I have now been on the RV Martin Sheen for 39 days! We have looked closely at salmon farms from Vancouver to Port Hardy.
I brought the boat to the Musgamagw Dzawada'enuxw who have fought this industry for nearly 30 years. They have said "no" from the beginning and yet 1/3 of the BC salmon farming industry is using their territory to grow Atlantic salmon. Their herring have collapsed despite 30 years of protecting them from fishing, and their wild salmon are a fraction of what they used to be. This is highly predictable, this is what happens everywhere there are salmon farms and wild salmon and sea trout. This is why no one can understand how the Government of Canada could possibly have given the industry long term licences on Canada Day, July 1, 2016.
The Minister of Fisheries Dominic LeBlanc was given the mandate to use science to protect Canada's infinitely valuable wild fisheries and yet he went ahead and gave Mitsubishi and the Norwegians, longterm access to pollute BC waters with sea lice and viruses. These are problems that the industry has not solved anywhere in the world.
The Musgamagw Dzawada'enuxw have boarded three salmon farms in their territory, each time more people join and most recently many chiefs from several sister nations – Namgis, Mamalilikulla and Danaxdaxw joined them.
On August 23, they boarded the Marine Harvest Midsummer farm in their territory –
During this event, I was asked to examine the farm salmon and so I lowered a Go Pro camera into the pens on a pole. In just a few minutes I witnessed all of this: SEE INSIDE A SALMON FARM
If this concerns you, please check back on this blog as we move down the coast of eastern Vancouver Island for event dates and times and then arrival in Victoria on Saturday, September 3rd and then Vancouver shortly after.
We need to impress on government that they have made a huge mistake. How can the government of Canada state that respecting First Nations is their sacred obligation and give foreign salmon farming companies permission to pollute the territory of nations who have said "NO."
