------ Forwarded Message
From: Geoff Senichenko <
geoff@wildernesscommittee.org>
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 14:54:40 -0700
To: Alexandra Morton <
wildorca@island.net>
Subject: DFO Rally tomorrow!
Media and Public Advisory
The Wild Salmon Circle, a group of concerned citizens, is calling all supporters of wild salmon to a protest held in front of the Fisheries & Oceans Canada office in Vancouver.
Who: BC citizens who want to see open-net salmon farms taken off our coast permanently. We have invited conservation groups, First Nations, scientists, and fisheries stakeholders.
What: We will have Tum Tum the salmon appearing in costume, people to speak and answer questions, a petition and postcards.
Where: 401 Burrard - Burrard and Pender in Vancouver, in the square.
When: Thursday, August 20, 2009 at NOON.
Why: With this protest, we hope to increase local public awareness about the DFO presence at the Aqua Nor trade show in Norway, and Minister Gail Shea's hopes of essentially selling Canadian waters to global fish farm corporations.
Rationale: The Minister of Fisheries & Oceans is in Norway at the Aqua Nor conference to lay out the welcome mat for fish farms to populate the Atlantic and B.C. coast. Considering sea lice from fish farms on salmon migration routes are known to kill wild salmon, and these may have been at least partly responsible for the disastrously low sockeye returns this summer, we think this is an incredibly bad idea.
There are currently excellent people in Norway at the conference letting the Norwegians know that the people of British Columbia are not behind this plan. Gail Shea has been given a 16,000 signature petition against Norwegian fish farms, and a video was screened showing scientific evidence of high wild salmon mortality due to fish farm sea lice. Coverage of the Canadian protest was aired on prime-time Norwegian news.
Additional Information:
The DFO's Canadian Pavilion website for Aqua Nor:
<
http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/norway-norvege/commerce_canada/aquanor07/aquaculture.aspx <http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/norway-norvege/commerce_canada/aquanor07/aquaculture.aspx> >
Other informed websites on Aqua Nor, salmon farms, and DFO (the WSC is not endorsed nor supported by these organizations):
<
www.puresalmon.org <http://www.puresalmon.org/> >
<
www.saveoursalmon.ca <http://www.saveoursalmon.ca/> >
Contact: Maria Morlin (teacher, biologist) - 604.728.4580, Judah Harrison (lawyer)- 778.866.0943, Tyee Bridge (writer)- 604.879.2203
Geoff Senichenko | Director of Research and Mapping
Wilderness Committee | Canada's largest membership-based wilderness preservation organization
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