Just got back from attending the morning session of the penultimate day of Don Staniford's case versus Cermaq (Mainstream Canada). Don's lawyer was speaking for the 2 hours I was there and they were trying to convince the judge that Don's campaign was not focused on Mainstream Canada's operations in BC but on the global fish farming industry as a whole. Lot's of lawyer talk between Don's lawyer and the judge (it's amazing how long a lawyer can drag out a single point but I guess they are paid by the hour) but overall it was pretty informative. During one of the breaks I met a guy who is an ex-fish farmer who was telling me these stories about his time with marine harvest in the 80's and 90's. He said the feeding systems back then allowed birds to get into the food so some of the guys who set up traps for the seagulls, etc so when they tried to eat the feed they would slam a wooden crate down on them to kill them. He also mentioned the very common practice (his words) of making sure the 'morts' (dead farmed fish) were dumped downstream/current of the farm itself as the farmers know that it would be harmful to their farmed fish to have other dead farmed fish pass by. After a long career in fish farming this guy said it was just eating away as his conscience and finally he spoke out to his superiors and was basically given an ultimatum that he had to shut up and work the way he was told or he'd be gone. So he left and has been out of the industry for over a decade now. Pretty sad story really but not hard to believe as it happens in a lot of industries in a lot of places.
Anyways, final day is tomorrow (friday) and I believe it's in the same courtroom (52). Enter at the hornby/nelson entrance of the courthouse to show your support for part/all of the day.
