B.C. fish farm opponents rally in Vancouver

by Stephen Thomson on August 30th, 2011 at 3:55 PM

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Opponents of fish farms in coastal B.C. waters rallied outside the Vancouver Art Gallery today (August 30).

The demonstration took place as a federal inquiry into the collapse of the Fraser River sockeye salmon continued in Vancouver.

The commission, led by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Bruce Cohen, is set to hear testimony this week on the theme of aquaculture.

More than 200 people gathered near the steps on the West Georgia side of the art gallery for the rally. The site is a short walk from the building where the Cohen Commission hearings are taking place.

At the rally, demonstrators chanted: “Hey, hey! Ho, ho! Fish farms have got to go!” Some held signs that read: “Help save wild salmon,” and “Salmon are sacred.”

A group of B.C. First Nations leaders and wild-salmon activist Alexandra Morton spoke out against fish farms.

“We don’t have proof but we have enormous weight of evidence and unless people like you press for the truth and for these fish farms to be removed out of the narrow passages of the Discovery Islands…we will lose our sockeye,” Morton told the crowd.

“All I can do is drag this thing out fighting and kicking into the daylight and then somebody else has to come in here and say, ‘Enough. These farms have got to get out. There’s a better way of doing these things,’” she said.

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, also spoke to the crowd.

“This is about social justice. This is about environmental justice. This is about the ugly economics of the industrialized fish-farm industry…,” he said.

“We know in our hearts that what hangs in the balance is the very survival of the wild salmon stocks in B.C.”

Bob Chamberlin, vice president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, said he doesn’t want fish farms in the Broughton Archipelago.

“I want our First Nations’ voice, opinion, and direction for our territory to be respected,” he said.

“We must stand up and say ‘no’ to fish farms.”

“Industry will have one attachment to our territory and that’s based on profit, and the minute that it’s unprofitable they will be gone and our people will still be there.”

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, speaks at the B.C. wild salmon rally.

Comments

7 Comments

Sheep

Aug 30, 2011 at 4:38pm

Wild is better than Industrial waste farming.

Of course Industry like to stand on the two crutches of "it's safe" ala the Tobacco Industry in the 60's, 70s & 80's.

Or lately to the Jobs created by the industry [not enough to sustain BC].

Don't buy the farmed bullshit.

Hannah Kinch

Aug 31, 2011 at 9:14am

Taking a full class in university during a fisheries course, the professor talked about Alexandra Morton and the various and large flaws in her "research". I think that the salmon are very important in many ways to an abundance of people, but research and information should come about in an honest, ethical way with proper scientific experiments.
If we want the wild salmon to continue on, how is fishing and consuming strictly these wild salmon the ethical choice? If we want the wild salmon to continue to procreate and thrive, we need to move away from over-fishing this wild stock and look to proper ways of farming fish. Because we have a demand for beef, chicken, etc, we have experimented with different ways of ethically farming them to create enough of these resources to meet the demand. If the mass amounts of farmed fish cease to exist, where is the fish going to come from? Clearing out the wild salmon... When people want something, they take it one way or another. We just need to find an appropriate way of doing so.

Holly Arntzen

Aug 31, 2011 at 9:53am

Thank you Georgia Strait for covering the Wild Salmon Rally and the Cohen Inquiry into the disappearance of Fraser sockeye. There are a lot of us concerned citizens out here who need more information, presented in a clear, unemotional way...so that the truth can come out. We rely on media with integrity to allow us citizens to participate in our own democracy in a meaningful way.

James73

Aug 31, 2011 at 10:04am

We need less rhetoric from both sides of this debate.
I am tired of "common sense" - we need science.

Many activists seem to just ignore the fact that there is a global need for protein that can't be met by wild stocks alone. Wild salmon will not survive without good aquaculture.

Let's take the energy being used to shut down these farms and apply the same resources to building better alternatives and safer practices (like closed-containment farming).

Doug Brubaker

Aug 31, 2011 at 6:37pm

Many people forget that there are other forms of life on this planet besides us humans. Yes the world needs economical sources of protein to preserve mankind, but what about the rest of the wild kingdom that depends upon wild salmon for their existence? Mainly about 200 other species. They have depended on the same food source for 10,000 years. I cannot imagine a world with wildness. Let the humans eat McDonalds!

Sheep

Aug 31, 2011 at 8:47pm

Unfortunately a full class in University ills prepares one for the Real World outside Academia.

This following TED Video will enlighten those who took a one Fisheries Class in University :)

http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_barber_how_i_fell_in_love_with_a_fish.html

The Fish Farming Industry is a for profit only Global Mega Corporate based Industry.

The Fisheries Class at University should inform you of the awful Waste + ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER that current Fish Farming Operations are.

By the way Industrial Farming of Meat like Chicken + Pigs + Cattle has awful waste + Really Bad Environmental effects, look at the Lakes of Pig Manure in Alberta, the Mad Cow from feeding Cattle Brains + Marrow of Cattle + other Animals. etc etc etc.