Watch the climactic finish of the “Get Out Migration” for wild salmon – May 8 in Victoria, where 5,000 turned out to the the lawn of the provincial Legislature to tell governments to get open net salmon farms out of BC’s waters. 8 min short documentary featuring powerful speeches from salmon biologist Alexandra Morton – who led the Migration down Vancouver Island – former BC Environment Minister Rafe Mair, Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, Order of Canada recipient Vicky Husband, plus aboriginal drums, music, colourful costumes and thousands of citizens committed to saving wild salmon…Everything the mainstream media didn’t show you about one of the largest and most powerful public demonstrations of its kind in BC history.
More videos about the Wild Salmon Migration:
The Common
Sense Canadian’s video coverage of the historic walk for wild salmon down Vancouver
Island, culminating in Victoria on May 8. Wild salmon advocates take to the streets
and take on big Norwegian corporations to take back their wild salmon.”
A diverse group of wild salmon advocates, part of the “Get Out Migration,” led by
biologist Alexandra Morton, sent a message to the world’s largest salmon farming
corporation in Campbell River – headquarters of the Norwegian company’s Canadian
operations. Marine Harvest owns close to half of all salmon farms on BC’s coast,
linked to the devastation of vital wild salmon runs. The concerned citizens and
First Nations returned a pile of farmed Atlantic salmon to the company, just a few
of the over 40,000 that recently escaped from Marine Harvest’s farm in Port
Elizabeth. Escaped Atlantic salmon, an invasive species on BC’s coast, are just one
of a long list of severe ecological impacts from Norwegian open net salmon farms.
Wild salmon advocates on the historic Get Out Migration called for the resignation
of Geir Isaksen – CEO of Norwegian Government-owned Cermaq, the world’s second
largest salmon farming corporation – at the company’s headquarters in Campbell
River, over his failure to protect BC’s wild salmon from the ecological impacts of
his company’s farms. Salmon conservation groups have been pushing for the clearing
of the the “Wild Salmon Narrows”, a critical migratory pathway for embattled Fraser River
sockeye and other wild salmon. Isaksen recently rejected calls to close just two
Cermaq-owned farms despite having called for such precautionary measures himself in
his 2009 report to shareholders.
Common Sense Canadian video on the launch of the historic Walk
for Wild Salmon down Vancouver
Island:
On the eve of the kick-off of the “Get Out Migration”, Rafe Mair wishes
Alex Morton Godspeed and urges all British Colombians to join her on
her historic trek down Vancouver Island. The march was intended to rally the public and send a message to governments
that it’s time to remove open net salmon farms from BC’s coast and help
save our embattled wild salmon.
Alexandra’s Get Out Migration’s March on Victoria has publicize this issue to BCer and the whole world.
The next step is to focus on the federal Cohen Inquiry into the collapse of the Fraser River Sockeye salmon.
This Inquiry was set up with political overtones. Eligibility was restricted to those who have substantial and direct interest in the subject. Does this rule out environmental groups advocating in the public interest?
Because of the strong wealthy Norwegian fish farmer’s lobby, the findings of the Inquiry may be based on political rather than scientific facts.
To avoid this, I suggest that Alexandra Morton use her current high visability to send a letter to the PM listing all the questions she wants answered. She can ask PM Harper to forward the letter on to his Minister of Fisheries to be forwarded on to the Cohen Inquiry, In this way they will not be able to deny knowledge of the questions.
These questions would put great pressure on the Cohen Inquiry to come up with answers to her questions.
These questions should be given wide publicity.
Once the questions are submitted, scientists could establish a website where they publish scientific answers.