Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum
Fishing in British Columbia => Fishing-related Issues & News => Topic started by: Geff_t on December 27, 2008, 04:27:18 PM
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Hopefully the voters this spring will be smart enough to give this Campbell government the boot they deserve .
Campbell's doomed policies on fish farming will be a tough sell to voters
MARK HUME
mhume@globeandmail.com
E-mail Mark Hume | Read Bio | Latest Columns
December 26, 2008
VANCOUVER -- Will 2009 be the year that salmon become a pivotal political issue in British Columbia?
It is shaping up to look that way, as a large number of groups are focusing on the collapse of salmon stocks on the West Coast as the most important environmental issue of the year.
With killer whale populations dropping in the Strait of Georgia, in a large part because of a lack of salmon to feed on, with grizzly bears starving because salmon spawning runs have failed to materialize, and with sports, commercial and native fisheries largely closed coast-wide, there can be little doubt that B.C. is experiencing an environmental crisis.
Salmon are a federal issue and as such have not played a key role in provincial elections before.
But that will change this spring when Premier Gordon Campbell goes looking for his third mandate.
The salmon crisis will come to rest at Mr. Campbell's feet because of the way his government has embraced salmon farming, promoting an industry that scientific research is increasingly blaming for damaging wild stocks by causing sea lice epidemics.
Mr. Campbell has made a practice of turning to science when faced with complex environmental problems. But when it comes to fish farming, he is blind to a growing body of scientific evidence that shows raising salmon in open-net pens is environmentally a very risky business.
The fish-farming industry has argued it can contain the sea-lice problem through the use of chemicals such as emamectin benzoate, marketed under the trade name Slice{sbquo} which is extremely effective in killing the parasites.
Salmon-farming advocates argue that with the use of such controls fish farming is essentially no different than land-based farming. Raising millions of chickens in confined cages is the same as raising millions of salmon in pens, they say.
But a recent essay by Neil Frazer of the School of Ocean and Earth Science at the University of Hawaii, argues that the comparison is dead wrong.
"Sea lice epidemics, together with recently documented population-level declines of wild salmon in areas of sea-cage farming, are a reminder that sea-cage aquaculture is fundamentally different from terrestrial animal culture," Dr. Frazer states in the journal Conservation Biology.
"The difference is that sea cages protect farm fish from the usual pathogen-control mechanisms of nature, such as predators, but not from the pathogens themselves. A sea cage thus becomes an unintended pathogen factory."
Dr. Frazer explains how the natural spawning cycle separates wild adult salmon from emerging young salmon, thereby protecting the juvenile fish from coming into contact with mature fish that might be carrying sea lice.
Fish farms, on the other hand, ensure that millions of adult fish, which carry and shed lice, are encountered by migrating young fish.
The farms not only disrupt the natural system but in effect set a sea-lice trap for the young salmon, infecting them at their most vulnerable life stage.
Dr. Frazer states that by medicating farm fish, by shortening farm growing cycles and by keeping stock levels low, fish farmers could reduce the impact of sea lice on wild stocks.
But he says that as long as fish farms are located on wild salmon migration routes, they will infect young wild salmon at an unnatural rate, making the eventual collapse of wild stocks a mathematical certainty.
"Declines [of wild stocks] can be avoided only by ensuring that wild fish do not share water with farmed fish, either by locating sea cages very far from wild fish or through the use of closed-containment aquaculture systems," Dr. Frazer says.
In other words, the current government policy dooms wild salmon on the B.C. coast.
With that kind of science against him, Mr. Campbell is going to have a hard time selling his government's fish-farm policies to voters in the spring.
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Thanks for posting. This and other environmental issues I feel have just been given lip service by this government and should make voters very concerned.
I know this as after being involved with the gravel mining issue on the Fraser River for the last couple of years we are not provided with information we have asked for.
When we met with some government bureaucrats last Summer they said they would provide the environmental studies they say have been done but we are still waiting. We also meet with The Environment Minister and some of his staff a few months ago and once again we asked for written answers to some questions, once again still waiting.
I know they just play a waiting game just hoping we will give up and disappear. I hope we make them disappear come next May.
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Farmed Salmon have been devastating other fish stocks for decades in other Countries as well. But to think that people who go fishing will vote out a party that their pappy has endorsed is wishful thinking. Sometimes fishers just are there own worst enemy. Fishing has nothing to do with conservation anyways in most top rods minds. :-\ I say vote the bums out but oh well.
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from another guy but mirrors my cynical view:
Sadly, fish farms have long been a part of the DFO and Provincial agenda.
Fishfarms don't need thousands of km of protected rivers and estuaries where wild salmon do.
Fishfarms don't need herring stocks protected, melamine tainted fishfeed from China will do, they can always grow talapia and shrimp in their sewage settlement ponds and grind them up for the fish farms, not so much for wild salmon.
Fishfarms co-exist perfectly well with log dumps, untreated effluent and offshore oil and gas, even inshore oil and gas. Wild salmon, nope.
Wild Salmon are bad news for mines, logging, pulp mills, lumber mills, real estate developers, tourism, munincipalities, transportation companies, railroads, highways and even Starbucks. The politicians are well greased and know where their money and votes come from.
The only way to hurt in any regard salmon farms is to not buy farmed fish and convince everyone you know not to buy farmed fish. Once the flatlanders start to understand that farmed fish is a key source of lead, heavy metals, mercury, antibiotic resistant bacteria and melamine, that it causes mental retardation in children, birth defects in pregnant women, loss of erectile function and tastes like crap, then you will see a loss of fish farms.
But don't expect a recovery for wild salmon. They are an anacronism.
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OK we've pointed out numerous times that the government isn't doing the best job in protecting our rivers and fish. I don't see how it helps anyone (or the fish stocks) by finding fault with what someone else didn't do when we're not doing what WE can.
We should all be convinced by now that the needed change must be driven at a grass roots level.
If in fact salmon stocks become even a whiff of an issue it will be up to each and all of us to keep the topic alive. We'll need to attend debates and town hall meetings and at least ask the question. We need to tell our friends, relatives, and business contacts how we feel about the issue. Don't debate it with them - tell them your experiences and explain what you believe to be true about the situation. Everyone reading this knows how to use the internet - search out some sites and take on a niche that appeals to you. Whether it's writing letters, volunteering at hatcheries, starting a river watch program, do something. \
Somewhere near 50,000 anglers bought recreational licenses in the Lower Mainland alone
- that should be a big voice
- that's a lot of voting power!
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OK we've pointed out numerous times that the government isn't doing the best job in protecting our rivers and fish. I don't see how it helps anyone (or the fish stocks) by finding fault with what someone else didn't do when we're not doing what WE can.
We should all be convinced by now that the needed change must be driven at a grass roots level.
If in fact salmon stocks become even a whiff of an issue it will be up to each and all of us to keep the topic alive. We'll need to attend debates and town hall meetings and at least ask the question. We need to tell our friends, relatives, and business contacts how we feel about the issue. Don't debate it with them - tell them your experiences and explain what you believe to be true about the situation. Everyone reading this knows how to use the internet - search out some sites and take on a niche that appeals to you. Whether it's writing letters, volunteering at hatcheries, starting a river watch program, do something. \
Somewhere near 50,000 anglers bought recreational licenses in the Lower Mainland alone
- that should be a big voice
- that's a lot of voting power!
Its an on going battle something many of us have been working on for many years, around 28 for me and many others have been working on the behalf of anglers and the well being fish and their habitat for a lot longer than I have.
You can well imagine of course we would be a lot worse off if countless people have not given so freely of their time in the past. It unfortunately will continue for many years to come so everyone should try to do what you have mentioned above.
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I do admire and appreciate your efforts Chris :)
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Hopefully the voters this spring will be smart enough to give this Campbell government the boot they deserve .
In other words ...... "Hopefully the voters this spring will be dumb enough to elect the NDP. ???
Prime example of throwing out the baby with the bath water I'm afraid. I've never heard anyone from the NDP commit to getting rid of the fish farms, have you?
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Hopefully the voters this spring will be smart enough to give this Campbell government the boot they deserve .
In other words ...... "Hopefully the voters this spring will be dumb enough to elect the NDP. ???
Prime example of throwing out the baby with the bath water I'm afraid. I've never heard anyone from the NDP commit to getting rid of the fish farms, have you?
Actually yes they have publicly said to get rid of the fish farms. The NDP chair the committee that Gordo set up to look into fish farming. Gordo was hoping for a positive outcome in their final report but it back fired on him and like any negative report he does not agree with he buries it in hopes no one will remember. Same thing happened with the reports with the gravel removal.
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Hopefully the voters this spring will be smart enough to give this Campbell government the boot they deserve .
In other words ...... "Hopefully the voters this spring will be dumb enough to elect the NDP. ???
Prime example of throwing out the baby with the bath water I'm afraid. I've never heard anyone from the NDP commit to getting rid of the fish farms, have you?
Actually yes they have publicly said to get rid of the fish farms. The NDP chair the committee that Gordo set up to look into fish farming. Gordo was hoping for a positive outcome in their final report but it back fired on him and like any negative report he does not agree with he buries it in hopes no one will remember. Same thing happened with the reports with the gravel removal.
Are you forgetting that the NDP are politicians just like the rest of them? They will say anything to get your votes. The NDP will not get rid of fish farms. Wanna make a wager on it? I bet you a $20 Tim Hortons card they dont get rid of them if they get in power. If they get in power and get rid of them I give you a $20 Tim Hortons card.
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Ok deal ;D but only if they get rid of open pen fish farms. If they make them change to closed pen that counts too.
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Hopefully the voters this spring will be smart enough to give this Campbell government the boot they deserve .
In other words ...... "Hopefully the voters this spring will be dumb enough to elect the NDP. ???
Prime example of throwing out the baby with the bath water I'm afraid. I've never heard anyone from the NDP commit to getting rid of the fish farms, have you?
Actually yes they have publicly said to get rid of the fish farms. The NDP chair the committee that Gordo set up to look into fish farming. Gordo was hoping for a positive outcome in their final report but it back fired on him and like any negative report he does not agree with he buries it in hopes no one will remember. Same thing happened with the reports with the gravel removal.
Are you forgetting that the NDP are politicians just like the rest of them? They will say anything to get your votes. The NDP will not get rid of fish farms. Wanna make a wager on it? I bet you a $20 Tim Hortons card they dont get rid of them if they get in power. If they get in power and get rid of them I give you a $20 Tim Hortons card.
That's a very safe bet if I ever saw one! ;D ;D
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Ok deal ;D but only if they get rid of open pen fish farms. If they make them change to closed pen that counts too.
Yup thats fine. Deal :)
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This is sooo frustrating. Every year the salmon seems to have another crisis or six and we have governments (most of them) that just don't seem to care.
The present crew in Victoria keeps dropping the environment ball and either don't understand or don't care. And when they drop the ball their friends in the media hide it. I had hoped the NDP would pick up these balls (fish farms and run-of river power plants) and make an issue of them but they seldom even seem to recognize them as a dropped balls or can't find them after the media has hidden them.
Ever notice how bad news damaging to the crew in Victoria disappears from the media after one day? Web sites like this are the only means of creating and promoting an election issue.
This shouldn't be a partisan issue, the environment should be everybody's issue. We cause the problems ourselves by continuing to vote for politicians that think the outdoors is a golf course and the wilderness is a ski chalet and heaven is a new shopping mall.
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This is sooo frustrating. Every year the salmon seems to have another crisis or six and we have governments (most of them) that just don't seem to care.
The present crew in Victoria keeps dropping the environment ball and either don't understand or don't care. And when they drop the ball their friends in the media hide it. I had hoped the NDP would pick up these balls (fish farms and run-of river power plants) and make an issue of them but they seldom even seem to recognize them as a dropped balls or can't find them after the media has hidden them.
Ever notice how bad news damaging to the crew in Victoria disappears from the media after one day? Web sites like this are the only means of creating and promoting an election issue.
This shouldn't be a partisan issue, the environment should be everybody's issue. We cause the problems ourselves by continuing to vote for politicians that think the outdoors is a golf course and the wilderness is a ski chalet and heaven is a new shopping mall.
You got this right as I at one time sat on a Riding Association for many years and in most cases they would not listen to me on environmental issues, they have their own agenda, it is all about big business. Their friends make a lot of money at the expense of our rivers, the environment and our agricultural land base.
The only solution is to change the government and maybe they will learn a lesson, people do care and if you donot listen you can sit on the opposition benches for 4 years.
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So you guys all planning to stop living in your houses made from lumber that came from trees that came from clear cuts ? Stop supporting Tim Hortons and such places that also violate environmental extremism ? No doubt you guys drive vehicles that burn fossil fuels that are oh so bad , to get to the river to go fishing . And then go catch fish that get no enjoyment whatsoever from the expearience , caught and released, or otherwise . I bet each of you could have yourselves subjected to scrutiny in your personnel lives and come out glowing , right?
What hypocrisy , extremism is all about "what can I criticize some one else for but have no intention of fulfilling myself " .
When you all admit you occupy space that could have been left natural and do what is necessary to change that , then and only then will you not be hypocrites . What that means is take yourself out of nature because you don't live naturally , donate your property to be restored to nature and then remove yourself from the planet because it can't be done , you all have to live unnaturally .
Don't like what I got to say? Then admit you all compromise to exist and that is what we all do to live . Get off your "holier then thou" high horses , all of Vancouver was a forest once that was clear cut for your existence here and no one seems to have a problem with that .
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Wow, a person tries to make some suggestions for improvement so that the Salmon stocks can be salvaged. The problem with government officials is that they think only in a short time window. They don't think ahead to the type of world that we should leave behind for futuire generations. Oh the governments pay it great lip service, but what is their great vision of B.C. for instance 50 or even 100 years from now. From the rate we are going at, I am afraid there will be little or no wild salmon, Steelhead will be a fond memory that people talk about. And our forests will be decimated and our river systems polluted. Were it not for the efforts of various groups and concerned sportsmen our wildlife and evironment would be in far worse shape than it presently is.
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u wait, once the sockeye are gone, they'll put a dam on the fraser.
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So you guys all planning to stop living in your houses made from lumber that came from trees that came from clear cuts ? Stop supporting Tim Hortons and such places that also violate environmental extremism ? No doubt you guys drive vehicles that burn fossil fuels that are oh so bad , to get to the river to go fishing . And then go catch fish that get no enjoyment whatsoever from the expearience , caught and released, or otherwise . I bet each of you could have yourselves subjected to scrutiny in your personnel lives and come out glowing , right?
What hypocrisy , extremism is all about "what can I criticize some one else for but have no intention of fulfilling myself " .
When you all admit you occupy space that could have been left natural and do what is necessary to change that , then and only then will you not be hypocrites . What that means is take yourself out of nature because you don't live naturally , donate your property to be restored to nature and then remove yourself from the planet because it can't be done , you all have to live unnaturally .
Don't like what I got to say? Then admit you all compromise to exist and that is what we all do to live . Get off your "holier then thou" high horses , all of Vancouver was a forest once that was clear cut for your existence here and no one seems to have a problem with that .
I have been saying the same thing on these websites for years. I am glad that someone else feels the same way I do!!!!
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u wait, once the sockeye are gone, they'll put a dam on the fraser.
Nope once they wipe out the sturgeon then they will dam it. Mind you it is the collapse of the salmon stock that will eventually wipe out the sturgeon on the fraser, the eagles and bear on the other rivers and the whales in the ocean.
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So you guys all planning to stop living in your houses made from lumber that came from trees that came from clear cuts ? Stop supporting Tim Hortons and such places that also violate environmental extremism ? No doubt you guys drive vehicles that burn fossil fuels that are oh so bad , to get to the river to go fishing . And then go catch fish that get no enjoyment whatsoever from the expearience , caught and released, or otherwise . I bet each of you could have yourselves subjected to scrutiny in your personnel lives and come out glowing , right?
What hypocrisy , extremism is all about "what can I criticize some one else for but have no intention of fulfilling myself " .
When you all admit you occupy space that could have been left natural and do what is necessary to change that , then and only then will you not be hypocrites . What that means is take yourself out of nature because you don't live naturally , donate your property to be restored to nature and then remove yourself from the planet because it can't be done , you all have to live unnaturally .
Don't like what I got to say? Then admit you all compromise to exist and that is what we all do to live . Get off your "holier then thou" high horses , all of Vancouver was a forest once that was clear cut for your existence here and no one seems to have a problem with that .
I am not saying that we all live the greenest lives but at least most of us on here are doing something to help the environment and making our rivers the best possible habitat for the fish that do return. I guess that would be considered carbon offsets. I know myself I try to do as much as I can by helping out by volunteering many hours at a local hatchery as well as volunteering with a salmon enhancement program and habitat restoration.
The only thing the fish farmers are doing is destroying the habitat they are using but also destroying other natural life and they do not even care and either does the Liberal government. The only thing they care about is lining their pockets by destroying Beautiful BC
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So you guys all planning to stop living in your houses made from lumber that came from trees that came from clear cuts ? Stop supporting Tim Hortons and such places that also violate environmental extremism ? No doubt you guys drive vehicles that burn fossil fuels that are oh so bad , to get to the river to go fishing . And then go catch fish that get no enjoyment whatsoever from the expearience , caught and released, or otherwise . I bet each of you could have yourselves subjected to scrutiny in your personnel lives and come out glowing , right?
What hypocrisy , extremism is all about "what can I criticize some one else for but have no intention of fulfilling myself " .
When you all admit you occupy space that could have been left natural and do what is necessary to change that , then and only then will you not be hypocrites . What that means is take yourself out of nature because you don't live naturally , donate your property to be restored to nature and then remove yourself from the planet because it can't be done , you all have to live unnaturally .
Don't like what I got to say? Then admit you all compromise to exist and that is what we all do to live . Get off your "holier then thou" high horses , all of Vancouver was a forest once that was clear cut for your existence here and no one seems to have a problem with that .
I have been saying the same thing on these websites for years. I am glad that someone else feels the same way I do!!!!
Exactly why no one listens to these guys . Make up bs by the truck load and pass it on as though it is fact on these forums .
No one here showed up 2 years ago at the townhall meetings when all the discussions about gravel extraction were going on . Now make up a revisionist history about what went down and how it was all industry getting their way with govt. What a load of bs , i was at those meetings and there were no David Suzuki's nor anyone from here present . Now make up stuff about how the government is being dishonest about it , when the dishonesty is here on this forum. Sorry but you were all to afraid to face the masses back and present your nonsense then, but here on a discreet forum you make all these false accusations .
I for one will let the government know that they are accountable to all , not just the extremists . It was the public that called for the gravel extraction not industry . Industry had to be persuaded to do it as it was not very lucrative to do considering that river gravel is not prime . DFO was very apologetic at that time , claiming it was not their fault gravel extraction had been neglected for so long and had been open to it for several years prior , but there were no takers . Gov. at the time pointed their finger at DFO of course saying they were the hold up , we the citizens of course demanded that whoever was to blame , that the buck had to stop and the job get done.
As for Suzuki's group , after the fact , they can only oppose , but have no solutions . Instead rely on misinformation to try and dupe the public into believing their side.
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So you guys all planning to stop living in your houses made from lumber that came from trees that came from clear cuts ? Stop supporting Tim Hortons and such places that also violate environmental extremism ? No doubt you guys drive vehicles that burn fossil fuels that are oh so bad , to get to the river to go fishing . And then go catch fish that get no enjoyment whatsoever from the expearience , caught and released, or otherwise . I bet each of you could have yourselves subjected to scrutiny in your personnel lives and come out glowing , right?
What hypocrisy , extremism is all about "what can I criticize some one else for but have no intention of fulfilling myself " .
When you all admit you occupy space that could have been left natural and do what is necessary to change that , then and only then will you not be hypocrites . What that means is take yourself out of nature because you don't live naturally , donate your property to be restored to nature and then remove yourself from the planet because it can't be done , you all have to live unnaturally .
Don't like what I got to say? Then admit you all compromise to exist and that is what we all do to live . Get off your "holier then thou" high horses , all of Vancouver was a forest once that was clear cut for your existence here and no one seems to have a problem with that .
I am not saying that we all live the greenest lives but at least most of us on here are doing something to help the environment and making our rivers the best possible habitat for the fish that do return. I guess that would be considered carbon offsets. I know myself I try to do as much as I can by helping out by volunteering many hours at a local hatchery as well as volunteering with a salmon enhancement program and habitat restoration.
The only thing the fish farmers are doing is destroying the habitat they are using but also destroying other natural life and they do not even care and either does the Liberal government. The only thing they care about is lining their pockets by destroying Beautiful BC
Ok , I need to clarify , that I didn't wade into this to be involved in fish farming talk as you can see from my above post . But I've read for some time some of the gravel topic here and have refrained from getting into it before . But from so many other areas I've seen so much dishonesty from the environmentalist side that i do take most claims from such groups with a very big grain of salt these days. Try reading Patrick Moore's website . He's a founder of Greenpeace , but have a look what he says now .
I believe in solutions not confrontations , but extremism never leads to solutions and David Suzuki's group is no better then Greenpeace IMO .
My point is that all of us live in a compromise with nature and some of us live a double life pointing the finger at others while doing the same ourselves . Our natural state would be to live in small groups as hunter-gatherer's , but to go back to that is not possible and we have to live apart from nature due the human population being to big to live that way again . Imagine 6 billion of us hunting for a living , not going to happen . So to those that would like to draw things to their logical conclusion . this would mean dramatically reducing our population . Now who of you is going to lead by example going that way?
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So you guys all planning to stop living in your houses made from lumber that came from trees that came from clear cuts ? Stop supporting Tim Hortons and such places that also violate environmental extremism ? No doubt you guys drive vehicles that burn fossil fuels that are oh so bad , to get to the river to go fishing . And then go catch fish that get no enjoyment whatsoever from the expearience , caught and released, or otherwise . I bet each of you could have yourselves subjected to scrutiny in your personnel lives and come out glowing , right?
What hypocrisy , extremism is all about "what can I criticize some one else for but have no intention of fulfilling myself " .
When you all admit you occupy space that could have been left natural and do what is necessary to change that , then and only then will you not be hypocrites . What that means is take yourself out of nature because you don't live naturally , donate your property to be restored to nature and then remove yourself from the planet because it can't be done , you all have to live unnaturally .
Don't like what I got to say? Then admit you all compromise to exist and that is what we all do to live . Get off your "holier then thou" high horses , all of Vancouver was a forest once that was clear cut for your existence here and no one seems to have a problem with that .
I am not saying that we all live the greenest lives but at least most of us on here are doing something to help the environment and making our rivers the best possible habitat for the fish that do return. I guess that would be considered carbon offsets. I know myself I try to do as much as I can by helping out by volunteering many hours at a local hatchery as well as volunteering with a salmon enhancement program and habitat restoration.
The only thing the fish farmers are doing is destroying the habitat they are using but also destroying other natural life and they do not even care and either does the Liberal government. The only thing they care about is lining their pockets by destroying Beautiful BC
Ok , I need to clarify , that I didn't wade into this to be involved in fish farming talk as you can see from my above post . But I've read for some time some of the gravel topic here and have refrained from getting into it before . But from so many other areas I've seen so much dishonesty from the environmentalist side that i do take most claims from such groups with a very big grain of salt these days. Try reading Patrick Moore's website . He's a founder of Greenpeace , but have a look what he says now .
I believe in solutions not confrontations , but extremism never leads to solutions and David Suzuki's group is no better then Greenpeace IMO .
My point is that all of us live in a compromise with nature and some of us live a double life pointing the finger at others while doing the same ourselves . Our natural state would be to live in small groups as hunter-gatherer's , but to go back to that is not possible and we have to live apart from nature due the human population being to big to live that way again . Imagine 6 billion of us hunting for a living , not going to happen . So to those that would like to draw things to their logical conclusion . this would mean dramatically reducing our population . Now who of you is going to lead by example going that way?
If you think there is a dishonest slant being put on this gravel issue on the Fraser from the several environmental groups presently inbvolved in this you would be very very disappointed what has been coming from some government ministries. I can understand that though as I do not believe you have not been at the table like many of us have been the last while unless "penn" stands for Mr Penner. I also am not sure if you knew about the Big Bar incident two years ago when milions of eggs and alevins were destroyed by the building of a causeway that dewatered a prime chum and pink spawning area. There is no excuse for that being allowed to happen, I am sure most will agree with that.
The positive thing is if it was not for "environmentalists" our planet would be in a worse shape than it is at this time.
I know we feel good in some small ways on this gravel issue as I feel we have saved some precious fish and sturgeon habitat and have tried to get the government to do things the way they are charged by the Fisheries Act to do.
I donot think one can disagree with a group of unpaid volunteers doing their best to try and protect the environment for future generations. What has been done in the past cannot be changed but we can certainly change things starting right now and in the future. I guess we can all ask ourselves, what are we going to do to make that happen?
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No Chris I am in no way related to Barry Penner . No I was not at those meetings you were at , but where were you 2 years ago when all the town hall meetings were happening ?? You may be a volunteer but David suzuki and his group make their living off this stuff . For them as well as other groups , no controversy= no livelyhood .
Why don't you work on a solution yourself Chris ,instead of trying to paint a false picture of what it's all about ? Simply trying to end extraction is not going to happen woth out a fight from concerned citizens .
With Suzuki's group involved there will never be a solution . This is the guy who stated on the news " What ever you do, it will never be enough" . How can that be worked with?
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At least you're not alone in this. In the UK, angler's apathy is rampant. There are a few trying to fight for the rights of all anglers, but it is an uphill struggle when all the anglers in the land don't put their votes behind their true beliefs or are more than happy to sit back and let the 'dedicated few' put the time and effort in on their behalf. As always, money speaks and money wins.
To all those doing the fighting, you have my full respect.
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Another reason to vote anything but Liberals next election:
http://www.waterpowermagazine.com/story.asp?sectioncode=130&storyCode=2051598
Plutonic Power, GE submit bids for Canadian hydro projects
Plutonic Power Corporation and GE Energy Financial Services have submitted bids for the Upper Toba and Bute Inlet projects, which - if approved - would be Canada's largest single private sector hydroelectric generation investment at more than C$4B.
The submissions into BC Hydro's 2008 Clean Power Call outline the development of approximately 1200MW of run-of-river hydroelectric capacity in the Toba and Bute Inlets along British Columbia's southwest coast, where GE and Plutonic Power Corporation are already building the 196MW East Toba River and Montrose Creek hydroelectric project.
The Upper Toba Valley hydroelectric project, with a generation capacity of approximately 166MW, consists of three facilities that will connect to the BC Hydro grid through a 230kV line already under construction for the East Toba River and Montrose Creek project. The project - which will take advantage of infrastructure already in place in the Toba Valley - is expected to be permitted by the end of the second quarter in 2009.
The 1027MW Bute Inlet project consists of 17 facility sites in three areas: the Homathko, Southgate and Orford Rivers. The Bute Projects have been registered with both provincial and federal permitting authorities. A formal application for an environmental assessment certificate is expected to be submitted in late 2009.
This week's bid submissions are in response to BC Hydro's Request for Proposals issued in June for 5000GWh per year of seasonal and hourly firm energy to help make British Columbia electricity self-sufficient by 2016, and meet demand using 90% clean domestic generation sources. BC Hydro says it intends to award energy purchase agreements to winning bidders from April-June 2009.
With capital costs estimated at more than $4B, GE Energy Financial Services intends to fund or arrange equity contributions to the projects, subject to such conditions as satisfactory due diligence and formal documentation, as well as approvals by investment committees, boards of directors and regulators. GE Energy Financial Services also has the right to fund or arrange the debt required for the projects.
'Today's submission is the culmination of four years of planning, engineering, consultation, permitting and licensing,' said Plutonic Power Corporation Vice-Chair and CEO, Donald McInnes. 'We are grateful to our First Nations partners, and the cities of Powell River and Campbell River for supporting our bids, reflecting broad public endorsement. These projects will provide long-term economic and social benefits to these First Nations and communities in addition to providing BC Hydro with clean electricity.'
These projects will expand GE Energy Financial Services' US$4B portfolio of renewable energy investments worldwide.
'Our joint bids with Plutonic show our support of green energy generation in British Columbia, potential progress toward our goal of investing US $6 billion in renewable energy worldwide by the end of 2010, and reinforcement of GE's ecomagination, a program to help our customers meet their environmental goals while expanding our own portfolio of cleaner energy projects,' said Mark Tonner, Managing Director of Canada at GE Energy Financial Services.