You did it! Thanks to your efforts, your local representatives voted NO to open net-pen fish farms and YES to protecting wild salmon at the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities convention.
This is a major win! Now these resolutions have been accepted by the AVICC, they can be brought forward at the Union of B.C. Municipalities to be voted on by all municipalities in the province.
This sends a huge message to the province and the feds that coastal communities value our wild salmon and the sustenance and jobs they provide.
Down in Washington, Atlantic salmon farms have now been banned, leaving B.C. as the last place on the west coast of North America that allows open net-pen fish farms. Help us keep the pressure on by signing our Safe Passage petition or by donating to Watershed Watch.
Your donation will help us reach out to more people in more communities across the province to show our governments that British Columbians want a wild salmon economy, not foreign-owned fish farms.
PLEASE keep farmed fish OUT of B.C. waters!!
Stop the pollution of our wild salmon runs by eliminating open net fish farms.
Yes…Get fish farms out of the ocean and onto land farms so wild salmon can recover
Do not condone the use of open net ocean salmon farming.
Please support both of these resolutions now is the time to ACT the province must not renew the Atlantic fish farm permits that are up for renewal in June. They must move to land based facilities. Respect the wishes of the First Nations that don’t want these farms in there territories.
The Resolutions:
R21 Protecting Local Waterways & Wild Fish Species City of Victoria
Whereas British Columbia’s coastal communities rely on healthy waterways and healthy marine ecosystems including fisheries for economic, social and ecological wellbeing and where the proliferation of open-net fish farms with non-native fish species threatens local waterways and wild fish species, undermining the economic, social and ecological wellbeing of local communities;
And whereas many open-net fish farms have been established in indigenous territories in the absence of adequate consultation with indigenous governments, undermining the shared objective of reconciliation and respectful relations between indigenous and non-indigenous governments:
Therefore be it resolved that the Province of British Columbia consult First Nations governments, local governments, conservation organizations and industry on a transition plan to closed-containment aquaculture, including a just transition for affected workers.
R28 Protection of Native West Coast Salmon District of Sooke
Whereas British Columbia’s native west coast wild salmon can be negatively impacted by commercial salmon farms due to increased levels of diseases and parasites from farmed salmon; degradation of their genetic makeup through interbreeding with escaped farmed salmon; and ecological competition with escaped farmed salmon:
Therefore be it resolved that AVICC and UBCM urge the Province of British Columbia to enact legislation that would protect British Columbia’s wild salmon stock from the negative impacts of commercial salmon farms.
Please support the resolution to get open pit fish farms out of our BC waters. It must happen so we can protect the salmon – and numerous life forms that are connected and needed.
Thank you.
Corinne
Now is the time: no renewal of salmon farm leases expiring June 2018!! No net-pens in wild salmon migratory waters.
dear mayors
moving the floating net pens to land is a very good move for the future of the salmon and the people who depend on a wild thriving,healthy salmon.the so-called fish farms are killing our once abundant wild salmon .
thanks for addressing this situation.
respectfully yours
Patrick
Thanks for your comment, Patrick. Did you send a letter too?
no new open pen leases or extensions of existing leases should be approved. a tax incentive should be introduced to facilitate transition to closed containment on land
That’s a great suggestion, Brian. That’s a concrete way the government can facilitate the transition to land-based closed-containment.
Check around the world and you’ll find native fish species have suffered everywhere salmon farm open-net pens have been allowed. In some countries the sport fisheries have been wiped out.
What more do our scientists and politicians need? The negative impact on BC wild salmon stocks (since the introduction of salmon farms) has been dramatic.
I think the only thing that has kept these licenses in effect is the money being given to the election campaigns of whatever politicians are in power.
Fish farms must be moved from the ocean to on-land organizations.
Hi. To whom it may concern. Please make the fish farmers move their fish pen’s on to land. There is too much documented disease and pollution to let it carry on.
Thanks for your comment, Rick. Did you also send a letter to your representatives?
Dear Mayors,
Please support the resolutions to transition open-pen fish farms to close containment and protect our wild salmon as soon as possible.
Thanks for writing Eric! Did you also send a letter using the tool above?
Remove open net fish farms from our ocean waters asap. Time for this industry to evolve, even Norway is moving towards closed containment! Why allow a foreign owned corporation to abuse our coastal environment? Think of the future generations who deserve to know salmon.
It’s time all the Cohen Commission recommendations were acted upon.
You nailed it Ross Morben. Wherever fish farms have been established, wild salmon and trout have been virtually wiped out. I blame fish farms for our dismal wild Salmon and Steelhead returns. I also blame DFO for incompetence, mismanagement, and ruining a resource that may never recover. I have been Sport fishing for over 40 years and was in the tackle industry for 22 years. The decline of that industry has been drastic and one of the reasons I got out. BC has done a fabulous job of marketing and promoting a super natural BC with a heavy emphasis on sport fishing. The problem is the fish are gone! I don’t know how long it will take for people to clue in to what is going on.
It really is a crisis. And people who fish are on the frontlines and know what is going on. Thanks for commenting!
One of the greatest migration on planet earth is Canadian salmon returning to the rivers of British Columbia; people around the world look on with amazement. What they don’t see is the multitude of benefits they bring for the land and the animals on it. This is in contrast to farmed salmon in net enclosures in the ocean. Farmed salmon very often bring disease and death to many marine creatures including salmon fingerlings making their way to the ocean. The drugs that are mixed in their food, may in time, be seen to be unhealthy for human beings also.
Salmon are such a wonder! And is we lose them, the consequences to our watersheds will be devastating.
Hello
Time is running out for our wild salmon, and open net fish farming isn’t helping. Please remove fish farms from the migration routes of our wild salmon.
G
Hi Geoff, Thanks for your comment. Did you send a letter too?
Banned in Norway, Alaska, and soon Washington State. Get these toxic pens out of B.C. waters! Now!!!!
No one wants these lice infested, virus infected salmon farms in our precious BC waters. With new technology, land based farms are now on par cost wise with open pen farms, so there are no more excuses…John Horgan, say NO to lease renewals
Please transition fish farms out of BC waters and on to land.
Please stop open net ocean salmon farming. We only should have land-based fish farms.
Our government has a terrible track record for ensuring survival of fish.They encouraged building huge draggers on the east coast to create jobs but it wiped out the cod that the whole east coast has depended on.They have shown the same disregard for our salmon on this coast and in one generation, have managed it into the ground. In Alaska, they have built up their fishery and it is thriving. They do not allow salmon farms because they know, as we all do, that it is inviting disease into our waters. The people who support the fish farms point to the jobs it provides. They are so short-sighted to not see all the coastal communities that are virtual ghost towns with the wild salmon wiped out. We need to follow the lead of Washington and many others who stand against the salmon farms.
Well said, Ted. When looking at economic impacts, we need to think about the jobs already lost in wild salmon fisheries! The longevity as fishing as part of B.C.’s culture, whether recreationally or commercially, depends on properly managing our wild salmon.
We have lost one run of sockeye in the Adams River the other three runs are in danger of being extinct. Does any one in governmentunderstand this or even care. Losing our wild salmon is a crime against nature. It will leave a big hole in the environment.
You are so right Bob. We have to act now to protect wild salmon before it is too late.
Open net fish farms are a threat to wild salmon and must be moved to land.
Please shut down the fish farms and save our wild salmon.
Salmon farms in our oceans are toxic to all sea life!! Even on land the farms must treat the water for virus’ and not dump the contaminated water into the ocean.
The evidence of harm to our environment and wild salmon is overwhelming! Move Open Pen Fish Farms to dry land!!
Shut down the fish farms and save our wild salmon
From Alex Morton to the Cohen commission,big money has defeated common sense and has allowed the distruction of our salmon and trout populations.NO MORE.
The net pens must be removed from the ocean and located on dry land.
Please act NOW before our resource is gone completely.
Fish farms are harming our salmon and other kinds of fish which brings disease to our shores and affects all fish stocks in our BC waters. This type of fish farming was tried in Asia and were not very successful. We were warned about this type of fish farming years ago when it was found to be very bad for our fish because it diseased the fish in our waters. It must stop,while it still can be stopped.
STOP FISH FARMING IN OUR WATERS NOW WHILE WE STILL CAN SAVE OUR SALMON STOCKS. We have plenty of warning from China regarding the fish farming there, it must be stopped now.