Here's the latest global news update in the ongoing Salmon Wars (read articles in full online here)!
“Salmon
Wars – The Truth Fights Back!” (Green Around the Gills, 1 November)
“Video:
Justice Cohen Gets Tough on Fish Farms – Inquiry Report Released”
(The Common Sense Canadian, 31 October)
“Report
calls for freeze on fish farms off Vancouver Island” (Times
Colonist, 31 October)
“Wild Salmon
Advocates Cheer Cohen Commission Report: NDP's Donnelly, Alexandra Morton,
farmers and more weigh in on 75 recommendations to protect the fish” (The Tyee, 31
October)
“Cohen recommendations to protect Fraser
River Salmon require immediate implementation by DFO”
(Union of BC Indian Chiefs, 31 October)
“Cohen
Commission report makes 75 recommendations on the future of Fraser River
sockeye salmon” (Global TV, 31 October)
“Extended: Cohen releases sockeye salmon
report" (CTV News, 31 October)
“Report
on B.C. salmon decline short on details, long on maybes” (National Post, 31 October)
“Premier
Christy Clark: Do not renew salmon farm leases” (Alexandra Morton/Change,
31 October)
“Halt
salmon farm development in sensitive spawning area, Cohen report urges”
(Globe & Mail, 31 October)
“Freeze new salmon farms
on sockeye migration routes: Cohen” (Surrey Leader, 31 October)
“Cohen
Commission Report Gets a Solid "B" Grade from the Wilderness
Committee” (Wilderness Committee, 31 October)
“Final Report: Commission of
Inquiry into the Decline of Sockeye Salmon in the Fraser River” (Cohen
Commission, 31 October)
“BC's
salmon farmers support continued research in fish health” (BCSFA, 31
October)
“Review
of final report underway for BC’s salmon farmers” (BCSFA, 31 October)
“Cross-appeal
filed Vs. Cermaq” (Green Around the Gills, 31 October)
“Lay
off that lox, Canadian filmmakers tell New Yorkers” (Atlantic Salmon
Federation, 31 October)
“ASF
promoting land-based salmon farming” (The Coaster, 31 October)
Including
from Alexandra Morton petitioning
the Premier of British Columbia (31 October):
“Premier, surely you do not want to risk the wild
salmon of eastern Pacific in the face of these strong warnings by this federal
inquiry. The Fraser River First Nations will have to be consulted now as salmon
they have rights to are migrating through the effluent of exactly the salmon
farms, Justice Cohen is saying must be prohibited if more than minimal risk is
found. You cannot renew the salmon farm
leases throughout BC in good faith. Deny
salmon farm license renewals.”
From The
Times Colonist (31 October):
“I accept the evidence that devastating disease could sweep through the
wild populations, killing large numbers of wild fish without scientists being
aware of it,” Cohen said. Any fish farms
that do not meet location criteria should be promptly removed or relocated, he
said. “DFO should seek to approve only the best sites to avoid the negative
impacts on wild stocks, rather than the best sites to provide farmed salmon,”
he said.”
From the Union
of BC Indian Chiefs (31 October):
“The
UBCIC calls on the Federal Government to make the necessary investments in the
protection of wild salmon on par with the money invested into the aquaculture
industry,” said Chief Bob Chamberlin of Kwicksutaineuk/Ak-Kwa-Mish Tribes and
Vice-President of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs. “As illustrated by Cohen, the Federal
Government cannot be promoting the aquaculture industry while at the same time
mandated to protect wild salmon. Put simply, DFO is in a conflict of interest
and needs to immediately freeze fish farming and put the wild salmon policy
into effect.”
From The Tyee
(31 October):
"If at any time between now and Sept. 30, 2020,"
Cohen wrote, "the minister of fisheries and oceans determines that net-pen
salmon farms in the Discovery Islands (fish health sub-zone 3-2) pose more than
a minimal risk of serious harm to the health of migrating Fraser River sockeye
salmon, he or she should promptly order that those salmon farms cease
operations."
He went on to say: "On Sept. 30, 2020, the minister
of fisheries and oceans should prohibit net-pen salmon farming in the Discovery
Islands… unless he or she is satisfied that such farms pose at most a minimal
risk of serious harm to the health of migrating Fraser River sockeye."
"It's time for the industry to get up and run out of
here," Alexandra Morton said, adding that it was also time for individuals
to step up and tell their MPs that "wild salmon are important." She
urged the public to put pressure on B.C. MLAs not to renew fish farm licenses
and to consult with First Nations.
Dr. Craig Orr, executive director of the Watershed Watch
Salmon Society, told The Tyee: "The report could have been stronger — it
could have called for removal of salmon farms from migration routes."
The Cohen report
included the following:
- Salmon
farms have the potential to import exotic viruses and amplify endemic ones - There
should be an immediate freeze on farm salmon production on the Fraser
sockeye migration route - DFO should
be relieved of their duty to promote salmon farms - Mitigation
into the impact of salmon farms on wild salmon should not be delayed and
should be carried out in the absence of absolute certainty - DFO must
assess ALL research done on the impact of farm salmon on wild salmon and
if found greater than minimal, the industry must be prohibited from
operating on the Fraser sockeye migration route! - Siting
criteria has to be revised to include wild salmon migration routes.
Read the
final Cohen Commission report online here!
Keep track
on the Cohen report’s implications via “Cohen
Inquiry Tracker”
Support
Alexandra Morton’s testing for salmon diseases – please donate online here now!
Sign
a petition calling on supermarkets to stop selling disease-ridden farmed salmon
– sign online here!
Best
fishes,
Don
Read previous Global News Updates online here
Global News Archive:
Global News Updates include the 'Salmon
Wars' raging against filthy feedlots in Canada, Chile, Norway, Scotland,
Ireland, New Zealand, United States and Australia:
31 October – “Watch Live”/“Cohen Report Tracker”/“Flying the Flag”/“Report Released Today” - online here
30 October – “Here Comes
Cohen!”/“Probe Shows Need for Reform”/“Uncalled-for Attack”/“Respected
Scientist” – online here
28 October – “Deadline Looms”/“Mystery
Illness”/“Mass Sickness”/“Not Defamatory Enough” – online here
23 October – “Halt Fish Farm Growth”/“Disease Hits Cermaq”/“Like Cancer”/“Is Truth a Tactic?”- online here
19 October – “Sobeys Yanks Salmon”/”Sea Lice Scare!”/“Death Toll Rises”/“Direct Action Vs. New Fish Farm” – online here
18 October – “Teen
Fights Salmon Farms”/“Lawsuit Threat”/“Cermaq Appeal”/”Health Indicators
Worsen” – online here
15 October – “Sicko
Salmon”/“Farms & Disease”/“PR Disaster”/“Passionate Pleas” – online
here
3 October –
“Salmonella Outbreak”/Activist Wins”/“Boaties Protest”/“Lynch Mob” - online
here
28 September –
“Judgment Day”/“Salmon Sludge Fouls Hearing”/“Students Oppose Farms” - online
here
24
September – “Flotilla Protest”/“Shooting Seals Row”/“Farm Not
Welcome” – online
here
11 September –
“Dirty Secrets”/“FishyLeaks: Toxic Toilets”/“Disease Risk” - online
here
29 August – “Virus
Trackers”/“Compensation Culture”/“Say No to 9 New Salmon Farms” - online
here
8 August – “Legal
Strategy”/“Wave of Controversy”/“IHN Virus” – online
here
3 August – “Fatal Virus Detected in BC”/“Fish Farm
Quarantined” – online
here
31 July – “IHN Virus Spreads”/“Norway’s Olympic Mascot”/”Playing With
Fire” – online here
20 July – “Norwegian Fish Farm Virus Found in BC”/”ISA Confirmed”/“A
Fishy Tale” – online
here
17 July – “FishyLeaks”/“ISA in BC”/“Scotland’s Secrets” – online
here
13 July – “Aquaculture PR Wars”/“Beware Mother Nature”/“Trouble
Brewing” – online
here
11 July – "Salmon Wars Are Here"/"Smoking
Gun"/"Canada disease cleanup" – online
here
9 July –
"Killer Panda"/"Quarantined Salmon to be Destroyed"/"PR
War Waged" – online
here
6 July – "CFIA quarantines fish farm"/"Parasite found in
Norwegian-owned salmon" – online
here
4 July – "Parasite-ridden salmon sold in BC stores"/"95%
of BC salmon is BAP certified" – online
here