Little Hawk
Active Member
Of all of Alex's correspondence I've read to date, nothing encapsulates or reveals the overall sad state of affairs between DFO and the salmon-farmers better than this.
Give'em hell Alex!
November 30, 2009
Minister Gail Shea
Ottawa, Canada
Dear Minister Shea:
Twenty thousand, two hundred forty-three (*20,243*) people have now signed the
letter on my website www.adopt-a-fry.org <http://www.adopt-a-fry.org> insisting
that you apply the /Fisheries Act/ to “farming” salmon.
But the Norwegian salmon farming industry is now so far out of alignment with
common sense and the spirit of Canadian law that the road to compliance is not
simple. As you prepare to assume control of this industry as per the BC Supreme
Court decision we, the public, are doing your job in your absence laying charges
against this industry and removing the firewalls to protect our fish.
Twenty years ago the business of raising salmon was wrongly categorized as
“farming” and assigned to the Province to manage. The Province is not
responsible for wild fish and the feds were not responsible for fish farms, so
no one has been responsible for impact of salmon “farms” on wild fish.
This Provincial regulatory scheme was recognized as unlawful and struck down by
Judge Hinkson, February 2009. He gave government 1 year to sort this out and it
remains uncertain if ownership of salmon (farmed or not) is even legal in the
ocean.
At first it was assumed the Provincial government would somehow continue to run
the industry, but shortly after the August 2009 sockeye crash, the Province
backed away leaving /Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) /scrambling to design a
regulatory regime. As a result a delay is being negotiated during which the
Province expects to continue expanding the industry!
Expansion is crucial to Norwegian fish farmers because they have lost money for
3 years now and their share prices can only rise if they put more fish in the
water. However, we just lost 10 million sockeye that passed through heavily fish
farmed waters and Judge Cohen has “aquaculture” 3rd on his list to investigate
with his Judicial Inquiry. It would be immoral to expand the industry during
this moment of regulatory restructuring and investigation.
When you peel back the layers of the /Fisheries Act/ the conflicting rules make
no sense, except as firewalls. On the one hand the /Pacific (Fishery)
Regulations (1993/) exempts Provincially licenced aquaculture from /all /fishing
regulations appearing to give them unrestricted access to all the wild fish
drawn into their pens by the lights and food. These fish are Atlantic salmon
fodder and highly valuable sablefish, salmon and herring.
Then as if someone recognized the preposterous enormity of this the /Access to
Wild Aquatic Resources 2004/ was produced to licence fish farmers for by-catch,
if the amount was deemed insignificant to wild stocks.
This was a good idea, but no one seems to have these licences. And how could
they? The wild pink salmon Marine Harvest admitted to having in their boat last
June 16 were from an age-class and stock so endangered millions of public
dollars were spent to protect them. However, this is lost in DFO’s regulatory
labyrinth. If Marine Harvest has no licence to possess by-catch, does that mean
that the 1993 regulations come into effect to exempt them from all fishing rules
including possession of an endangered wild fish stock? I hope we get to find
out. Judge Saunderson issued a summons to Marine Harvest to appear in court for
possessing these pink salmon. The Department of Justice could halt this case,
but it would seem in the public interest for a court to hear this.
In October 2009 Marine Harvest also admitted to catching herring in the
Broughton Archipelago and composting them with no reporting or licence. Was this
legal or illegal? Does anyone know? If they had no licence for tons of herring
by-catch are they exempt?
Herring fishing has been closed in Broughton for twenty years because the stocks
are not rebuilding. Now we find out Norwegian “farmers” are killing them despite
the closure with no apparent ramifications, no quota nor reporting. These fish
farmers are out-fishing BC fishermen! Over-fishing is a global scourge.
Minister Shea this is not right.
Nothing is straightforward. When 40,000 Atlantics escaped from Marine Harvest’s
farm October 21, 2009, we were told they were worth a million dollars and
everything had been done to recover them. But now we hear farm fish are
worthless once they escape and only 1,200 were recovered because Marine Harvest
was “confused” about the licence DFO granted them specifically for this
situation. Does profit - starved Marine Harvest really want the expense of
disposing of 40,000 fish? They did not do everything they could have to
recapture their fish and section 55 of the /Fishery (General Regulations)/
states no person shall release live fish into fish habitat. They must be charged
and heavily fined to inspire compliance. This is the tool your Ministry uses on
other fishermen.
It is disturbing that someone lobbied Parliament to disguise the industry as
Provincial farms even though this must have raised legal red flags and then
someone specifically exempted “provincial aquaculture” from the fishing
regulations. This is Salmongate.
We are hosting guests who are pulling the tablecloth into their laps dragging
the silverware, the food, the water /everything/ out of our reach. Thankfully,
Judges Hinkson, Slade, Cohen and Saunderson have nailed the tablecloth to the
table.
However it is not up to the courts to manage fish. /Fisheries and Oceans Canada
/is touring the _National Aquaculture Strategic Action Plan Initiative_ to get
feedback, calling aquaculture a legitimate user of Canadian marine waters.
http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/aquaculture/lib-bib/nasapi-insapa/nasapi-inpasa-eng.htm#intro
It is indeed time the fish farmers became “legitimate.” It is time to remove
their regulatory firewalls, open the farms to public scrutiny and silence
decades of political interference that have given foreign corporations greater
access to Canadian fish than Canadians. All this and these corporations are
still loosing money.
Minister Shea there is one job we cannot do for you. You must close the border
to import of salmon eggs from the Atlantic to prevent introduction of ISA virus
to the eastern Pacific. If you don’t you will see this issue go before the
courts. ISAV strains are highly traceable. You say there is no “strong evidence”
that it travels in eggs (3-11-2009) scientists say we are “guaranteed” to get
the virus if we keep importing eggs.
Others and myself will continue to lay charges under the /Fisheries Act /with
the help of lawyers who are working Pro Bono, and at reduced rates and thousands
of people whose small donations are making this possible. The /Fisheries Act
/specifically encourages the public to lay charges in the face of government
“inertia.”
At the very least I ask that you do not stand in our way.
Alexandra Morton
www.adopt-a-fry.org <http://www.adopt-a-fry.org>
_http://alexandramorton.typepad.com/
_
"Some could care less if there's any fish left for our kids!"
Give'em hell Alex!
November 30, 2009
Minister Gail Shea
Ottawa, Canada
Dear Minister Shea:
Twenty thousand, two hundred forty-three (*20,243*) people have now signed the
letter on my website www.adopt-a-fry.org <http://www.adopt-a-fry.org> insisting
that you apply the /Fisheries Act/ to “farming” salmon.
But the Norwegian salmon farming industry is now so far out of alignment with
common sense and the spirit of Canadian law that the road to compliance is not
simple. As you prepare to assume control of this industry as per the BC Supreme
Court decision we, the public, are doing your job in your absence laying charges
against this industry and removing the firewalls to protect our fish.
Twenty years ago the business of raising salmon was wrongly categorized as
“farming” and assigned to the Province to manage. The Province is not
responsible for wild fish and the feds were not responsible for fish farms, so
no one has been responsible for impact of salmon “farms” on wild fish.
This Provincial regulatory scheme was recognized as unlawful and struck down by
Judge Hinkson, February 2009. He gave government 1 year to sort this out and it
remains uncertain if ownership of salmon (farmed or not) is even legal in the
ocean.
At first it was assumed the Provincial government would somehow continue to run
the industry, but shortly after the August 2009 sockeye crash, the Province
backed away leaving /Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) /scrambling to design a
regulatory regime. As a result a delay is being negotiated during which the
Province expects to continue expanding the industry!
Expansion is crucial to Norwegian fish farmers because they have lost money for
3 years now and their share prices can only rise if they put more fish in the
water. However, we just lost 10 million sockeye that passed through heavily fish
farmed waters and Judge Cohen has “aquaculture” 3rd on his list to investigate
with his Judicial Inquiry. It would be immoral to expand the industry during
this moment of regulatory restructuring and investigation.
When you peel back the layers of the /Fisheries Act/ the conflicting rules make
no sense, except as firewalls. On the one hand the /Pacific (Fishery)
Regulations (1993/) exempts Provincially licenced aquaculture from /all /fishing
regulations appearing to give them unrestricted access to all the wild fish
drawn into their pens by the lights and food. These fish are Atlantic salmon
fodder and highly valuable sablefish, salmon and herring.
Then as if someone recognized the preposterous enormity of this the /Access to
Wild Aquatic Resources 2004/ was produced to licence fish farmers for by-catch,
if the amount was deemed insignificant to wild stocks.
This was a good idea, but no one seems to have these licences. And how could
they? The wild pink salmon Marine Harvest admitted to having in their boat last
June 16 were from an age-class and stock so endangered millions of public
dollars were spent to protect them. However, this is lost in DFO’s regulatory
labyrinth. If Marine Harvest has no licence to possess by-catch, does that mean
that the 1993 regulations come into effect to exempt them from all fishing rules
including possession of an endangered wild fish stock? I hope we get to find
out. Judge Saunderson issued a summons to Marine Harvest to appear in court for
possessing these pink salmon. The Department of Justice could halt this case,
but it would seem in the public interest for a court to hear this.
In October 2009 Marine Harvest also admitted to catching herring in the
Broughton Archipelago and composting them with no reporting or licence. Was this
legal or illegal? Does anyone know? If they had no licence for tons of herring
by-catch are they exempt?
Herring fishing has been closed in Broughton for twenty years because the stocks
are not rebuilding. Now we find out Norwegian “farmers” are killing them despite
the closure with no apparent ramifications, no quota nor reporting. These fish
farmers are out-fishing BC fishermen! Over-fishing is a global scourge.
Minister Shea this is not right.
Nothing is straightforward. When 40,000 Atlantics escaped from Marine Harvest’s
farm October 21, 2009, we were told they were worth a million dollars and
everything had been done to recover them. But now we hear farm fish are
worthless once they escape and only 1,200 were recovered because Marine Harvest
was “confused” about the licence DFO granted them specifically for this
situation. Does profit - starved Marine Harvest really want the expense of
disposing of 40,000 fish? They did not do everything they could have to
recapture their fish and section 55 of the /Fishery (General Regulations)/
states no person shall release live fish into fish habitat. They must be charged
and heavily fined to inspire compliance. This is the tool your Ministry uses on
other fishermen.
It is disturbing that someone lobbied Parliament to disguise the industry as
Provincial farms even though this must have raised legal red flags and then
someone specifically exempted “provincial aquaculture” from the fishing
regulations. This is Salmongate.
We are hosting guests who are pulling the tablecloth into their laps dragging
the silverware, the food, the water /everything/ out of our reach. Thankfully,
Judges Hinkson, Slade, Cohen and Saunderson have nailed the tablecloth to the
table.
However it is not up to the courts to manage fish. /Fisheries and Oceans Canada
/is touring the _National Aquaculture Strategic Action Plan Initiative_ to get
feedback, calling aquaculture a legitimate user of Canadian marine waters.
http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/aquaculture/lib-bib/nasapi-insapa/nasapi-inpasa-eng.htm#intro
It is indeed time the fish farmers became “legitimate.” It is time to remove
their regulatory firewalls, open the farms to public scrutiny and silence
decades of political interference that have given foreign corporations greater
access to Canadian fish than Canadians. All this and these corporations are
still loosing money.
Minister Shea there is one job we cannot do for you. You must close the border
to import of salmon eggs from the Atlantic to prevent introduction of ISA virus
to the eastern Pacific. If you don’t you will see this issue go before the
courts. ISAV strains are highly traceable. You say there is no “strong evidence”
that it travels in eggs (3-11-2009) scientists say we are “guaranteed” to get
the virus if we keep importing eggs.
Others and myself will continue to lay charges under the /Fisheries Act /with
the help of lawyers who are working Pro Bono, and at reduced rates and thousands
of people whose small donations are making this possible. The /Fisheries Act
/specifically encourages the public to lay charges in the face of government
“inertia.”
At the very least I ask that you do not stand in our way.
Alexandra Morton
www.adopt-a-fry.org <http://www.adopt-a-fry.org>
_http://alexandramorton.typepad.com/
_
"Some could care less if there's any fish left for our kids!"
