Hundreds of people appeared in Vancouver at the Wild Salmon Rally. I spoke of the need for a Judicial Inquiry into what happened to the Fraser sockeye. Before the cod collapsed in the North Atlantic, government scientists were warning government to take precautionary measures, but government did not, the cod reached the point of no return and no one was held accountable.
Today we are at the same crossroads with a short window of opportunity to stop this madness, bring reason to the situation and recognize the warning lights that are flashing.
If you want to help, contact your member of parliament asking for a Judicial Inquiry into the sockeye collapse until he/she answers you. If you are not from Canada you can write to the Prime Minister as it is his decision: pm@pm.gc.ca
Here is what I had to say at the Wild Salmon Rally. We must get government under oath. We must get the facts on highly political questions such as what diseases were in fish farms in June/July of 2007 when these sockeye went to sea? Why did only the Fraser sockeye that migrate past fish farms collapse when the other Fraser sockeye did very well?
These are things we have the right to know, these fish “farms” are in public waters, using public water to flush their effluent and they are sited on our largest wild salmon migration routes. If fish farms want to be where they can keep this information private, they need to go somewhere where that is possible, but the migration route of the Fraser sockeye is not one of them.
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One response to “Wild Salmon Rally”
The sands of time are running out. A cliche perhaps but symptomatic of the impending fisheries crisis in the west coast.
It is not too late for our elected representatives, federal and provincial, of all political persuasions, to come to their senses and bring the seemingly unaccountable DFO to heel. At one time the DFO clearly could separate it’s industry trade promotion from it’s ecological duties but now it seems to have merged these into an amorphous mass.
When faced with uncertainty or new facts that challenge scientific orthodoxy, the DFO resembles nothing more than a herd of muskox gathering in a circle to protect reputation and outdated policies.
Too bad a fine scientific organization morphed into an information management organization where beating the challenge seems more important than a dedication to the truth.
Tell me I am wrong.