This government, of all governments, tried to say that releasing the disease audits of the farms would betray privacy and I’m sure they were right – the privacy of the government departments and Norwegian fish farm companies that should have made these documents available long ago. Many of these documents may implicate fish farms in the loss of sockeye and were from the days when the provincial government carried that portfolio.

I’m sure this question has occurred to you: What right have the governments to withhold documents from the public they are elected to serve? Where the hell was Premier Photo-Op? Why didn’t she simply order that these be released (that is, before she felt compelled to do an about face at the last minute, under pressure from the media covering the Inquiry)? Same question for Prime Minister Harper who, after all, set up the Cohen Commission.

The answer is that the entire question has been and I suspect continues to be one massive government cover-up.

The federal government has made it impossible for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to do their job because that job conflicts with another they hold – they are mandated to look after our wild salmon while at the same time pushing aquaculture (including fish farms) for all they’re worth. Fisheries ministers attend Fish Farm conventions trying to induce fish farmers to come to our coast while their scientists are supposed to be protecting wild salmon from the ravaging lice from fish cages, and, even worse, deadly disease!

There is a bigger picture here and I hope this is a nettle Commissioner Cohen grasps – the precautionary principle, which simply states, “if an action or policy has a suspected risk of causing harm to the public or to the environment, in the absence of scientific consensus that the action or policy is harmful, the burden of proof that it is not harmful falls on those taking the action.”

This is a huge matter, for the onus of proving the unsafeness of fish farms does not rest upon Alexandra Morton; rather, the onus of proving its safeness rests upon industry and the government departments in question which have massively failed that basic obligation entrusted to them.

This isn’t some niggling matter. Fish farmers, without that onus, are scarcely going to cooperate, nor will governments who are supposed to hold their feet to the fire. It has rested upon those who, by far, can least afford it to find out the truth.

I’ve watched this develop from the very time the tireless lady from the Broughton Archipelago began her fight nearly a decade ago. She has been impeded by government the entire way and was even threatened with jail by the DFO. Every step was blocked; every truth she put forward was met with lies.

Scientific proof of the danger to wild salmon from fish cages was denied in the name of science that didn’t exist or was so faulty as to call into question the researcher’s integrity. How Alex has put up with this massive cover-up is beyond me and those who have been at her side.

In a long life I have never seen courage as I’ve seen in Alexandra Morton.

The plain fact of the matter is that DFO and the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Lands have wrongfully abused their mandate by refusing to force the industry to demonstrate the safety of their corrosive intervention into the environment and we must all shudder to think what would have happened if a very brave, knowledgeable and, thank God, stubborn woman had not fallen in love with BC and vowed to protect it from the most powerful interests in the world – rapacious industry protected by corrupt government.

The 2003 memo (download here) contains some truly shocking passages for their candour and for how clearly they vindicate those who have been critical of DFO’s salmon farm science. Written by a respected DFO scientist, Dr. Brent Hargreaves, the memo severely attacks the credibility of a colleague, key salmon farm apologist Dr. Dick Beamish, whose science Hargreaves labels as “shoddy” and “unethical”, among other pejoratives. Here are a couple of choice passages:

“The research on sea lice that has been conducted by Beamish has been strongly and widely criticized in both the scientific community and the public media…I think to a large degree it was the inadequacies of Beamish’s research and conclusions that led to the lack of public confidence in DFO science…

…I also do not want to be directly associated, either professionally or personally, with either Beamish or his research…He always does exactly as he pleases, regardless of the (often negative) impacts on DFO staff and research programs.”

First, a bit of background.

For nearly a decade we who were fighting Atlantic Salmon fish farms, led by the intrepid Alexandra Morton, were told by the provincial government that the “science” was on the side of the fish farms and that they would continue to permit the industry to expand.

The international scientific community familiar with the issue of sea lice from fish farms killing migrating Pacific Salmon supported her fight against. Her findings were published and peer-reviewed; several fish biologists also published papers condemning fish farms and Dr. Daniel Pauly of UBC, one of the most distinguished scientists in the world according to Scientific American, said flatly “the debate is over.”

Still, the Campbell government had the “science on their side.”

At the request of Premier Campbell, I presented him with an analysis of the scientific evidence which he ignored. He had the “science on his side.”

On it went – study begat study, all of which endorsed Alexandra Morton’s findings.

Still, the government pressed on. And so did Alex, who brought lawsuits, wrote, marched, all at considerable personal expense – not to mention the huge emotional beating she took.

And the Campbell government maintained that it had the “science on its side.” (Needless to say, Premier Christy Clark was part of that government in the critical early days.)

Alex has had lots of supporters very much including her “Boswell,” Don Staniford – here is an excerpt from is his July 13 release:

…The memo went on to describe Dr. Beamish’s scientific research as “unethical”, “unprofessional” and a “‘lapse’ in judgment”.

“This is bad science?” asked lawyer Greg McDade as he ripped apart Dr. Beamish’s scientific work.  Thankfully, Dr. Beamish recently called last orders on his career with the DFO.  His future scientific credibility would be in jeopardy otherwise.

I find it hard to speak on this – a rare thing for me – my anger is so intense. The scientist Campbell and co. relied upon so stubbornly was, according to a respected colleague, “unethical” and “unprofessional”.

Just one or two thoughts:

• The shit and abuse we all have taken, most especially Alex, at the hands of environmental turncoats like Patrick Moore to say nothing of Liberal Party hacks.
• The refusal of the government to apply the “precautionary principle” – it’s the law – placing the onus of proof on the industry not private citizens.
• The deliberate bias of the media who allowed the fish farm flack, Mary-Ellen Walling, to roam the op-ed pages virtually at will…and their utter lack of any scrutiny.
• The silence of the media columnists who trashed the government when it was NDP and have been struck dumb on this issue.
• The lawsuits Alex took and won and paid for – to a large extent – out of her own pocket.
• The lies of the industry, deliberate lies – I say deliberate because the largest shareholder of the biggest company, Marine Harvest, admitted that sea lice were slaughtering migrating wild salmon.
• The terrific support we’ve all had from the decent public which BC is mostly made up of.
• Most of all, the appalling loss of millions of our precious salmon – destroyed because the Liberal government consciously and deliberately refused to look at the massive evidence.

Will the Clark Liberals do the decent thing and apologize?

Not a chance. The moral compass of this bunch was set when Campbell got thrown in jail for drunk driving and imposed no penalty on himself.

Will they immediately act to stop all new licenses and give the present farmers 60 days to dismantle and leave?

You have to be kidding! Admit error? Bite the hand that feeds them? Show a little contriteness?

Hell will definitely freeze over before that happens.

Every single Liberal MLA from 2001 until now ought to hang their heads in shame.

I’m sure I speak for Alexandra Morton, her loyal “Boswell”, Don Staniford, and the thousands of citizens who have supported what often looked like a lost cause, in saying that the vindication of Dr. Hargreaves’ evidence is swamped by the sense of the massive loss of our province’s soul, the Pacific salmon, which would have lived were if not for deceit and negligence of a government which, if they had an ounce of decency, would resign en masse.

I hate to sound ungracious towards our friends and neighbours by asking that question but it’s occurred to me quite often and I, for one, would like an answer.

With fish farms, what the hell is in it for us with them?

Over 90% of the farms are foreign owned and none of them is owned in BC. The license fees we collect are like a handful of sand is to Vancouver’s beaches. Our wild salmon are destroyed, the environment desecrated and the loot all goes to big companies and their shareholders, mostly in Norway. Furthermore, because these companies are from out of province they don’t give a fiddler’s fart how much damage they do.

Jobs?

A few caretakers and that’s it.

We take all the risks, we take the certain environmental losses and they get all the money!

Whoops, I forgot that there is a BC beneficiary – the Liberal Party of BC, G. (Pinocchio) Campbell, prop.

With pipelines shipping oil from the Tar Sands through pipelines to Kitimat for passage through our waters – what the hell is in it for us?

The oil comes from Alberta so that only the Alberta and Federal governments get any royalties and other taxes. We run the many real risks in taking this filthy stuff over our province, through our delicate habitat, then shipping it down the most treacherous part of our coast and get nothing for it!

We have to do the policing for sabotage, terrorist attack or plain misadventure since Enbridge sure isn’t going to. And on their track record, who would want them to be our watchdogs?

When the damage is done – and it will happen – we’ll have to bear the cost since Enbridge sure isn’t BP and a big loss would probably bankrupt them.

These questions apply to the oil presently being piped down to tankers in Burrard Inlet putting not only Vancouver Harbour at risk but all the BC coastline they sail past.

Moreover, as with fish farms, these companies are from out of province and don’t give a damn for our environment.

What’s in that for us?

Some rent for the right-of-way?

Jobs?

Sure there will be employment to build the line but that’s short term and most of those jobs will be from out of province.

We take all the risks and they get the dough!

Whoops! I forgot Pinocchio and his trained seals (See “whoops” above for details.)

Independent Power Producers (IPPs) are building their dams (they prefer we call them weirs) on rivers all over the province to make electricity.

What the hell’s in it for us?

These are all large offshore companies that take the profits while we inherit buggered up rivers. But it’s worse, Not only do we lose our rivers, we pay for these dams because our provincial company, BC Hydro, owned by me and thee, is forced to pay these IPPs double what their power can be sold for. Since IPPs don’t make electricity unless their river is flowing quickly, as in the run-off when BC Hydro doesn’t need it, Hydro must export it at a huge loss! Our loss as citizen/shareholders!

We don’t need their power, indeed can’t even use it, we finance their plants by making Hydro give them sweetheart deals, we get a fast bankrupting BC Hydro and the money all goes to non BC shareholders like Warren Buffett and General Electric!

What’s in it for us?

Whoops again! (See above re Pinocchio and his lickspittles).

We’re chumps! Marks! Rubes playing Three Card Monte at the fair! We’re being robbed blind then we beg for more!

Think on this, gentle readers – we’re taking a three way financial hit and a huge three pronged attack on our environment, be it our salmon, our rivers, our harbours, our coastline and our wild habitat and, through our government, we’re begging for more!

But I predict a change, an awakening of the people. When the Premier and the Attorney-General instructed Crown Counsel to ask for a life sentence for Betty Krawczyk for disobeying a court order to cease demonstrating, using two violent pedophile cases to back it up, it touched a lot of nerves. A life sentence for an 82 year old for protesting an environmental desecration? Likening it to sexual violation of kids? What has this government come to?

There will be civil disobedience in BC and it won’t be pretty. We’ve been lied to enough. Our heritage is bring ripped apart not with government consent but at its request.

I’m not calling for civil disobedience – I’m saying it will come because this disgraceful government has asked, no begged for it.

Sea lice protest, May 8, at BC Legislature in Victoria.

We all know what a word or punctuation mark can do to a sentence. For example, to write “John, says Mary, is a lousy bed companion” is very different than “John says Mary is a lousy bed companion.”

(In fact, perhaps both are, but that’s not the point).

Today I’m going to deal with a single word in a sentence; the word is “nearly.”

Some background.

On Saturday, May 8, well known and much loved Alexandra Morton ended her walk from her home in Sointula to Victoria in opposition to farmed salmon in the ocean, with a rally at the steps of the Legislature.

The Victoria Times-Colonist and Vancouver Sun, both owned by Canwest, gave appalling coverage, starting with the absurd statement than “nearly” 1,000 people were there. Please look at the picture accompanying this story and see how preposterous that statement was. It mattered a great deal because that statement trivialized the event and I say that was deliberate by the use of “nearly.”

The use of “nearly” can only mean that they actually counted but couldn’t quite make 1,000. There is no other construction one can put on that sentence. For if they hadn’t counted, how could they say that there were fewer than 1,000 people at the rally? This cannot be a guess or speculation because on its plain construction it’s clearly a statement of fact.

The truth is that they didn’t count at all, so their statement is a plain falsehood making one wonder if they were even there. It’s fascinating that when later challenged on their estimate, the Times-Colonist said that they evidently had asked the police who said it was 1,000-2,000, which doesn’t quite explain the “nearly 1,000.” Their nose, in fact, got longer.

‘Thank goodness for people filming’

Let’s look at some other estimates from people used to assessing the size of crowds.

Holly Adams, who was shooting for Global News, said, “I spoke with police outside the Legislature and they estimated just over 4,000 people, and that was just before 5:00 p.m.” That was the estimate used by Global on their newscast.

Wendy Bales, who is a director of the Fraser Valley Regional District, said, “I was there and figured at least over 4,000, with some people coming and going for parts, so there were many more. Global TV reported over 4,000. I was also surprised (but then not) at the lack of coverage. As with so many things, the important stories have to be told by the people, and you can’t believe the story on the surface. So what else is new? Thank goodness for the ‘net’! I can’t wait for the real story to be told. Thank goodness for all the people filming.”

Vicky Husband, who has an Order of Canada, is probably the best known environmentalist in the province. She has seen many rallies and said, “Our estimate is between 4,000 to 5,000″ — the largest crowd she had ever seen on the Legislature lawn.

Erling Olsen, owner/skipper of the Pacific Viking, the fish boat which escorted the canoe that started in Hope and crossed the Georgia Strait, talked to a Victoria Police Officer who told him he had never before seen a crowd of demonstrators at the Legislature as large.

A conservative estimate

Environmental activist Ivan Doumenc did a bit of measuring and I thought it was the last word.

“I took a very conservative guess: I assumed — which is very unrealistic, based on what the photo shows — that each person used two square meters on an exclusive basis. That’s a rectangle of one meter by two meters with no one else but its sole occupier on it. Measure that at home, and you will realize that it’s a very, very conservative assumption indeed. I also assumed that not a single person was standing to the left or the right of the frame of the photo, and I further assumed that the columns of people still moving toward the lawn in the photo’s far background were actually not going to the rally.

”In spite of that, I still found that approximately 3,000 people were occupying my polygon. Once you add more realistic estimations that other people must have been standing outside of the picture, that some people in the far background are actually going to the rally, et cetera, you easily find yourself in that 4,000 plus range which was given to Global News on that day at by several on-site police officers.”

Willfully ignored?

One little word — “nearly” — graphically shows us Canwest’s bias against environmentalists and its obeisance to the Campbell government.

Now with one little word we can understand why Canwest has assiduously avoided covering Alexandra Morton’s eight-year struggle to get the word out about sea lice from fish farms killing migrating wild salmon smolts with the exception of the occasional article, usually buried in the business section.

This explains why Canwest has neglected to interview experts like Dr. John Volpe, Dr. Neil Frazer, Dr. Martin Krkosek, Irish lice specialist Dr. Patrick Gargan and Dr. Daniel Pauly of the University of British Columbia, said by the prestigious Science Magazine to be one of the top 50 scientists in the world.

That’s why Canwest has never appointed a member of their staff to thoroughly investigate the entire issue.

This explains why Canwest has not gone to Norway to ask Marine Harvest, the biggest fish farmer on our coast, all the questions that have been raised. (Several environmentalists including Alex and my partner, Damien Gillis have been several times).

This explains why the fish farmers’ spokesperson gets an op-ed piece, it would seem, when she wants.

It also explains that because the Vancouver Sun’s editorial page, run as it is by a Fraser Institute alumnus, has never to my knowledge published an editorial critical of fish farming; this, no doubt, explains why columnists Vaughn Palmer or Mike Smyth have avoided like a plague dealing with the horrendous impact of fish farms on migrating wild salmon.

What you didn’t read

What was it that Canwest did not cover on May 8th?

There were First Nations’ speakers including Grand Chief Stewart Philip, Grand Chief of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, probably the most powerful native leader in the province. His speech was sometimes humorous but always carried the firm conviction that his people not only opposed fish farms in the ocean but were prepared to take the matter as far into the court system as needed.

The reason this was so important, and should have been reported, is that the two senior governments have clearly vowed to do nothing, leaving the courts the only way to go. Given the record of First Nations in court since the Calder case in 1973, this speech of Grand Chief Phillips and his colleagues had huge meaning, and I would have thought that even Canwest would understand its importance.

One might have thought that Canwest would have at least taken a clip of Alexandra Morton’s speech.

These three papers did a great disservice to readers by not reporting what happened — indeed they practiced censorship by remaining silent (except when they pretended to count the crowd).

It’s trite to say that you can deceive by what you say and by what you don’t say. Canwest, its dailies as well as its community papers, and the Black community papers have, by saying so little, kept their readers in the dark on hugely important environmental issues including not only fish farms, but the Campbell government’s unbelievable destruction of our rivers and giveaway of energy to other jurisdictions.

Embrace new media

The use of the word “nearly” tells us where Canwest apparently is — a staunch supporter of Gordon Campbell’s destruction of the environment so dear to real British Columbians.

Canwest is bankrupt and has now been purchased. Because of the new ownership’s association with Canwest past, this change doesn’t give us any optimism about their coverage to come of environmental concerns.

There is this hope, however. President Obama taught us how to use the Internet and that where we must go if we want to save our precious heritage.

Readers can start their trek to truthfulness by going to www.thecanadian.org. (Sorry for the shameless plug … no, to hell with, it I’m not a bit sorry!)

Where Parisians past cried “aux barricades” we sing out “to the Internet.”

Tom Paine, the “media” catalyst for the American Revolution, rallied Americans with the stirring words “these are the times that try men’s souls”.

Are these words applicable to British Columbia, its governments and the farmed fish issue?”

I say, clearly yes, with this difference – Paine was rallying for an armed revolution while those who oppose fish farms in BC waters rally for changes within the confines of our democratic system.

ALEXANDRA LEADS THE FIGHT – AS USUAL

Alexandra Morton, who surely needs no introduction, has led the fight to save our wild fish from destruction by sea lice from farmed fish pens for nearly a decade. She has done this with a media that has deliberately refused to deal with the matter. Her fight has been relentless so that even the government’s servile hand maiden, the BC mainstream media, has finally been forced to report that there is indeed a problem.

Here’s what Alexandra Morton has to say:

“We cannot match the corporate fish farm PR machine, nor their lobbying power. So I am simply inviting people to make themselves visible by joining us on foot, electronically and by mail. This will be peaceful, colourful, musical, fun, family oriented. Unless we all stand up and become visible, government will continue to degrade the laws of Canada to the benefit of the salmon farming industry, as suggested in the most recent throne speech.”

The forces of protest and boycott have finally united their efforts and the call for action is for a major ongoing demonstration starting on Earth Day, April 22. I’m not going to outline the proposed action here but will do so when final plans in place. What is important at this point is to understand what’s brought this about, namely a tissue of ongoing blatant lies by the Campbell government now joined in pathetically ignorant enthusiasm by the federal government.

THE CAMPBELL GOVERNMENT LIED ABOUT ESCAPES!

When I first got into the fish farm issue in 2001 the concern was the escapement of Atlantic salmon into our waters. The government opened by denying that it was happening. When that lie was disposed of it they said that no Atlantics were moving into BC Rivers – while independent biologist Dr. John Volpe, who leads the Seafood Ecology Research Group at the University of Victoria, refuted this statement by simply going into the rivers and counting Atlantics by the hundreds. Atlantics don’t breed with Pacific salmon but they do force our fish off spawning beds and they are spawning there and experts fear that they will establish themselves.

ALEX ARRIVES ON THE SCENE

In 2002 I first came into contact with Alexandra Morton, who lived in Echo Bay in the Broughton Archipelago when I learned of her concerns that sea lice from Atlantic salmon fish farms were attaching themselves to and killing migrating Pink and Chum Salmon smolts, especially the former. Alex had been testing migrating smolts and the evidence was there – sea lice from nearby fish farms were doing to wild salmon smolts just what they had been doing to wild Atlantic Salmon and Sea Trout smolts in Norway, Scotland and Ireland.^*

The federal Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s response was to threaten to throw Alex in jail for illegal testing!

POLITICS TRIES TO TRUMP SCIENCE

From that moment on, politics took on science. Independent peer reviewed study after study after study verified Alex’s findings – sea lice from fish farms were slaughtering Pink salmon smolts especially and that it was only a matter of time, and not much of that, before the runs would be wiped out.

The government handled these points as a Josef Goebbels might have – it simply denied the obvious facts and said that the “science” was on its side. This plain lie was especially pernicious because many of the public want to believe their leaders and don’t want to believe that the Gordon Campbell government could lie through its teeth. Spin, yes, but surely their government wouldn’t just plain lie!

But they did lie and they still do. Not only can they not get any independent science to back them, they consistently refuse to discuss the issue. As Dr John Volpe, has bluntly stated: “the debate is over.” UBC’s Dr. Daniel Pauly, Director of the Fisheries Center at the University of British Columbia, named by TIME as one of the world’s top 50 scientists, agrees and calls Alex “a spunky hero”.

THE NORWAY SCENE

The former Norwegian Attorney General Georg Fredrik Rieber-Mohn, who authored Norway’s original sea lice policy, has recently stated unequivocally that Norway’s policy on sea lice, which the industry successfully lobbied to weaken, has failed miserably and that lice from fish farms were wiping out Atlantic salmon runs; and that the policy must change dramatically. Even the largest shareholder in Marine Harvest – the world’s largest salmon farming company and #1 in both Norway and in British Columbia – agrees that we must move the farms. In 2007, when he was fishing on the River Alta – one of Norway’s most majestic wild salmon rivers – John Fredriksen made a plea as a passionate angler to relocate open net cages to save wild salmon. This from the world’s #1 fish farm entrepreneur!

ENTER THE FEDS

Still the Campbell government denies and denies and is now joined now by the federal government as Fisheries Minister Gail Shea, who last August attended a worldwide fish farm convention in Oslo, encourages even more fish farms for BC! Here we have DFO, mandated to protect our salmon, at the same time shilling through the minister, for those who would destroy them!

THE COHEN COMMISSION AND THE FRASER SOCKEYE

Mr. Justice Bruce Cohen has a broad commission to look at the catastrophic wild salmon situation in BC. It’s of critical importance that we the public of BC show how much our wild salmon mean to us. Mr. Cohen must know our resentment that government fish farm policy has not lonly led to hugely depleted returns of Pinks and Chum but, strong evidence indicates, has permitted sea lice from fish farms to kill sockeye migrating from the Fraser River where the 2009 returns were catestrophically low.

THE PUBLIC LOSES PATIENCE

How long can decent British Columbians who love their province stand idly by as its very soul, the Pacific salmon, is deliberately slaughtered by foreign corporate interests that are encouraged to do so by the two senior governments?

Haven’t we all shown the patience of Job with these politicians who clearly put the interests of donors to their party coffers ahead of those of the people they’re elected to serve?

Has the time not arrived where we British Columbians must take action, action sustained until we’ve rid ourselves of these disgraceful companies who profit hugely from our enormously important assets and the governments that support them?

THE TIME IS NOW!

I say it’s long past time. We have been robbed blind by Marine Harvest and others with the connivance, indeed the encouragement, of our governments. Surely we must act with firmness, conviction and steadfastness starting now!

The public must be informed of those who market farmed salmon and restaurants that serve them and be encouraged to boycott these places in favour of those who do not.

We must march in protest in ever increasing numbers and occasions; we must also demonstrate against those who supply fish farms, especially those who provide feed from small fish populations from South American waters, which have consequently been wiped out or dangerously depleted.

This is, of course, an economic issue and a health issue as well. Marine Harvest and friends make hundreds of millions literally stealing our assets; study after study say that wild salmon are far healthier to eat than farmed ones full of chemicals and colourants.

THE CRUX OF THE MATTER

“THE WILD SALMON BELONG TO THE PEOPLE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA AND THEIR SAFETY IS CRITICAL TO OUR ENVIRONMENT; THEY ARE THE SOUL OF OUR PROVINCE AND OUR SOUL IS NOT FOR SALE”

It is time, past time for citizens of BC to rally around Alexandra Morton and fight this fight to a finish – a finish that will put paid to the Atlantic salmon fish farms in our province.

^*It should be noted that Atlantic salmon and Sea Trout smolts are considerably larger than our wild salmon smolts so are hardier when they meet the lice, fortifying the point that our salmon are at an even greater risk than they are.

Alexandra Morton

Here’s an Article by Rafe at The Common Sense Canadian which tells us that even the former Attorney General of Norway and the owner of the world’s largest salmon farming company agree that salmon farms must be moved out of migration routes.

Gerry Heaslip's 'fish of a lifetime' from the River Dodder in Dublin.

A bit of a heads up … shortly, Damien Gillis – the superb producer of outdoor videos – and I will soon be announcing an undertaking which we’re very excited about. Stay tuned!

Premier Campbell and his henchmen along with the federal minister, Gail Shea, continue to deny the heavy impact of sea lice from fish farms on migrating wild salmon. When you read the following report from Norway remember that our migrating salmon smolts are smaller than the Atlantic Salmon and Sea Trout in Europe thus even more vulnerable.

I must tell you that I returned from a short holiday in London thoroughly re-energized so despoilers of the environment will be hearing from me and colleagues this year BIG TIME. My every sense tells me that the public is getting angrier by the day at what they see happening to our beautiful province which means that to keep the pressure on, please send this and other information to your address book!

Here’s an article that appeared in the Irish Times on December 28, 2009:

Norway alert on lice

BY DEREK EVANS

NORWAY’S Directorate for Nature Management and the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (Nina) have issued a warning that salmon farming in Norway must be reduced during 2010.

The warning is directed to the new Minister for Fisheries, Lisbeth Berg-Hansen, a former head of the Norwegian salmon farming association and the owner of a salmon farm.

According to Norwegian press reports, Nina estimates that the current level of fish farming in Norway is six to seven times the sustainable limit. There are now 350 million farmed salmon in pens along the Norwegian coast, implying a sea lice burden of 300 to 350 million.

Sea lice are a major threat to migrating juvenile salmon – and therefore to the survival of wild stocks generally.

The Norwegian Salmon Association has said the situation is “a disaster”. It has also drawn attention to the increased resistance of sea lice to the main chemical treatment being used. They have called for a halt to further growth for the industry.

While the levels of farmed salmon production in Ireland are nowhere near those of Norway, farms do tend to be concentrated in particular areas, according to Salmon Watch Ireland.

The damage inflicted on migrating juvenile salmon by sea-lice concentrations generated by farms has also been researched by Irish scientists, and with conclusions similar to those carried out in Norway and Scotland.

Salmon Watch Ireland has lodged a complaint with the EU Commission about the problem, arguing that the Government is failing to apply the terms of the EU Habitats Directive to the management of salmon farms.

The Minister for Natural Resources, Conor Lenihan, and the Minister for Finance, his brother Brian, have co-signed an order cutting rod angling licence fees for 2010 by 10 per cent.

Proceeds from the new licence fees will be invested in management initiatives designed to rehabilitate wild salmon stocks and habitats. The licence includes a salmon conservation levy equivalent to 50 per cent of the licence fee.

“The reduction should enhance fishing as a recreational activity and supports the fisheries boards’ efforts toward building angling tourism numbers,” said Conor Lenihan. Licence fees for 2010 are: All regions (A): €120; one region (B): €58; 21-day (R): €46; 1-day (S): €32; juvenile (P): €18.

Salmon angling gets under way this Friday on a limited number of rivers and loughs. The Drowes River in Co Leitrim will take precedence.

Rarely does a season pass without a fish being taken on opening day.

The Owencarrow and Lackagh rivers also open on New Year’s Day in the northern region and trolling will be the preferred method on Lough Gill in Co Sligo.

In Dublin, the River Liffey is a different kettle of fish. Traditionally a first-day starter, however, for the past three years, salmon angling was suspended because of low sustainable levels.

Original article: Norway alert on lice

Click here to listen to an MP3 clip of Rafe’s final appearance on November 2. The topics of discussion are Burrard Thermal, river privatization projects, and MP Peter Julian’s call for an independent judicial inquiry into the collapse of the Fraser River sockeye.

Facing a sea lice gauntlet, and maybe a dam

The catastrophe doesn’t seem to concern Tories, Grits. In fact, they don’t want to know.

The NDP tread where the Conservatives and Liberals fear to go as NDP Fisheries Critic Peter Julian and MP hopeful Fin Donnelly call for an independent judicial inquiry into the collapse of the Fraser River sockeye.

It should happen. It must happen. And it won’t happen.

On reason it won’t is that Fisheries Minister Gail Shea wouldn’t know a sockeye from a mud shark. Another is that the fish farmers contribute handsomely to Conservative and Liberal party funds. The third reason I’ll share in a moment.

Bumbling detectives

The sockeye situation is ludicrous. We know they’re gone but we don’t know all the reasons. However, we do know one reason — the migrating sockeye smolts (salmon babies) must run the gauntlet of the Broughton Archipelago fish farms, and the sea lice from those cages kill them. But fish farmers are contributors to the pockets of both governments. And the claims of independent scientists are ignored.

We also know that some smolts are eaten by escaped Atlantic salmon. What we don’t know is whether there are other causes when the smolts are maturing on the high seas. Indeed, in spite of what government lackeys and lickspittles are saying, we don’t even know if the high seas kill any appreciable amount. In blaming ocean predators and conditions, the lickspittles and company men reason that “because we don’t believe that lice from farms and escaped Atlantic salmon cause very many, if any deaths, we assume that these deaths are from causes unknown.” If police detectives reasoned like that, the jails would all be empty.

Moreover, the convenient “high seas” argument ignores the fact that pink, chum and sockeye from rivers not contaminated with fish farms, or in Alaska which bans fish farms, migrate to the same “high seas” and returned in abundant — and in some cases record — numbers.

Rules of science and law ignored

It must be noted that the Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC), First Nations Summit and the B.C. Assembly of First Nations resolutions all oppose fish farms. Moreover, in 2007 Marine Harvest’s largest shareholder, billionaire John Fredriksen, while fishing on the famous River Alta, told a reporter from the Altaposten Newspaper, “I’m concerned about the future of wild salmon. Move salmon farms out of the path of wild salmon.”

There are two related rules of science and law prevailing here. The science rule is the “precautionary principle” which states that if a policy might cause severe or irreversible harm to the public or to the environment, in the absence of a scientific consensus that the harm would not ensue, the burden of proof falls on those who advocate taking the action.

The legal rule is that he who alleges has the burden of proof.

In short, the onus of proving the lack of adverse environmental impact rests squarely on the fish farmers — but, with thanks to former Liberal ministers like John Van Dongen, they have passed this onus onto the public. As a result, the task has fallen to courageous citizens like Alexandra Morton and a plethora of independent scientists who support her findings. The fish farmers have had a free ride throughout.

The media has been shamefully silent, with the occasional exception of Stephen Hume in the Vancouver Sun and the more frequent interventions of his brother Mark in the Globe and Mail. The last electronic media person to take on this issue was me — and in 2005 I was fired. I believe it was because I fought against these environmental nightmares.

The dam truth

Here is the third reason nothing will be done.

When jurisdiction for fish farms was given back by the province to the feds by a recent court case, fish farmers were assured that it would be business as usual. In fact, Minister Gail Shea went to a huge conference of fish farmers in Norway and assured them that Canada wanted even more of them. The bottom line is that the federal government doesn’t give a fiddler’s fart about west coast fisheries and hasn’t for decades. And there’s a reason.

Since 1871, when B.C. joined Canada, the salmon fishery has been a gigantic political pain in the ass to the federal government. When I was the environment minister back at the beginning of the Christian Era, I studied the issue and found that year after year there were problems, and year after year the government fumbled them. A good example was some years ago when the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) decided that there were too many boats chasing too few fish and started to buy back fish boats. A child could have seen that the remaining boats would increase their capacity — they did — and the problem remained.

All the while, there has been salvation looming on the horizon rising from the mists of time — the proposed Moran Dam on the Fraser River north of Lytton. Here’s what I wrote on The Tyee on April 24 of 2006: “[this] proposed dam (Moran) was all the rage with the post World War II Liberals, especially Defence Minister Andrew MacNaughton.”

But it didn’t stop there. Bruce Hutchison, in his otherwise marvelous book The Fraser, painted a paradise built with all that power. W.A.C. Bennett was all for the idea in 1967, but outdoors people made such a fuss about the concomitant loss of salmon that he backed off.

Fish in the path of ‘progress’

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans was stripped of outspoken scientists back in 1986 when the two governments and Alcan agreed on the Kemano Completion project and DFO did what the politicians told them to do. That culture remains.

The only thing holding back this project is the migration of sockeye (mainly) that pass through the Fraser River past Lytton to northern spawning beds. A huge dam! Wouldn’t it be wonderful! Power galore and no more of those damned salmon! If through a happy combination of fish farms and lack of care about habitat we can wipe out those salmon runs! Indeed, if we play our cards right, the only salmon left will be in wilderness rivers, left to satisfy wealthy fishermen on expensive fishing safaris. When that happy day comes, the DFO and the federal government will be rid of this millstone and there will be oodles of power to sell to California so that swimming pools can be kept warm!

Yes, give us a judicial inquiry

If the federal government cared at all about B.C. they would take on MP Peter Julian’s suggestion. But it doesn’t go far enough. There should be a judicial hearing into the Fraser sockeye collapse. I would suggest that the enquiry should be wider. However, we’ve learned that the wider the mandate, the more paid days for lawyers — whose glacier-like pace when being paid per diem is notorious.

There are political considerations. If the NDP can combine the fish farm issue with the rape of rivers by the likes of General Electric, they could win seats that are usually Liberal or Conservative. The latter know that the NDP cannot form a government, but they could decide who holds power.

What a sad thing to contemplate. Neither the Liberal nor Conservative parties give a damn about B.C.’s fish or our rivers.

Why should they? In this country, if it isn’t happening in Ontario or Quebec, it isn’t happening.

Click here to listen to an MP3 clip of Rafe’s appearance on October 26. The topics are the recent escape of salmon from the Broughton Archipelago salmon farms, and the cuts to mental health by the provincial government.