Little Hawk
Active Member
Dear Honorable Minister Fraser,
Happy New Year!
Thank you for taking a moment from what certainly must be a busy schedule to read this letter.
It has come to my attention that you have been appointed to conduct an audit of the FOC/DFO. To a BC Sportfisherman, this news is both long-overdue and timely.
My name is Terry Anderson. I am a 51/yr old self-employed carpenter, Father of two. I was born in Vancouver and have resided in Victoria since 82'. Living nearly my
entire life on the coast, Sportfishing has always been a big part of my life; a way of life in fact.
I am also a member of the Sportfishing BC.com Saltwater Fishing Forum. On this website there are many West Coast Sportfishmen who post to it and monitor it on a regular basis. A wide range of topics relative to Sportfishing are discussed here and often, heated exchanges develop.
If the Honorable Minister is seeking to gain a sense of the true pulse of the West Coast Sportfishing community, I would encourage you to tap this audience and introduce yourself and learn what you can from the members there. Many have opinions/information/questions about the DFO that you may find useful or interesting, even alarming. Your posting on this forum would undoubtedly be well-received.
This brings me to the reason I am writing you today: the DFO and Net-pen fishfarming on the West Coast of Canada.
As a typical BC Sportfisherman, I am truly passionate about fishing and all things which impact our Wild Pacific Salmon stocks. Concerning net-pen fishfarming and the known negative impacts the Industry has on our Wild Salmon stocks - I am somewhat qualified to speak on the subject.
In an effort to improve my command of the language, in the early 2000's I returned to school and took my Gr.12/English then followed up with a 1st. yr/English Composition course. During my 1st./yr class I wrote an lengthy essay profiling the Canadian Fishfarming Industry. During the exhaustive research for this work - which took me around the Province and the Globe - I was soon appalled, even mortified, by what I was learning. In May 2002' much of what I'd learned during my research of this disgusting Industry formed the bulk of a feature article published in BC Outdoors/Sportfishing Magazine. As an Independent Sportfisherman I also attended the Leggatt Inquiry on Salmon Farming (Campbell River hearings), as well as a fishfarming-opposition brainstorming/strategy session in Vancouver that was attended by numerous high-profile environmental organizations.
Since my article was published 5-yrs ago, I have been out of the active-opposition loop as I have attended to family/business matters. Since joining the SFBC/Forum and after jumping into several discussions around fishfarming - once again, my blood-boils over this subject and I am now actively involved in a formidable movement to oust this despicable Industry from our Coastal Waterways.
I have recently taken the initiative to start a new movement against the fishfarmers and our Government. Below is a link to my invitation to 'Join the War on Fishfarming' post on the SFBC/Forum. (my 'handle' is Little Hawk (many on the Forum use the name of their boat instead) I encourage you to read this post; it pretty much summarizes my feelings about the industry. There are many like me living on the Coast who feel passionately as I do about conservation of our beloved Wild Salmon and about the negative impacts of fishfarming. We intend to do something about it where others have failed.
http://www.sportfishingbc.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=8228
What am I asking you to do?
Simple: Dig! Go where commoners like me cannot tread.
Find out why the DFO (and the Provincial Ministry of Lands and Parks...for that matter) are supporting an Industry that:
1) - dumps the equivalent daily amount of raw-sewage directly into BC's pristine waterways as does over 100 cities the size of Victoria.
2) - continues to foster large scale disease/parasite transfer to our thoroughly vulnerable and rapidly declining Wild Pacific Salmon stocks.
3) - continues to introduce vast numbers of non-indigenous Atlantic salmon farmfish into our marine ecosystems.
4) - employs few people (8 to 10 per/farm in 2002' - probably less now) considering the monumental environmental cost.
5) - is about 90% Foreign owned and controlled.
6) - is here to feed American's; sending about 90% of its production South of the border.
I am of the firm belief that someone, somewhere, at some time or another got paid to facilitate or pave the way for the expansion of this industry on our Coast.
It has been shown that a Sport-caught Wild Pacific Salmon returns a direct net-economic benefit to the people of British Columbia roughly three-times that of one farm-raised salmon. This fact together with the aforementioned six industry-attributes, leaves collusion as about the only rational explanation for the continued existence of this Industry.
With respect to net-pen fishfarming, as elected Stewards of this precious resource both the DFO and the Province have failed miserably. Indeed, other factors like habitat destruction/alteration, over-fishing, and changing global weather patterns have weighed heavily on Pacific Salmon numbers; some things we cannot control, some we can.
Fishfarming is one problem we can fix.
I, along with thousands of my fellow BC Sportfisherman, shall await the outcome of your investigation with baited breath.
Sincerely,
Terry Anderson
BC Sportfisherman's Alliance
</u>
Victoria, BC. Canada
Happy New Year!
Thank you for taking a moment from what certainly must be a busy schedule to read this letter.
It has come to my attention that you have been appointed to conduct an audit of the FOC/DFO. To a BC Sportfisherman, this news is both long-overdue and timely.
My name is Terry Anderson. I am a 51/yr old self-employed carpenter, Father of two. I was born in Vancouver and have resided in Victoria since 82'. Living nearly my
entire life on the coast, Sportfishing has always been a big part of my life; a way of life in fact.
I am also a member of the Sportfishing BC.com Saltwater Fishing Forum. On this website there are many West Coast Sportfishmen who post to it and monitor it on a regular basis. A wide range of topics relative to Sportfishing are discussed here and often, heated exchanges develop.
If the Honorable Minister is seeking to gain a sense of the true pulse of the West Coast Sportfishing community, I would encourage you to tap this audience and introduce yourself and learn what you can from the members there. Many have opinions/information/questions about the DFO that you may find useful or interesting, even alarming. Your posting on this forum would undoubtedly be well-received.
This brings me to the reason I am writing you today: the DFO and Net-pen fishfarming on the West Coast of Canada.
As a typical BC Sportfisherman, I am truly passionate about fishing and all things which impact our Wild Pacific Salmon stocks. Concerning net-pen fishfarming and the known negative impacts the Industry has on our Wild Salmon stocks - I am somewhat qualified to speak on the subject.
In an effort to improve my command of the language, in the early 2000's I returned to school and took my Gr.12/English then followed up with a 1st. yr/English Composition course. During my 1st./yr class I wrote an lengthy essay profiling the Canadian Fishfarming Industry. During the exhaustive research for this work - which took me around the Province and the Globe - I was soon appalled, even mortified, by what I was learning. In May 2002' much of what I'd learned during my research of this disgusting Industry formed the bulk of a feature article published in BC Outdoors/Sportfishing Magazine. As an Independent Sportfisherman I also attended the Leggatt Inquiry on Salmon Farming (Campbell River hearings), as well as a fishfarming-opposition brainstorming/strategy session in Vancouver that was attended by numerous high-profile environmental organizations.
Since my article was published 5-yrs ago, I have been out of the active-opposition loop as I have attended to family/business matters. Since joining the SFBC/Forum and after jumping into several discussions around fishfarming - once again, my blood-boils over this subject and I am now actively involved in a formidable movement to oust this despicable Industry from our Coastal Waterways.
I have recently taken the initiative to start a new movement against the fishfarmers and our Government. Below is a link to my invitation to 'Join the War on Fishfarming' post on the SFBC/Forum. (my 'handle' is Little Hawk (many on the Forum use the name of their boat instead) I encourage you to read this post; it pretty much summarizes my feelings about the industry. There are many like me living on the Coast who feel passionately as I do about conservation of our beloved Wild Salmon and about the negative impacts of fishfarming. We intend to do something about it where others have failed.
http://www.sportfishingbc.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=8228
What am I asking you to do?
Simple: Dig! Go where commoners like me cannot tread.
Find out why the DFO (and the Provincial Ministry of Lands and Parks...for that matter) are supporting an Industry that:
1) - dumps the equivalent daily amount of raw-sewage directly into BC's pristine waterways as does over 100 cities the size of Victoria.
2) - continues to foster large scale disease/parasite transfer to our thoroughly vulnerable and rapidly declining Wild Pacific Salmon stocks.
3) - continues to introduce vast numbers of non-indigenous Atlantic salmon farmfish into our marine ecosystems.
4) - employs few people (8 to 10 per/farm in 2002' - probably less now) considering the monumental environmental cost.
5) - is about 90% Foreign owned and controlled.
6) - is here to feed American's; sending about 90% of its production South of the border.
I am of the firm belief that someone, somewhere, at some time or another got paid to facilitate or pave the way for the expansion of this industry on our Coast.
It has been shown that a Sport-caught Wild Pacific Salmon returns a direct net-economic benefit to the people of British Columbia roughly three-times that of one farm-raised salmon. This fact together with the aforementioned six industry-attributes, leaves collusion as about the only rational explanation for the continued existence of this Industry.
With respect to net-pen fishfarming, as elected Stewards of this precious resource both the DFO and the Province have failed miserably. Indeed, other factors like habitat destruction/alteration, over-fishing, and changing global weather patterns have weighed heavily on Pacific Salmon numbers; some things we cannot control, some we can.
Fishfarming is one problem we can fix.
I, along with thousands of my fellow BC Sportfisherman, shall await the outcome of your investigation with baited breath.
Sincerely,
Terry Anderson
BC Sportfisherman's Alliance
</u>
Victoria, BC. Canada
