Deadly European virus found in B.C. salmon

[Little Hawk]

Thanks for the honorable mention Chris and you know full well I share your frustration.
I knew 'the fix' was in with this industry way back when Nutreco (Dutch Conglomerate) had a strangle hold on the industry, controlling not only most of the net-pen industry, but also the huge fishing-fleets raping our oceans for feed-fish to make pellets to sell to their own salmon farms. Brilliant!

The more you look into this, the more appalling and sickening it will get.

My 'Golden Day of Retribution' will be twofold, first; the day last net-pen is ripped from our waters and second; the day each and every crooked politician who took bribes from this industry is exposed!

 

[Whole in the Water]

Thanks for the wake up call Chris73! I am willing to do more to stop this travesty! I financially support several groups against net pen salmon farms. I have written and spoken to politicians (and voted accordingly) and attended many public meetings and expressed my concerns as best I could. These are all things I did as a single person.

Obviously now it is time for more action! Now is the time to join other like-minded people and work to change this mess. I think there are many others out there like me that what to do more but don't know how and who to do it with. I just can't stand by any longer and let this debacle continue!

So my questions is, are there existing groups who can join up with and work for postive change? If so who and where?

If not, lets start a group! If you feel the same way then respond to this note and lets see what we can do!

 

[AlGee]

Who to blame initially? Why its Gordon Campbell of course! HE was the one who acted on erroneous information regarding fish farms back in 2001. At the time there was a moratorium on any fish farm expansion until they could positively ascertain whether or not fish farming would be detrimental to our wild pacific stocks and habitat/environment surrounding net pens. Campbell lifted the moratorium soon after he took office (along with making numerous other nasty changes to save a buck). It wasn't his decision to make in the first place! That should have been left up to DFO. Time and time again our leaders have succumbed to lobbyists with agendas. Back in the 1960's scientists and fishery field technicians noted that eastern cod stocks were declining and average sizes were getting smaller. They told the powers that be that if this continues they would be facing a population collapse. What did they do? Allowed the fishers to use better fish finding equipment and smaller mesh sizes. They kept dragging to feed an industry that had outgrown the resource's carrying capacity. Before you know it they were tapping into the juvenile, pre-spawning age classes and there weren't enough individuals left to sustain a viable population.

The same thing happened to the pacific sardine industry (pilchards) back in the 1940's and orange roughie off the coast of New Zealand and now with the Pacific hake stocks. That is just an example of a problem that has occured many times over due to corporate greed. They milk the resource for all its worth and wind up with a dependency on the resource with no proper management. The politicians get approached by lobbyists whining about all the poor people who are going to lose their jobs and livelihoods if they don't keep the fishery open. What the HELL would you prefer? Jump off the building at the 30th floor or at the 10th floor? same result to YOU but the resource could have been saved if appropriate measures were taken. Our fisheries management people have no budget and NO BALLS.

 

[IronNoggin]

Classic example of the rampant APATHY amongst the masses Chris. You've been around long enough I am actually surprised that you're surprised.

Now that the

let's HOPE enough people get off their laurels and send a loud and clear message We WILL NOT stand idley by and watch the decimation of our salmon resources!

I suspect there will be some rather serious follow-up to this observation. For once, the farmers are under direct threat (they stand to lose all if ISA becomes widespread in their operations) directly due to their own actions. Even The Dino MUST turn it's singular worn out old brain cell towards the potential ramifications for wild stocks. We likely will never see full disclosure, but I do believe we will see some form of focused study. I fervently HOPE that they don't find further instances of this insidious disease. But I ain't holding my breath... where there's smoke...

I'm with Whole In the Water on this: How do we begin to fight? Where do we sign up?
I'd be ALL IN!

Nog

 

[Lipripper]

There was a CFAX interview with Stuart Hawthorn (I think it was) from Grieg Seafood.......

You can imagine how it went...... They need to retest.... Too early to tell... We've never had it

 

[bushwackin]

Thanks for the wake up call Chris73! I am willing to do more to stop this travesty! I financially support several groups against net pen salmon farms. I have written and spoken to politicians (and voted accordingly) and attended many public meetings and expressed my concerns as best I could. These are all things I did as a single person.

Obviously now it is time for more action! Now is the time to join other like-minded people and work to change this mess. I think there are many others out there like me that what to do more but don't know how and who to do it with. I just can't stand by any longer and let this debacle continue!

So my questions is, are there existing groups who can join up with and work for postive change? If so who and where?

If not, lets start a group! If you feel the same way then respond to this note and lets see what we can do!

Who are these groups against net pen salmon farms that you financially support? I think after this came out there will be thousands including myself that would also support such groups.

 

[Whole in the Water]

Thanks for the interest Bushwackin. The groups I support are:
- Alexandra Morton http://www.raincoastresearch.org/home.htm and http://www.alexandramorton.ca/
- Farmed and Dangerous http://www.farmedanddangerous.org/
- Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform (CAAR) http://www.farmedanddangerous.org/about-caar/support-caar/
- BC Wildlife Federation http://www.bcwf.net/index.php
- Sports Fishing Institute of BC http://www.sportfishing.bc.ca/default.aspx

I am sure there are more groups out there. If people know about them, please post them here.

 

[tofinofish]

Thanks for the interest Bushwackin. The groups I support are:
- Alexandra Morton http://www.raincoastresearch.org/home.htm and http://www.alexandramorton.ca/
- Farmed and Dangerous http://www.farmedanddangerous.org/
- Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform (CAAR) http://www.farmedanddangerous.org/about-caar/support-caar/
- BC Wildlife Federation http://www.bcwf.net/index.php
- Sports Fishing Institute of BC http://www.sportfishing.bc.ca/default.aspx

I am sure there are more groups out there. If people know about them, please post them here.

Thanks for posting these links just before I was going to do the same...IMO - ALL of us should be supporting all of the organizations above in some way.

 

[kthomas]

Why does the government still pander to these fish farm idiots? This needs to stop!

 

[Englishman]

There are other groups like David Suzuki Foundation and Western Canada Wilderness committee that fight the open net pen salmon feed lots. (They are feed lots NOT farms).
The latter group has started another letter writing campaign following the recent devastating ISA news and you can add your name and comments to the Minister here:-
http://wildernesscommittee.org/write_wild_save_wild_salmon

 

[tincan]

Pretty sickening story although as many have mentioned it seemed to be just a matter of time. I'll be following this thread closely and ready to join any organized group to help get our gov't to do what they should have done years ago.

 

[Whole in the Water]

Just sent a letter of to the DFO Minister about this urgent situation.

I encourage others on this forum to do the same -it is easy to do as this website http://wildernesscommittee.org/write_wild_save_wild_salmon has a simple template you can use to write a quick letter and easily send it off - If you are concerned about the spread of this virus and its impact PLEASE DO SO Now!

Thanks for the link Englishman

 

[tincan]

Just sent a note to the Minister as well. Thanks for the links guys.

Dear Minister of Fisheries and Oceans,

I am writing to express my extreme concern and anger over the issue of the ISA outbreak which is now reported to have affected our wild salmon in BC. Wild salmon are at the heart of BC, perhaps not from strictly a financial perspective (although the financial ripple effects of a wild salmon collapse would be massive) but surely from the perspective of what it means to be a British Columbian at the core. To think that we could willingly bring wild BC salmon to the brink of collapse as the result of our own stupidity, greed and arrogance is simply appaulling. I hold the Governments of BC and Canada mainly responsible for the dire situation we now find ourselves in.

If we don't learn from our past we are doomed to repeat it. Well Minister, we are on the brink of repeating a horrible past that has been witnessed in Scotland, Norway, Chile, Eastern Canada, among others. We need you to act immediately and put an end to the disease breeding grounds known as open-pen fish farms on our BC Coast. We need an immediate independent investigation to see the current extent of the damage and potential solutions available. We need you and the rest of the Federal and Provincial Governments to stop all the bullsh*t pandering and do what is right for Canada and stop looking out for your own short term political interests and the interests of the fish farming industry. We need this NOW.

Looking forward to your response,

Tincan