish farms, yet does not see fit to provide resources to research on deadly diseases. The US trading partners are legitimately concerned over the conflict of interest DFO has with the mandate to both promote fish farms, regulate fish farms and protect the marine environment. Enough is enough! Fish farms have to go!

Please help spread the word and come out and come join the rally!

Let's take a stand for Wild Salmon!

About the Issue

The seven-year-old DFO report recently leaked revealed that a dangerous Infectious Salmon Anemia virus exists in BC waters, and is known to travel in Atlantic salmon eggs and mutate into highly lethal strains. Many of the tests have been done in Stó:lõ territory. Particularly alarming is that 64 of 64 samples in Cultus Lake sockeye were tested positive.

"This is outrageous and why was Stó:lõ Tribal council not informed and involved in an emergency response? Could this explain why Cultus Lake Sockeye are doing so poorly?" asks Chief Otis Jasper of the Soowahlie First Nation.

"I find it both appalling and disturbing that DFO did not even table this report to the Cohen Commission,” said Ernie Crey of the Stó:lõ Tribal Council.

“This only confirms DFO appears to support the aquaculture industry over wild salmon, and this is an obvious conflict of interest that needs to be corrected," added Ernie Victor, Stó:lõ Nation Fisheries Officer.

Steps are demanded by First Nations and wild salmon advocates to eliminate the threat of salmon aquaculture sites on the BC coast, most of them directly in wild salmon migration routes:

· Immediate independent and transparent ISAv testing of all salmon farming facilities, enhancement hatcheries, and wild salmon and trout populations, with duplicate samples sent to independent labs certified by the World Animal Health Organization

· Suspension of DFO’s mandate to promote salmon aquaculture in open-net cage industrial feedlots on the BC coast

· Removal of fish from salmon farms along the Fraser sockeye migration routes before the March out-migration of juvenile salmon

· No new salmon farms or expansions

· No imports of Atlantic salmon eggs to BC

· DFO scientists must be free to investigate the condition of wild pacific salmon and farmed salmon without interference by business-motivated political powers

· Salmon disease cannot be a federal secret

· Begin consultations with First Nations negatively impacted by open-net feedlots to determine the extent of loss and damages suffered as well as appropriate reparations to these First Nations

· Boycott open-net pen farmed salmon until the Norwegian-owned fish farms are removed from the Pacific coast and moved into containment on land

For more information contact: Ernie Victor – 604-997-9907 or Eddie Gardner – 604-792-0867

This Rally is cooperative effort of Stó:lõ Nation, Stó:lõ Tribal Council and Stó:lõ Research and Resource Management Centre