T
The Fish Assassin
Guest
From the T/C
He boldly went where no man has gone before on Star Trek. He won three Emmys for Boston Legal. And now William Shatner has taken on a new challenge: B.C.'s fish farms.
The actor, an avid sports fisherman, has written to Prime Minister Stephen Harper asking that salmon farms be removed from wild-salmon migration routes in the Broughton and Discovery islands. Shatner, who filmed an episode of the Boston Legal series in the Broughton Archipelago off northern Vancouver Island, says in his letter that salmon farms are having a disastrous impact on "one of Earth's most precious assets, the wild salmon and steelhead of B.C."
He copied the letter to Fisheries Minister Gail Shea, Premier Gordon Campbell and federal Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff.
"There is one thing you could do tomorrow that would benefit the wild stocks enormously and all your citizens who depend on this fish -- remove salmon farms from wild salmon and steelhead migration routes and encourage the industry to reinvent itself on land where other, more sustainable species could be trialed," Shatner wrote.
Biologist Alexandra Morton, who has led the fight against fish farms in the Broughton, said she met Shatner when he was in the area and piqued his interest in sea lice, which became the subject of an episode of Boston Legal. "He did a show about coming to fish in the area and there were no salmon," said Morton, who suggested to Shatner that he write to Harper.
Morton said the need to address the lice problem is urgent, adding the lower-than-expected early returns of Fraser River sockeye could be due to sea lice.
But Brent Hargreaves, a research scientist with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans who has studied sea lice in the Broughton Archipelago for six years, said there is no evidence sea lice cause sockeye death.
"It is a big stretch on the part of Alexandra Morton," said Hargreaves.
He said he was not impressed with the accuracy of the Boston Legal episode dealing with salmon and sea lice. "I don't know whether [Shatner] is the type to do all the research to make sure everything he's being told is true."
Take only what you need.
He boldly went where no man has gone before on Star Trek. He won three Emmys for Boston Legal. And now William Shatner has taken on a new challenge: B.C.'s fish farms.
The actor, an avid sports fisherman, has written to Prime Minister Stephen Harper asking that salmon farms be removed from wild-salmon migration routes in the Broughton and Discovery islands. Shatner, who filmed an episode of the Boston Legal series in the Broughton Archipelago off northern Vancouver Island, says in his letter that salmon farms are having a disastrous impact on "one of Earth's most precious assets, the wild salmon and steelhead of B.C."
He copied the letter to Fisheries Minister Gail Shea, Premier Gordon Campbell and federal Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff.
"There is one thing you could do tomorrow that would benefit the wild stocks enormously and all your citizens who depend on this fish -- remove salmon farms from wild salmon and steelhead migration routes and encourage the industry to reinvent itself on land where other, more sustainable species could be trialed," Shatner wrote.
Biologist Alexandra Morton, who has led the fight against fish farms in the Broughton, said she met Shatner when he was in the area and piqued his interest in sea lice, which became the subject of an episode of Boston Legal. "He did a show about coming to fish in the area and there were no salmon," said Morton, who suggested to Shatner that he write to Harper.
Morton said the need to address the lice problem is urgent, adding the lower-than-expected early returns of Fraser River sockeye could be due to sea lice.
But Brent Hargreaves, a research scientist with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans who has studied sea lice in the Broughton Archipelago for six years, said there is no evidence sea lice cause sockeye death.
"It is a big stretch on the part of Alexandra Morton," said Hargreaves.
He said he was not impressed with the accuracy of the Boston Legal episode dealing with salmon and sea lice. "I don't know whether [Shatner] is the type to do all the research to make sure everything he's being told is true."
Take only what you need.
