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[chris gadsden]

I plan to take part. What about you?

CAG



 >>> Weekly Update March 22
>>>    
>>> Every week is bringing much needed progress on the issue of fish farm impact on our oceans.  The courts are behind us every step of the way.  Now if we can just communicate to our politicians that wild salmon must be given top legislated priority over farm fish, because wild salmon are essential to our economics and ecology, supporting towns and 200 species, including us.
>>>  
>>>  This week Simon Fraser University announced they are awarding me an honorary Doctoral Degree in Science! I am so happy about this. I am so hoping this helps people understand that the science I have done with my colleagues on the impact of salmon farms has the support of my peers, that it is real and valid and managers must separate farm and wild salmon.
>>>  
>>>  http://www.sfu.ca/pamr/media_releases/media_releases_archives/six-to-receive-honorary-sfu-degrees.html <http://www.sfu.ca/pamr/media_releases/media_releases_archives/six-to-receive-honorary-sfu-degrees.html>
>>>  
>>>  Chile has suffered enormously from the over-stocking of closely sited salmon farms and the appearance of the Norwegian strain of infectious salmon anemia virus. This week Chile moved to tighten regulations on the salmon farming industry.  British Columbia should do the same.
>>> http://na.oceana.org/en/blog/2010/03/chile-passes-major-legislation-on-salmon-escapes-antibiotics?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social+media&utm_term=mar-12-10-4&utm_campaign=beacon <http://na.oceana.org/en/blog/2010/03/chile-passes-major-legislation-on-salmon-escapes-antibiotics?utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_medium=social+media&amp;utm_term=mar-12-10-4&amp;utm_campaign=beacon>  <http://na.oceana.org/en/blog/2010/03/chile-passes-major-legislation-on-salmon-escapes-antibiotics?utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_medium=social+media&amp;utm_term=mar-12-10-4&amp;utm_campaign=beacon>
>>>    
>>> This week, under threat of a lawsuit by the Living Oceans Society, DFO reversed its decision to allow a salmon farm off Port Hardy to expand without a proper Environmental Assessment! It is shameful we have to threaten government to follow its own laws, but the courts repeatedly show enormous clarity on the improper relationship between government and Norwegian fish farms. http://www.livingoceans.org/media/news03161001.aspx <http://www.livingoceans.org/media/news03161001.aspx>
>>>  
>>>  This same protective relationship is not extended to the Canadian fish farmers who are trying to build an industry in tanks on land and the provincial government will not even met with them.
>>>  
>>>  Here in British Columbia, the province of BC still cannot explain how they can state there is no evidence of drug resistant sea lice in the Grieg Seafood salmon farms, when their own graphs suggest exactly the opposite.  I have posted this conversation on my blog because drug resistance is appearing in sea lice in fish farms worldwide and is a very serious issue. It means we will have to pour increasingly toxic chemicals into our oceans to support salmon farming or lose the ability to protect wild salmon from fish farms. The Provincial Ministry of Agriculture and Lands must explain themselves.  http://alexandramorton.typepad.com/
>>>  
>>>  
>>> Jody Eriksson and Twyla Roscovich dove down 90’ again to check the effluent pipe where the Grieg salmon are being processed and found blood and fish guts are still pouring into the Fraser River migration route. We all know blood carries disease. It is negligent of government to allow this to continue.  This week’s sample contained sea lice and a live salmon intestinal worm.  Is this a factor in the collapse of our Fraser sockeye? The provincial Ministry of Agriculture and Lands is not bringing the science of epidemiology to this issue to protect wild salmon. See my blog for the new images of the effluent pipe. http://alexandramorton.typepad.com/
>>>    
>>>  I will be walking from the village of Sointula to Victoria, (the length of Vancouver Island  ≈ 500km) leaving on April 23 and arriving May 8.  I am doing this to let people around the world know that we must make ourselves visible to politicians if we want to protect our wild fish from the Norwegian salmon farming industry.  It is my observation that governments give top priority to this industry wherever it comes into conflict with our salmon. Wild salmon will not survive this and are in steep decline wherever there are salmon farms and thriving in areas where there are no salmon farms. After 20 years of research and negotiation and the distinct impression that government and industry are just toying with us this is the Get Out Migration.
>>>  
>>>  http://www.timescolonist.com/business/Fish+farm+walk+talk/2700592/story.html
>>>  
>>> Please check the facebook events page on our migration. People are arranging to walk roads from the west coast of Vancouver and the interior of BC via ferry to join us. People are setting up events in the towns along the way.  This is a grassroots effort and depends entirely on you.
>>>    
>>> http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=366116092851&amp;ref=ts <http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=366116092851&amp;amp;ref=ts>
>>>  
>>>
>>>  Our website www.salmonaresacred.org <http://www.salmonaresacred.org>  <http://www.salmonaresacred.org>  is still under construction, but here's the tentative itinerary for 'The Get Out Migration' - please let us know if you can help us or would like us to visit you along the way. I am writing to you from my treadmill!
>>>  
>>>  22nd April - Broughton Archipelago/Alert Bay/Sointula
>>>  23rd April - Port Hardy/Port McNeill
>>>  24th April - Nimpkish Lake
>>>  25th April - Zeballos Junction
>>>  26th April - Woss
>>>  27th April - Sayward
>>>  28th April - Quadra Island
>>>  29th April - Campbell River/Courtenay/Comox
>>>  30th April - Big Qualicum River/Parksville
>>>  1st May - Port Alberni
>>>  2nd May - Nanaimo
>>>  3rd May - Ladysmith/Saltspring Island
>>>  4th May - Saltspring Island
>>>  5th May - Duncan
>>>  6th May - Bamberton
>>>  7th May - Sidney/Saanich
>>>  8th May - Victoria
>>>  9th May - Victoria
>>>    
>>
>>
>
> <migrationwhite.pdf>

[troutbreath]

I 'm in.

[chris gadsden]

I 'm in.

Very good, will post more details as we get them. I will go by Ferry as I imagine will others (Rodney ) from the Mainland and meet up with the group in Sidney.

[chris gadsden]

Weekly update March 28
 
Our migration down the length of Vancouver Island from April 23 – May 9 to give people the opportunity to tell Ottawa wild salmon are essential is building.  People have contacted me to plan events in communities far beyond those that we are passing through.  Hundreds have said they will walk portion of the trip with us and have signed the new petition at www.salmonaresacred.org <http://www.salmonaresacred.org>  Unless every person who cares about wild salmon stands up and becomes visible to Ottawa this will not succeed in bringing reason to this situation.  You can download posters on the website.  This is not about getting rid of aquaculture, this is about bringing three runaway Norwegian companies into compliance with the laws every other fishery in Canada respects.
 
Salmon farms were exempted from the fishing regulations of Canada in 1993 and these Norwegian companies are lobbying our Members of Parliament to continue these exemptions when they become federally regulated in December. If they succeed we can give up, they will once again be outside the law.
 
We cannot possibly manage Canada’s wild fish sustainably, if one group is allowed unlimited by-catch of wild herring, wild salmon, rock cod, black cod and other species in their nets.  We cannot have one set of rules that says no fishing with bright lights and then allow fish farms on every major migration route to use these lights, attracting millions of wild fish to their farms.  Scientists studying sockeye don’t know what is causing our Fraser sockeye to inexplicably crash, even when cutting back fishing to near zero has not helped. Only the south coast sockeye that migrate past 60 salmon farm sites vanished.  These Norwegian fish farmers cannot be allowed to keep their disease outbreaks on the Fraser migration route secret any longer.  Highly mechanized fish farms will never replace the wild salmon jobs in fishing and tourism, nor can they feed us as wild salmon do.
 
The tide is turning because of all of you. We will support the small communities we live in to build land-based aquaculture.  Small independent businesses are much more stable than large foreign operators that come and go based on world markets. – please read the good news below and thank you. http://alexandramorton.typepad.com/



The Strathcona Regional District has defeated the zoning bylaw for the huge proposed Grieg Seafood fish farm at Gunner Pt.
http://www.georgiastrait.org/?q=node/958
 
"Controversial fish farm site rezoning defeated" (The Courier-Islander, 24th March
http://www2.canada.com/courierislander/news/story.html?id=f143b9f8-b499-4158-ba3d-b28708d66283 <http://www2.canada.com/courierislander/news/story.html?id=f143b9f8-b499-4158-ba3d-b28708d66283>

Below is a very significant show of solidarity between First Nations on removing fish farms from the incredibly valuable Fraser sockeye migration route.  Scientists who specialize on Fraser sockeye and gathered by Simon Fraser University also made this recommendation.
 
Date:  March 11, 2010
During the March 9-10, 2010 inaugural AGA of the Intertribal Treaty Organization (ITO) held in Prince George, attending Chiefs voted unanimously to support Indigenous Nations of the Broughton Archipelago and Georgia Straits for the immediate removal of fish farms from their territories to support in the survival of Fraser River bound fish stocks.
The member Chiefs of the ITO expressed their concern and support to urge the open net cage practices of the aquaculture industry to move toward closed containment. As the coming season and runs of Chums and Pinks draws near the Chiefs call for alternative aquaculture procedures recognizing the economic gains ventured by some coastal Nations. The concern is for the smolts that will arrive soon; Sockeye, Coho and Chinook. There is an increased mortality rate as they pass through the fish farm congested and bio-chemically hazardous inside passage which was cited as the primary cause of reduced returning stocks.

Lawrence Williams of the Splatsin, Secwepemc Nation, recognized the need for all to work together on this issue, “In our watershed, we are in support of that. If there could be a legal petition I could take it to the non-Native communities in our area, as well we could send that letter in to parliament supporting this, and if there could be a legal writing then I could send this through our watershed table area to the neighboring communities who could support us as well. Even though they are not First Nations they also share this responsibility for their future generations.“


Contact:  Grand Chief Saul Terry, Intertribal Treaty Chair

Other Media

"Norwegian Farms Poison the Wild Run - BC's salmon stocks plunge; sea lice, salmon farms to blame" (The Dominion, 24th March): http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/3273

 "Critics challenge health of Canadian salmon industry" (Food Manufacturing, 24th March): http://www.foodmanufacturing.com/scripts/ShowPR~RID~14925.asp

"Groups hope for co-operation" (The Telegraph Journal, 20th March): http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/city/article/990661

[chris gadsden]

For those that would like to travel on the same ferry from Tsawwassen on Friday May the 7th to the rally in Sidney at 7:30 I am suggesting we board the 4 o'clock sailing.
I believe it would be okay to have a few signs promoting The Get Out Migration for those that wish to bring them on board. By this time most people will have heard of the walk Alexandra is doing. Go to www.marywinspear.ca for the location of the 7:30 rally.

If you wish please post here if you decide you will be travelling on this sailing.

[lapetitebuse]

Hey Chris,

I think I'd like to come. Is it just a rally or is there a lecture or a slideshow?
Also, Do you think we'll have to spend the night on the island or are you planning on coming back that night?

[chris gadsden]

Hey Chris,

I think I'd like to come. Is it just a rally or is there a lecture or a slideshow?
Also, Do you think we'll have to spend the night on the island or are you planning on coming back that night?

I am not sure what is planned at this stage yet in Sidney. Check out the Facebook migration web page for more information and at    http://salmonaresacred.org/  I will send you some information I received today as well.

 I am planning to stay two nights and do some walking as well from Sidney to Victoria.

[chris gadsden]

http://www.discoveryislander.ca/

[chris gadsden]

Damien Gillis talkes on the radio to Alexandra Morton about the march to Victoria.

http://www.thecanadian.org/k2/item/68-alexandra-morton-8

[chris gadsden]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/activists-long-journey-to-save-wild-salmon/article1539181/

[chris gadsden]

The Get Out Migration starts tomorrow.

http://thecanadian.org/k2/item/90-rafe-walk-wild-salmon

[chris gadsden]

Hello

We have completed the first leg of the journey from Sointula to Sayward! The send off from Sointula was very warm, hundreds of people walked with us the 10km from Port McNeill across the Nimpkish River.  There was beautiful and powerful send off celebration by the Namgis with children dancing in regalia. We were given salmon to sustain us and they sang and performed a ceremony in the river.

After a nourishing lunch we walked on into the mountains.  About 15 of us walked through the mountains, friends and neighbours affected by the industry.  Hundreds of people honked and waved, people stopped and walked with us for a few hours.  People from Hope Town stopped in and joined us at our campfire in Eve River.  People have given us food, foot rubs, donations and sang as we walked. As we walked into Sayward local people joined us and walked with us into the campground. We spent last night there in a raging storm, I so thankful for the people with me on this. A hot fire roared and there was good food and laughter. 

It has been an amazing start.  This has become a people's movement. If enough people walk with us through their towns and again in Victoria we will change this industry and save our communities.  I feel very strongly that government must take good care of the people who are now dependent on the Norwegian salmon farm industry for an income. There are not that many of them and they do not need to suffer due to government’s mistake in letting this Norwegian industry into BC’s most valuable wild salmon migration corridors.  We need to take the salmon farm leases and place covenants on them as the salmon farmers have control now of the locations of greatest natural fish productivity, they are lodged in the vital organs of this coast. In Broughton they are sited where government promised there would be none in the Coastal Interest Resource Study.  I don’t want to venture a guess how this was allowed, but it is wrong and must be corrected as soon as possible if we expect wild salmon to continue to feed us.  This places must be allowed to do what they do best – produce wild fish.

Today, some of us will go by boat to support the people of the Discovery Islands who want Grieg, Cermaq and Marine Harvest to close their farms on the Fraser River sockeye migration route. Only the Fraser sockeye that passed through the Discovery Islands vanished, the other run did very well last year.  Others in our dedicated team of volunteers, people of this coast, will continue walking towards Campbell River

Thank you for all your support!  You can see us as we progress at www.salmonaresacred.org in short video blogs being posted there.

We can do this, we can peacefully regain control of our wild salmon and the prosperity of our towns, but it will take every single person who wants wild salmon and thriving towns to stand up and make themselves visible to Ottawa

Thank you,

Alexandra

[chris gadsden]

Day 2 to day 4 video of the walk.

http://www.salmonaresacred.org/blog/nimpkish-sayward-day-2-day-4-wild-salmon-migration

[chris gadsden]

Today's Chillliwack Progress


http://www.bclocalnews.com/fraser_valley/theprogress/news/92234279.html

[bklem]

Unfortunately I have a wedding to attend or I would be participating in this important event.