One week into my my VoteSalmon.ca expedition to find out which candidates have what it takes to stand up for wild salmon and I feel like the tide is changing!
Today, Fin Donnelly (New Westminster-Coquitlam) and Peter Julian (Burnaby-New Westminster) asked me to stand with them in support at a press conference at the Discovery Center. Fin is a salmon warrior – he has swum the Fraser River twice! And is building leaders taking youth on confidence-building trips down the river in canoes every summer. Peter and I have talked many times about salmon. He looks at the issue in depth. I was very happy to support both of these men, I have no doubt they will continue to serve Canada with integrity and intelligence. They strongly support wild salmon and removal of salmon farms from the ocean!
Then we met Green candidate Bernadette Keenan for Surrey North. Bernadette is not an electable candidate but she led us on a fascinating trip through her riding following lost rivers. She took us to the beach – a stretch of waterfront people gravitate to that is so degraded it was sad. The people of this area are fighting a freeway that wants to run through their neighbourhood, the Delta perimeter road. We met Tom Jaugelis with Stopthepave.org who is trying to protect Mcadam Creek as he puts it “they spend millions restoring the headwaters and billions destroying its mouth.” I admire these people taking a stand for their home. As the salmon go so go the people.
We stopped into Dona Cadman’s (Surrey North). Dona was not there, so we left our questions.
Next we had a real surprise. For the first few days Conservatives would not meet with us. Then I met a string of them that would or could not say if they supported wild salmon, but today I met Kerry-lynne Findlay (Delta-Richmond East) who said she would support moving the salmon farms into closed tanks, that DFO must rigorously protect wild salmon and that we can’t have aquaculture to the detriment of wild salmon. She is replacing the long term MP Conservative John Cummins, who also opposed salmon farms. It did not feel like I was speaking to a Conservative!
Comments
One response to “VoteSalmon.ca day 7”
Did you happened to ask Ms Findlay if DFO must rigorously protect wild salmon then why has her Conservative government continuely cut funding to DFO year after year? You might want to ask Mr. Cummins the same question. While you are at it you might also want to ask him why he was supportive of continuing the Sockeye commercial fishery past the closure date. This closure was adopted those nasty people at DFO to help protect co-migrating Coho and Steelhead. You might also want to ask him if reviving boxes in commericial boats are the best way to protect endangered Coho after they have been struggling in a gillnet. As a biologist, what is your opinion about reviving an endangered species in a revival box as opposed to closing a mixed stock fishery to allow for a better chance for escapement to the spawning grounds?
Mr. Cummins is on record http://www.deltarichmondeast.com/cummins/cummins_NR03sep2010.htm:
Quote: “Shutting down the commercial fishery simply means that huge numbers of sockeye in excess to spawning requirements will crowd the spawning grounds.
The fishery should stay open next week,” said Cummins. “A refusal to keep it open is unreasonable; it threatens future runs, wastes a valuable resource and is costly to fishermen.”
As Regional Director General for Science how would you view this extended fishery and this opinion from Mr. Cummins? Did you happen to notice the discrepancy between the test fisheries and what travelled past Mission? Good thing there wasn’t an extended fishery, eh? Yeah, those nasty people at DFO let too many Sockeye escape the commericial fishery – darn it. Yes, Mr. Cummins is a true conservationist and it should make you very popular to align with him and his philosophy.