SerengetiGuide
Well-Known Member
http://www.canada.com/news/national/Judicial+inquiry+examine+salmon+loss/2188822/story.html
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Thursday the federal government will convene a judicial inquiry to investigate the disappearance of millions of sockeye salmon from B.C.'s Fraser River fishery.
Trade Minister Stockwell Day, who is also the regional minister for B.C., will be in Vancouver Friday to name the judge who will head the inquiry and to announce the inquiry's terms of reference.
The government will ask the inquiry, which will have the legal power to compel witnesses to testify, to begin its work early in the new year and report back to the government by May 2011.
B.C.'s salmon fishery has been devastated by the mysterious loss of sockeye salmon. Just 1,723 tonnes of sockeye were harvested as the fish returned from the Pacific Ocean to spawn in the Fraser River.
In 2000, more than 8,800 tonnes of salmon were harvested.
The disappearance of the B.C. salmon is all the more mysterious because, while B.C. stocks have declined, other Pacific fishing grounds in Russia, Alaska and Japan are reporting higher-than-expected harvests.
Fishers in B.C.'s lower mainland have been at a loss to explain the disappearance, suggesting the contributing factors could range from overfishing — aboriginals and Alaskans are often blamed, frequently for no reason — to federal conservation policies, to a natural disaster.
In convening the inquiry, the Conservatives say they are fulfilling a campaign promise made during the 2006 general election.
The federal New Democrats, who are the chief competitor to the Conservatives in many B.C. ridings outside of Vancouver and Victoria, say they've been calling for an inquiry for weeks.
www.serengetifishingcharters.com
*NEW VIDEO*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlEzuNC59ck
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Thursday the federal government will convene a judicial inquiry to investigate the disappearance of millions of sockeye salmon from B.C.'s Fraser River fishery.
Trade Minister Stockwell Day, who is also the regional minister for B.C., will be in Vancouver Friday to name the judge who will head the inquiry and to announce the inquiry's terms of reference.
The government will ask the inquiry, which will have the legal power to compel witnesses to testify, to begin its work early in the new year and report back to the government by May 2011.
B.C.'s salmon fishery has been devastated by the mysterious loss of sockeye salmon. Just 1,723 tonnes of sockeye were harvested as the fish returned from the Pacific Ocean to spawn in the Fraser River.
In 2000, more than 8,800 tonnes of salmon were harvested.
The disappearance of the B.C. salmon is all the more mysterious because, while B.C. stocks have declined, other Pacific fishing grounds in Russia, Alaska and Japan are reporting higher-than-expected harvests.
Fishers in B.C.'s lower mainland have been at a loss to explain the disappearance, suggesting the contributing factors could range from overfishing — aboriginals and Alaskans are often blamed, frequently for no reason — to federal conservation policies, to a natural disaster.
In convening the inquiry, the Conservatives say they are fulfilling a campaign promise made during the 2006 general election.
The federal New Democrats, who are the chief competitor to the Conservatives in many B.C. ridings outside of Vancouver and Victoria, say they've been calling for an inquiry for weeks.
www.serengetifishingcharters.com
*NEW VIDEO*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlEzuNC59ck
)]“An inquiry has access to all DFO documents and they can bring people in and they testify under oath, with the chance of going to jail if they lie,” Mr. Eidsvik said. “And a judicial inquiry is the only format for that to happen. It gives us the best chance to get at the truth as to what's happened to our salmon runs.”[
