Little Hawk
Active Member
Just got this from Alex and I can't stress enough to my fellow sportfishermen and all who are opposed to the net-pen business just how important it is that the Fed hears from all of us on this.
They are proposing we hand Norway our coast-line Carte Blanche!
Please sign the petition and send in a note to Ed Porter telling them to F.O. and pass this on to all you know.
Thanks.
Hello All
The federal government has released their proposed Federal Pacific
Aquaculture Regulations with a sixty-day public input period. These
regulations role back the safe-guards we have in British Columbia to prevent
heavy industrialization and privatization of the coast at the expense of our
communities. Once these regulations pass there will be no further public
input on how each salmon feedlot licence is written, how many wild fish they
can take and what diseases they must report. The federal licences will be
issued without First Nation or other consultation and can be expanded
without an environmental assessment. I feel there has to be enormous
response or else we all lose, even the people working in the industry,
because no retailer is going to want to be in possession of a seafood
product authorized to ³Harmfully Alter, Disrupt and Destroy² parts of the
North Pacific. Oddly these regulations will not apply to the east coast of
Canada, where the Minister of Fisheries resides.
There are several options for you to act by the deadline September 12:
* See my letter below/attached which interprets the proposed regs and
provides a direct link to them
* write to Ed Porter who is accepting public input PAR-RPA@dfo-mpo.gc.ca
* Sign the petition
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dElVTFY0d1JqMGRYR2F6Vn
p3QjEzRnc6MQ#gid=0
You can see my presentation on the strong correlation between disease in
salmon feedlots and decline of Fraser sockeye "What's New"
http://www.sfu.ca/cstudies/science/
I know it is very hard to react to everything that comes at us, so I have
tried to make this easy for you. However, I can¹t turn this looming
disaster, it requires each and everyone of you and your friends and family.
Please pass the petition to all you know.
To stay up to date please frequent www.salmonaresacred.org I will let you
know how many people have signed. Volunteers are hosting events throughout
BC this summer to link all of us together and this information will be
posted. The T-shirts left from the migration are on my website
www.alexandramorton.ca and proceeds go to this effort.
The Get Out Migration brought thousands of people together, but government
does not want to hear from our communities nor of our need for good health
in our environment and our bodies. Clearly there needs to be more public
response. That is all that is required to fix this. I will continue to push
for protection for salmon feedlot workers, as this is a government mistake
and they need not bear the cost of this to our coast.
I think we will have a good Fraser sockeye run this summer and that should
tell us the ocean and the river are still highly capable of feeding this
coast! This generation of sockeye has shown one of the least declines and
we need to investigate why this run is good and the others have failed so
badly. If we allow government to let salmon feedlot companies hide their
disease outbreaks this investigation will be incomplete. If there is no
salmon feedlot disease problem, there should be no reason for secrecy.
Hundreds of people have said ³I am behind you Alex,² but this is not
working. We have to stand shoulder to shoulder, where we are all peacefully
and strongly visible. This is the only way to save ourselves and our planet.
Alexandra Morton
July 28, 2010
Ed Porter, Team Leader, Regulatory Operations
Fisheries and Oceans Canada
PAR-RPA@dfo-mpo.gc.ca
Dear Mr. Ed Porter:
I am responding to the 60-day public comment opportunity on the proposed
Federal Pacific Aquaculture Regulations
http://www.gazette.gc.ca/cg-gc/about-sujet-eng.html
(left column ³Part I Notices and Proposed Regulations² Vol. 144, No. 28,
page 1933).
When BC Supreme Court ruled that the federal government must take over
regulation of salmon feedlots, the intent was to bring the industry into
compliance with the Constitution of Canada. But what Stephen Harper¹s
Conservatives are trying to do instead is remove safeguards established by
previous governments and open the door to privatizing the ocean, which is
prohibited by the Canadian Constitution.
With his document Harper not only licences massive ecological damage, he
depreciates the market value of BC feedlot salmon. No reputable retailer can
afford to be seen with a seafood product raised under a licence to ³harm,
alter, disrupt and destroy² the ocean. The federal licences will be issued
without consultation with First Nations.
³Increasingly stringent international standards are driving seafood
importing nations to require Canada to certify health (disease) status, not
just food safety, of live aquatic animals and their products. Š Canada
cannot meet these standards, and is facing increasing challenges to export
market access. Canada is already subject to a lesser market access than the
United States, Europe ...
³ http://www.gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p1/2009/2009-12-19/html/reg1-eng.html
Canadian pathologists warn against holding millions of diseased salmon in
pens (Traxler et al. 1993) and the graph below demonstrates the reason.
There is a strong correlation between salmon feedlot epidemics and the
declining Fraser sockeye. This must be examined, but the provincial
government is stonewalling release of salmon feedlot disease records and
Harper is stepping in to help.
These draft regulations ignore the International (OIE) and the Canadian Food
and Health Inspection Agency standards by exempting salmon feedlots from
full disease reporting. Harper is not only offering Norwegian companies the
right to leave infected salmon in the water, he is protecting them from
liability. If government and the industry are willing to throw away premium
market value for disease secrecy we are warned this is a dangerous and
strong priority.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper is also offering these Norwegian companies
blanket authorization for ³Harmful Alteration, Disruption or Destruction² of
fish habitat (Section 35(1) Fisheries Act). This ignores the value of the
oceans to communities across British Columbia. Oddly, these rules will not
apply to eastern Canada, where the Minister of Fisheries resides.
Harper is going to legalize destruction of wild fish that become trapped in
the pens, attracted by the bright lights and food in the water. There are no
surplus wild fish and so this by-catch will compete with fishing quotas.
Many feedlots are in rock cod conservation areas where fishermen are not
allowed, but the feedlots will continue trapping unknown amounts. This is
bad management and will affect herring, sable fish, salmon, lingcod and
other important wild fish.
The federal Conservatives are proposing salmon feedlot licences be granted
and amended without environmental assessment. This violates strong public
demand for healthy coastal waters, but neatly resolves the irreconcilable
issue of dumping over a ton/day/site of industrial waste into salmon
habitat. These are the only feedlots that never have to shovel manure and
chemical waste as it flows conveniently into public waters.
It is dangerous to humanity, (risking food security, drug resistance,
disease mutation) to allow feedlots to contaminate natural environments with
disease. Feedlots remove all the natural disease control mechanisms and thus
allow viruses to mutate, multiply and jump to new species.
Because Mr. Harper is proposing to remove standards designed to protect the
ocean from Norwegian feedlots, retailers like COSTCO will have to decide if
their mission statements honor government or their customers. Promising to
³Exceed ecological standards required in every community where we do
business,² is meaningless if there are no ecological standards.
Salmon feedlots are an ³ecology of bad ideas,² struggling to control disease
with drugs, corrupting the foodchain by using warm-blooded animal products,
plants and fish from the southern hemisphere as feed, displacing local
businesses, turning a public resource into a corporate commodity with no
public access, dyeing their fish pink to resemble salmon. If jobs were the
goal, the federal Conservatives and BC Liberals would be working with the BC
companies developing sustainable land-based aquaculture to create a viable,
world-class product. Instead Mr. Harper is proposing to change the laws of
Canada to allow unchecked pollution by a 92% Norwegian-owned industry
associated wild salmon declines worldwide. Wild salmon are thriving
everywhere this industry does not exist (Alaska, Iceland, western Pacific,
areas of BC).
These proposed regulations are a signpost. If this was about fish, attention
would have been paid to the market value of the product. Instead it risks
one of the last naturally producing salmon regions in the world for a
depreciating commodity. What these draft regulations do is clear away
legislation established to protect Canadians and our coast from
industrialization and privatization.
Ed Porter, the proposed Federal Pacific Aquaculture Regulations do not
protect the interests of Canadians or the world and must not be adopted.
Sincerely,
Alexandra Morton
The Fraser sockeye decline began at the same time government failed to cull
millions of IHN virus infected feedlot salmon on the Fraser River migration
routes. Government ignored federal scientists who state infected Atlantic
salmon should not be permitted in pens (Traxler et al 1993). The federal
government also ignored warnings from their scientists that would have saved
the North Atlantic cod. When the cod went extinct the Hibernia Oil wells
appeared on the Grand Banks the most generous food-producing area humanity
will ever have was exchanged for oil.
"Some could care less if there's any fish left for our kids!"
They are proposing we hand Norway our coast-line Carte Blanche!
Please sign the petition and send in a note to Ed Porter telling them to F.O. and pass this on to all you know.
Thanks.
Hello All
The federal government has released their proposed Federal Pacific
Aquaculture Regulations with a sixty-day public input period. These
regulations role back the safe-guards we have in British Columbia to prevent
heavy industrialization and privatization of the coast at the expense of our
communities. Once these regulations pass there will be no further public
input on how each salmon feedlot licence is written, how many wild fish they
can take and what diseases they must report. The federal licences will be
issued without First Nation or other consultation and can be expanded
without an environmental assessment. I feel there has to be enormous
response or else we all lose, even the people working in the industry,
because no retailer is going to want to be in possession of a seafood
product authorized to ³Harmfully Alter, Disrupt and Destroy² parts of the
North Pacific. Oddly these regulations will not apply to the east coast of
Canada, where the Minister of Fisheries resides.
There are several options for you to act by the deadline September 12:
* See my letter below/attached which interprets the proposed regs and
provides a direct link to them
* write to Ed Porter who is accepting public input PAR-RPA@dfo-mpo.gc.ca
* Sign the petition
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dElVTFY0d1JqMGRYR2F6Vn
p3QjEzRnc6MQ#gid=0
You can see my presentation on the strong correlation between disease in
salmon feedlots and decline of Fraser sockeye "What's New"
http://www.sfu.ca/cstudies/science/
I know it is very hard to react to everything that comes at us, so I have
tried to make this easy for you. However, I can¹t turn this looming
disaster, it requires each and everyone of you and your friends and family.
Please pass the petition to all you know.
To stay up to date please frequent www.salmonaresacred.org I will let you
know how many people have signed. Volunteers are hosting events throughout
BC this summer to link all of us together and this information will be
posted. The T-shirts left from the migration are on my website
www.alexandramorton.ca and proceeds go to this effort.
The Get Out Migration brought thousands of people together, but government
does not want to hear from our communities nor of our need for good health
in our environment and our bodies. Clearly there needs to be more public
response. That is all that is required to fix this. I will continue to push
for protection for salmon feedlot workers, as this is a government mistake
and they need not bear the cost of this to our coast.
I think we will have a good Fraser sockeye run this summer and that should
tell us the ocean and the river are still highly capable of feeding this
coast! This generation of sockeye has shown one of the least declines and
we need to investigate why this run is good and the others have failed so
badly. If we allow government to let salmon feedlot companies hide their
disease outbreaks this investigation will be incomplete. If there is no
salmon feedlot disease problem, there should be no reason for secrecy.
Hundreds of people have said ³I am behind you Alex,² but this is not
working. We have to stand shoulder to shoulder, where we are all peacefully
and strongly visible. This is the only way to save ourselves and our planet.
Alexandra Morton
July 28, 2010
Ed Porter, Team Leader, Regulatory Operations
Fisheries and Oceans Canada
PAR-RPA@dfo-mpo.gc.ca
Dear Mr. Ed Porter:
I am responding to the 60-day public comment opportunity on the proposed
Federal Pacific Aquaculture Regulations
http://www.gazette.gc.ca/cg-gc/about-sujet-eng.html
(left column ³Part I Notices and Proposed Regulations² Vol. 144, No. 28,
page 1933).
When BC Supreme Court ruled that the federal government must take over
regulation of salmon feedlots, the intent was to bring the industry into
compliance with the Constitution of Canada. But what Stephen Harper¹s
Conservatives are trying to do instead is remove safeguards established by
previous governments and open the door to privatizing the ocean, which is
prohibited by the Canadian Constitution.
With his document Harper not only licences massive ecological damage, he
depreciates the market value of BC feedlot salmon. No reputable retailer can
afford to be seen with a seafood product raised under a licence to ³harm,
alter, disrupt and destroy² the ocean. The federal licences will be issued
without consultation with First Nations.
³Increasingly stringent international standards are driving seafood
importing nations to require Canada to certify health (disease) status, not
just food safety, of live aquatic animals and their products. Š Canada
cannot meet these standards, and is facing increasing challenges to export
market access. Canada is already subject to a lesser market access than the
United States, Europe ...
³ http://www.gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p1/2009/2009-12-19/html/reg1-eng.html
Canadian pathologists warn against holding millions of diseased salmon in
pens (Traxler et al. 1993) and the graph below demonstrates the reason.
There is a strong correlation between salmon feedlot epidemics and the
declining Fraser sockeye. This must be examined, but the provincial
government is stonewalling release of salmon feedlot disease records and
Harper is stepping in to help.
These draft regulations ignore the International (OIE) and the Canadian Food
and Health Inspection Agency standards by exempting salmon feedlots from
full disease reporting. Harper is not only offering Norwegian companies the
right to leave infected salmon in the water, he is protecting them from
liability. If government and the industry are willing to throw away premium
market value for disease secrecy we are warned this is a dangerous and
strong priority.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper is also offering these Norwegian companies
blanket authorization for ³Harmful Alteration, Disruption or Destruction² of
fish habitat (Section 35(1) Fisheries Act). This ignores the value of the
oceans to communities across British Columbia. Oddly, these rules will not
apply to eastern Canada, where the Minister of Fisheries resides.
Harper is going to legalize destruction of wild fish that become trapped in
the pens, attracted by the bright lights and food in the water. There are no
surplus wild fish and so this by-catch will compete with fishing quotas.
Many feedlots are in rock cod conservation areas where fishermen are not
allowed, but the feedlots will continue trapping unknown amounts. This is
bad management and will affect herring, sable fish, salmon, lingcod and
other important wild fish.
The federal Conservatives are proposing salmon feedlot licences be granted
and amended without environmental assessment. This violates strong public
demand for healthy coastal waters, but neatly resolves the irreconcilable
issue of dumping over a ton/day/site of industrial waste into salmon
habitat. These are the only feedlots that never have to shovel manure and
chemical waste as it flows conveniently into public waters.
It is dangerous to humanity, (risking food security, drug resistance,
disease mutation) to allow feedlots to contaminate natural environments with
disease. Feedlots remove all the natural disease control mechanisms and thus
allow viruses to mutate, multiply and jump to new species.
Because Mr. Harper is proposing to remove standards designed to protect the
ocean from Norwegian feedlots, retailers like COSTCO will have to decide if
their mission statements honor government or their customers. Promising to
³Exceed ecological standards required in every community where we do
business,² is meaningless if there are no ecological standards.
Salmon feedlots are an ³ecology of bad ideas,² struggling to control disease
with drugs, corrupting the foodchain by using warm-blooded animal products,
plants and fish from the southern hemisphere as feed, displacing local
businesses, turning a public resource into a corporate commodity with no
public access, dyeing their fish pink to resemble salmon. If jobs were the
goal, the federal Conservatives and BC Liberals would be working with the BC
companies developing sustainable land-based aquaculture to create a viable,
world-class product. Instead Mr. Harper is proposing to change the laws of
Canada to allow unchecked pollution by a 92% Norwegian-owned industry
associated wild salmon declines worldwide. Wild salmon are thriving
everywhere this industry does not exist (Alaska, Iceland, western Pacific,
areas of BC).
These proposed regulations are a signpost. If this was about fish, attention
would have been paid to the market value of the product. Instead it risks
one of the last naturally producing salmon regions in the world for a
depreciating commodity. What these draft regulations do is clear away
legislation established to protect Canadians and our coast from
industrialization and privatization.
Ed Porter, the proposed Federal Pacific Aquaculture Regulations do not
protect the interests of Canadians or the world and must not be adopted.
Sincerely,
Alexandra Morton
The Fraser sockeye decline began at the same time government failed to cull
millions of IHN virus infected feedlot salmon on the Fraser River migration
routes. Government ignored federal scientists who state infected Atlantic
salmon should not be permitted in pens (Traxler et al 1993). The federal
government also ignored warnings from their scientists that would have saved
the North Atlantic cod. When the cod went extinct the Hibernia Oil wells
appeared on the Grand Banks the most generous food-producing area humanity
will ever have was exchanged for oil.
"Some could care less if there's any fish left for our kids!"
