Greetings on behalf of the wild salmon.
You are receiving this email because you have shown an interest in the survival of wild salmon in the Fraser River and B.C.
The Public is Needed This August 22- September 8th!
As many now know, the cycles of wild salmon stocks have been changing drastically over the past 20 years, with the returns declining steadily. 2009 brought the shockingly low return of Fraser River Sockeye that launched the federal Inquiry Into the Decline of the Fraser River Sockeye Salmon. Justice Bruce Cohen was appointed to oversee this inquiry.
Over the past nine months the Cohen Commission has examined all possible factors in the decline of Fraser River Sockeye salmon from over fishing to impacts on salmon habitat to global warming. All that has been examined will be considered in Justice Cohen's final findings.
What is different in this inquiry as opposed to others is that the Aquaculture industry is finally being recognized for the serious impacts it has had on the out-migrating salmon smolts, from heavy loads of parasites to escaped farmed Atlantic salmon, to the effects on the marine environment and most alarming, diseases being passed from the farms to wild salmon.
After 2010 saw a record run of salmon, many fell under the impression that the salmon are fine. Such is not the case. There is a correlation to the health status of the salmon farms and the health of wild salmon stocks.The health records that will soon come out at the Cohen Commission this August 22-September 8 will show that the farms have been putting wild salmon stocks at risk over the past 20 years.
Testimony has been heard from DFO employees that DFO is very embarrassed and concerned by the 2009 and 2010 salmon runs, as they were completely off two years in a row. What does that mean for the years to come?
Why you are needed:
DFO and government are heavily invested in the Aquaculture industry. As said by one DFO Senior Aquaculture Management Coordinator; "DFO wears two hats when it comes to Aquaculture." Which hat will they be wearing at the Cohen Commission?
Already the government has silenced scientist Dr. Kristi Miller about her serious findings of a virus that could wipe out wild salmon stocks. In court on March 17th during which Dr. Laura Richards (Regional Directer for DFO) was witness, an email was brought up as evidence in which Dr. Miller wrote to Mark Saunders (DFO);
"FYI- in case you do not already know, Laura does not want me to attend any of the sockeye salmon workshops that are not run by DFO for fear that we will not be able to control the way the disease issue may be considered to the press. I worry that this approach of saying nothing will backfire."
Dr. Miller was right, as media throughout Canada and the U.S. has picked up on the degree of secrecy put upon her findings by the Canadian government.
She will finally be free to talk about her findings on August 24th when she is a witness at the Cohen Commission.
The Efforts to Get the Disease Records
For years Dr. Alexandra Morton has been working tirelessly to wake up the government and the public to the negative effects of open net salmon farms. She will be a witness at the commission on September 7th and 8th and is asking for the public to be present to the testimony that will be heard during the Aquaculture hearings from August 25th to September 8th.
On October 25th, 2010, hundreds of people concerned about wild salmon joined in solidarity and marched from Vanier Park to 701 West Georgia St. where the first day of the Cohen Commission was commencing. Many of those people had just spent 5 days paddling the Fraser River, supported by First Nations communities along the way. The message during the Paddle for Wild Salmon was clear; demand the release of the disease and health records from the open net fish farms along the coast of B.C.
In December of 2010, that request was met, with Justice Cohen ordering the release of disease/health records from 120 salmon farms spanning 10 years. Records going further back could have been demanded as well, but the BC Salmon Farmers Association claimed that the records were not at hand and it would cost them too much to retrieve them. It was with great reluctance that the BCSFA had to concede to the release of the health records. (As can be read in the transcript at
http://www.cohencommission.ca/en/Rulings.php)
Now, 10 months later, those records will be up for examination. People are needed to bear witness to the testimony.
At the Cohen Commission, the BCSFA has two high payed lawyers who will be objecting every which way they can. In the months past, any attempts made by the lawyers of other participants to question witnesses about effects of salmon farms was met with immediate objection from those representing the BCSFA. It is a given that they will do all they can to prevent the truth from coming out. In a process that is meant to establish all factors effecting wild salmon at a cost of $25 million dollars, such interference will be working to the opposite effect.
Justice Bruce Cohen needs to know that the public are concerned about the effects of open net fish farms. He will be taking his findings from this commission to Ottawa in June of 2012. The voice of the public should be a large part of the recommendations he presents to the "Harper government", and a strong unified voice to get the harms of salmon farms away from wild salmon will require solidarity among us all.
There are 130 seats in the courtroom where this public inquiry is being held. For the government to understand that the public want wild salmon protected from the diseases and parasites from salmon farms those seats will need to be filled with concerned public citizens.
Diseases will be examined August 22, 23, 24, followed by Aquaculture for August 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, and September 1,2, 6,7, 8.
Court is in session from 10am-12:30pm and 2pm-4pm.
There will not be another inquiry of this magnitude again, and unless we speak up, the next inquiry will be an "Inquiry Into the Extinction of Wild Salmon." Let's not let it get to that point.
Rally for Wild Salmon: August 30th
On August 30th between 10 and 4 pm there will be a rally at the Vancouver Art Gallery.
At 12:30pm the following will be speaking;
Chief Bob Chamberlin of the Kwicksutaineuk Ah-kwa-mish First Nation
Grand Chief Stewart Philip, President of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs
Dr. Alexandra Morton (Leading scientist in researching the B.C. salmon farms.)
Ernie Crey, Sto:lo Fisheries Adviser.
Your presence is needed for this moment in history.
Please spread this message far and wide!
(Further information can be provided upon request.)
If you are on facebook, ask to join Salmon Are Sacred and Supporters of Wild Salmon Circle groups for updates and to ask questions.
Join the event page; Justice for Wild Salmon.
FB event page 'Salmon Inquiry-Cohen Commission Watch' has postings from over the past 8 months of the Cohen Commission.
To be put on a mailing list with news updates regarding salmon feedlots, contact Don Staniford at
dstaniford@gaiia.orgIn solidarity for Wild Salmon,
Elena Edwards
For more info on the Cohen Commission and salmon farms visit;
Cohen Commission Schedule, Witnesses and Transcripts
http://www.cohencommission.ca/en/Schedule/?id=189Salmon Are Sacred/Alexandra Morton
http://www.salmonaresacred.org/cohen-commissionFarmed and Dangerous
http://www.farmedanddangerous.org/scientific-case/News links regarding the silencing of Dr. Kristi Miller
The Common Sense Canadian
http://thecanadian.org/k2/item/937-hartman-science-government-information-control-dfoCBC News
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/07/29/fish-scientist-muzzled.htmlCanada.com
http://politics.canada.com/2011/07/feds-mark-scientist-muzzling-saga/The Canadian National News
http://www.agoracosmopolitan.com/news/nature/2011/07/28/317.html
Author
Topic: The Public is Needed This August 22- September 8th! (Read 1581 times)